More tears than I can even count anymore.

@GLITTER Omg you have had a real battle not just with your ears but with a gp too I don’t understand why any doctors are so stubborn about stuff that won’t reflect negatively on them and can only help you to get the care you need. I’m just so sorry that you had to go through that. And I’m pretty sure that pools are way less clean and healthy than we know. I try my best to only put my head under water in the ocean but it’s still not the best or cleanest too. I had an ENT that was fantastic too mostly in my early childhood but I saw him right up to college. He really understood that my sinus problems and ear infections were due to the way that my nose was obstructed from breaking it way too many times. I just used to find ways when I was about 5-7 I had a few on the playground. I was a little hyperkinetic and I didn’t all look where I was going. I broke it in soccer too. But I always felt like as soon as I got it fixed by a plastic surgeon I’d probably do it again so I just kept putting it off. But you seem to have just been at the wrong pool at the wrong time and I’m so sorry. I don’t ever want an std but I definitely don’t want one to find a way into my ear. You seem to be very good at articulating your experience and I just hope that things will improve and you can you can enjoy your life without worry. Blood from the ear would be rather upsetting for most people I’m sure. I don’t remember but I think my sister was actually worse off than I was as a child I’m pretty sure she had tubes in her ears and I may have or I may have been past needing them when we went to the doc. I used to have larger lungs than average and I always felt like I had to use my “gift” mostly for running and other cardio stuff but I also enjoyed being able to swim well enough to make surfing a little easier to learn. But I do remember getting so much sand stuck in my ears that my doctor used to make jokes when I got my ears cleaned. I think the worst time was actually in Hawaii and I had problems with the change in pressure on the plane and then swimming and surfing just made it worse. By the time I got to a clinic I was in a ton of pain and I get dizzy rather easily. The very kind doctor who also liked to surf pulled out something that looked like a hair-ball from a cat. He showed it to me up close and I was already queasy and it was so disgusting looking and smelling that I vomited right into the waste basket. I used to get motion sickness from most ear related issues. I think I recall the doc saying that he made soup out of the stuff he was extracting to try and lighten up my mood which actually only made me feel sick again lol.
And I do agree that sometimes laughing at something that is so overpowering its absurd and laughter is good medicine too.
I’m just glad that you have such a good attitude about everything. I need to remember to breath. I get so fixated that often my problems are all I can see. I really feel a lot better talking to you as well I don’t have many if any friends in the area I grew up in. It’s just too expensive so everyone moves away.

@2cool4school urgh that’s so totally relatable! I hate the dizziness, I think I would rather a banging headache then have to deal with that again. I feel for anyone who has Ménière’s disease or vertigo as they get that all the time! My ent doctor gave me a few exercises to help with it if it happens again! I’m really pleased to hear you’re feeling a bit better after talking it out! I’m always here to listen if you need it 😌 good friends are hard to come by sometimes so I’m glad I have you too 🤗

@GLITTER You’re very correct about good friends in my experience. I can find common ground with almost anyone but finding a true friend has become more elusive by the year. I’m so glad that we crossed paths and I really do feel like you understand me and I hope I’m understanding you as well as you are me. I worry that I’m just too scattered with my own stuff sometimes but I prefer to get help when I can also give help in return.

@2cool4school I’m sure you never did so with the intention of winding up paralyzed.

@Ambroseguy80 no but I really didn’t care if I got injured as long as I was progressing. I’ve lost long term relationships due to my mentality that improving at almost any cost was good. I Specifically regret the brain damage about as much as the nerve damage and spinal injuries and eventually my head injuries are going to catch up to me in ways that make me just sick to my stomach even trying to research. I really can’t blame anyone for leaving me I can’t imagine how bad of an example I was being as a partner that wanted to have children. I just wish I knew how to tapper things back and just enjoy cruising instead of trying to crush everything and anyone that wanted to compete. Even outside of any contests I was always trying to outdo people just to keep myself at my highest level ability wise.

