Insomnia

A few days before leaving Nepal, one of my ears suddenly became "plugged up". I blamed it on the altitude and knew it would quickly pass. My ear "popped" the next day and I was back to normal hearing, instead of the muffled noises. But the next day, I was back to being "plugged up" again. Not even coming down from the mountains or 2 plane rides "popped" my ear back to normal hearing. It wasn't really that alarming... more annoying than anything else. Yet when I spent the entire school week asking my students to speak louder, to repeat themselves, to look directly at me when they spoke, to speak towards my good ear... and then when I started feeling like I was getting a head cold, I decided to see the doctor. Looking back now, I can't even believe a waited the whole week!

So I finally dragged myself to the ENT at the hospital only to find out that I have a severe sinus infection that has not allowed my ear "to pop". Unfortunately, the Dr. said that a sinus infection of my magnitude (perhaps she was scolding me for not coming in sooner) would last anywhere between at least 2+ weeks to 3 months. :( You can pray that it's closer to the 2+ week range and that my ear "pops" soon... hearing my students is always a plus. If not, she needs to do "cut into" my ear and drain it manually. Gross. I'll take the natural way, thank you very much.

Anyway, she put me on some antibiotics (here's hoping I'm not allergic to them) and as she was telling me about the antibiotics she said, "Some people experience insomnia when they take this antibiotic." I brushed the thought away... I'm not usually "that person"... I'm usually the person that breaks out in hives or has their throat close up due to a new medication. But here I am at 1:30 in the morning, dead tired from the work week, from feeling sick, from spending a week hiking in the Himalayas, yawning, desiring sleep in every way... and I can't sleep. I don't know if I can do 2+ weeks of this antibiotic and experiencing insomnia whilst being a teacher.

You can pray for a swift recovery. In the meantime, since I have all this free time on my hands, maybe I'll blog more frequently/quickly about our Nepal experience. Hey, there's always a perk. :)