The Week That Was

The blog went dark this week. This week was a grind.

But the viral infection in my ear has started to ease. Finally.

Slowly, very slowly, I am beginning to hear out of my right ear again. Not yet normal, that will likely take another few weeks I suspect, but at least to the point where I can appropriately discern from 300 Hz to my limit of hearing — which is approximately 14 KHz at this stage of life.

Frequencies below 300 Hz are still bent on the right side. I hear a significant variance in pitch and amplitude ear-to-ear from about 300 down to 33 Hz. I begin to stop perceiving low frequencies on my right ear just below 80 Hz. It is also touch-and-go in terms of coping with loud sound. I am playing this week-end and rehearsals are set for tomorrow morning. We’ll see how that goes.

Tinnitus did emerge through this wonderful infection. That likely contributed to the general sense of doom and gloom that carried me through the week. Things changed last night when the inflammation in my middle ear began to ease. The frightening part of losing the ability to hear is the sense that it might be permanent. The wonderful part of gaining back the ability to hear is the sense of hope that things will go back to normal and that the tinnitus will retreat into the unconscious mind.

Normal can be nice.