The Ear, Nose, and Throat guy was peering into my left ear with one of those things with a flashlight on the end. I held up two fingers next to my right ear and said, “how many do you see, doc.”
“There’s too much wax in here for me to see anything,” he said as he reached for what looked like a drill. This had me a little concerned…and defensive.
“Though I’ve tried and failed to get it there, I’ve heard that you shouldn’t put anything smaller than your elbow into your ear,” I said. “But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t stick Q-tips in there and try to clean them out.”
He said I was right about the ‘elbow’ thing and that ear wax was good. “You can use a Q-tip to clean the outer edges of the inside of the ear…but don’t stick it any deeper. You could push wax in further than it’s supposed to go,” he said.
I was there to try and find out why I’d had the dizzy spells just before Christmas. I went through a battery of tests for my ears…I have some loss at the high decibel end but checked out pretty normal at the lower decibels…where the spoken language resides. The clinician conducting the test managed to bring up hearing aids at least five times during her explanation of the results. She kept jabbering and I kept saying “what?” She ignored my idiot humor and continued her pitch…which I wasn’t even close to buying.
When I got back with the doc and asked about my hearing, he said it was actually pretty good for my age…better than normal…except for the high pitch sounds. I wouldn’t be responding to dog whistles anytime soon…and I didn’t want hearing aids so I could, either. I really had to wonder why I’d gotten the hard sell on hearing aids, then. He looked my sinuses over pretty well, too and concluded that he had no idea why I’d gotten dizzy. “Whatever it was…it appears to be gone now,” he concluded…something I knew before I’d arrived since I hadn’t had a dizzy spell in almost three weeks.
So…with a clean bill of health, I headed for the park and a run on snow and ice covered trails. The bridles were about 50% ice-covered, but the footing was reasonable and I was able to complete 45 minutes without a fall. I returned home to the trainer and hit Netflix for the National Geographic special about Yellowstone National Park. What amazing topography in the two million acres that make up our first national park, set aside in 1872. I was particularly interested in the piece on the Grizzly bear attach on two hikers and what they did to avoid death in the jaws of one of the planet’s most fearsome mammals. The bear had one of the hiker’s legs in his teeth when the hiker managed to get off a blast of pepper spray in the bear’s face. It worked, and the hikers were on camera to tell their story. I keep telling myself I’m going to get some of that and carry it in the Adirondacks, but put it off because they’re just black bears. Well…they may be less aggressive and about half the size of grizzly’s…but if they decide I’m on the menu, I’ve got a problem. I love watching these programs about the amazing parks and places I’ve yet to visit, but it makes me realize how much is out there…and how little time we have when there are families to raise and bills to pay. As with everything I’ve accomplished, I need to make it a goal if I’m going to get it done. I really must play that lottery thing more often.
Run Duration: 45 minutes. Bike Duration: 50 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 running and 120 cycling.Calories burned during workout: 765 running and 700 biking.
No comments:
Post a Comment