@2cool4school as the saying goes - we live and learn. I’m sorry things didn’t work out to where you wanted them. Relationships are tough even with two people cooperating. 😄

@TrunkZ They’er not something that I had recently they happened in a span of about 2-3 years and only one was actually scary enough that I wasn’t sure if I was having a heart attack or a stroke but I basically collapsed from sitting on the couch at my parents house and waiting for my dad to get home and to go see a baseball game together. I was just about to get in the shower my mom was sitting in the same room but she was knitting and only half paying attention to me. I just took a vape hit from a water filled glass rig basically a bong for vaping. And I slipped off the couch and ended up with my left side down and my right unresponsive side up. My mom thought I dropped something and was just looking for it in the carpet but she asked me twice and I couldn’t respond. Finally she got up and came around so she could see my face and she asked me if I was ok. I barely got out “call 911 I’m having a stroke or a heart attack” and my mom is the last person that I ever want to worry. But I wasn’t sure what was happening. And after she made the call and asked the 911 operator what to do as well as conveyed my status best she could she was so white as ghost with worry. I don’t what happened but at about 5 mins past I was able to get up. My mom was too scared to even touch me and she was told that if I was breathing just to wait for the firefighters as they usually beat the ambulance. I basically leapt to my feet as soon as I felt my right side again. I took some deep breath’s and I ran down the hall to get all my meds and anything that I thought the hospital would need. And my dad actually walked in just ahead of the emergency responders and he calmed me and my mom down. Two ambulances and a police officer were next followed by about 3 firefighters and I think 6 other firefighters stayed outside. The head firefighter was starting to get my vitals and I was feeling fine. I wanted to make the baseball game but they said I needed to get to the hospital and the ambulance drivers were arguing about who was going to transport me and I asked if I could just ride with my dad. He’s a retired police captain and they all said they were fine with him driving me. I went to the hospital I was born in which was oddly comforting and I had to stay in ICU all night. I finally got a shower around midnight. My parents had gathered anything that I might want like my computer and a few books and I had my phone. Aside from one power tripping nurse it was a boring night and the next day I had a few tests to see how severe it was. And I was released at about 4 pm with inconclusive results but I was told that it was definitely a stroke but it wasn’t attributable to anything that could be identified. Eventually I believe that they chalked it up to my head injuries because I’ve had dozens. But happened again a few weeks later as I was standing in the kitchen talking to my dad after he got home from work. I just fell over backwards stiff as a board. I recall that my vision started to fade and I didn’t really feel like anything was happening until I hit the hardwood floor. My dad said I seemed to just fade out and he was too far away from me to catch me or do anything. Again to the ER but it was so busy we waited 4 hours only to be seen evaluated and released inside of an hour. I didn’t feel as confident with the diagnosis of a mini stroke but I didn’t want to get a second opinion and I didn’t think about. Until I had two nearly identical ones when I was back living independently in my place I live in now and Both times I was alone and woke up jumped up off the couch once and off my bed the other time and I felt nothing but I did get tunnel vision and then I fell into my countertop and it hurt even more than falling on just a hardwood floor. I remember my chest hit the edge and it didn’t really fully register as painful until a few minutes had passed and I didn’t go to the ER because I couldn’t trust myself to drive and I didn’t feel like I needed to call 911 and I believe both times I had a funny feeling but I just couldn’t place it before I faded out. I don’t remember if I hit my counter top both times but I feel like I may have or I got up and fell back onto the arm of my couch and really hurt my ribs bruised bad enough that it looked and felt like I was kicked by a horse or someone really strong hit me with a baseball bat. My neurologist at the time wasn’t too concerned so I wasn’t too concerned but I did worry about it happening when I was out in public or worse while driving. And that’s my experience with strokes.

@2cool4school sounds like a pretty rough experience. Hopefully that's the end of it with strokes. 🤗🤗