This is Africa, so I feel like things have to be in pairs, and generally in opposition to each other.
Two weeks ago, I went to the clinic complaining of ear pain. The doctor determined that my ear was indeed inflamed, and prescribed five days of antibiotics (the usual course of treatment). It helped, but didn’t solve things, so I returned to the clinic. The inflammation was still there, albeitreduced, so the (different) doctor gave me ear drops. I found this to be a woefully inadequate solution, so I went to the pharmacy, described my symptoms, and the pharmacist prescribed five days of (better) antibiotics. Yes, this is indeed how we roll. It’s rather stunning what can be purchased at a pharmacy.
Yet in the meantime, I lost hearing in my infected ear, and developed a lovely buzzing, kind of like white noise. Sadly, I prefer to hear. So I used my ear drops (sporadically, I admit), and finally caved and agreed to go to an ENT. There are a couple in Kampala, but I couldn’t find anyone who had contact information for them. One is associated with Mulago Hospital, the referral hospital, but hospital workers are now striking, so that’s not a good plan. Please pray for those in the hospitals though – this is not a good thing for anyone.
Today my Canadian friend Arlene told me that she was going to Kampala to a dentist, and her husband, Karl, was going to The Surgery for something. The Surgery is a large private medical practice headed by a British doctor who has been here forever. They’ve recently moved, so I was grateful for the ride.
The good news is that the doctor thinks that the infection is gone. The bad news is that she cannot conclusively determine this, however, because my ears are completely blocked with wax. I suddenly felt like I was 6 or 8, when the doctor had to extract the wax from my ears with something that looked like a tube connected to an electric can opener, sounded just as loud, and was excruciating. She said that she could “syringe” the wax (is this the new word?), but didn’t want to damage my eardrum. I concurred, so I have new ear drops that are supposed to handle everything.
The good news – no more infection. The bad news – to allow the wax to drain, I can’t sleep with my earplugs. I desperately need those earplugs because Mukono is noisy. There are some Christians nearby who are fond of praying at all hours, and using loudspeakers to announce this. It’s wretchedly hot, so my fan helps a bit, but not tremendously. The next few days will be rather interesting!
Leave a Reply