Update: "Red 36" Jan-February Health Scare. · 12:55am Feb 22nd, 2021
I'm working on chapter 14 still. Unfortunately I'm almost two months behind schedule right now. The long and short of it is, I'm working on it now.
If you want more detail, feel free to keep reading below.
No it wasn't COVID-19. About early to mid-January I started getting really bad Tinnitus in my left ear and it kept getting worse and worse and the pressure gave me headaches and pain that made it impossible to focus let alone write. I had to fight with my doctor to give me a referral to an ear specialist because the secretary who usually answers the phone is just really unpleasant and kept telling me to wait for the mail as my symptoms were getting worse and worse. My neck was stiff on the left side, and it was starting to get painful. It wasn't responding to anti-biotics either. Scary.
So I finally manage to see the ear specialist and get an appointment for a hearing exam. Thankfully no sign of infection. Hearing levels normal. Maybe-not-so thankfully, the pain is still going and I'm not responding great to steroid medication. It helps but not enough. It's also super weird that the pressure is only one one side. That could mean any number of things. Meanwhile I'm feeling like total garbo and it almost feels like I'm having some sort of weird allergic reaction. Symptoms are still getting worse. I admit I'm a little bit of a hypochondriac, but it's a fairly normal reaction I think to get nervous when you start dealing with unknown medical problems in close proximity to the brain.
So just to be safe I get scheduled for a brain MRI. Really scary. It was kind of like being shoved through a human printer. Though at the time of writing this I haven't gotten the results back, I'm fairly confident I know what it is.
I was starting to suspect that maybe I have a rare plastic allergy or something because every time I sit down at my computer I'd feel weird and dizzy and my ear would start hurting. So I'm trying to see if maybe I'm allergic to something specific near my desk. That's not it though. When I go outside or take a walk or go to cook dinner, my ear would feel better. I stand up. I sit down. I take off my sandals. That's when I find the answer. I'm 98% sure now what the culprit is:
Black mold. The silent killer.
I lifted up my old rug which and there was a black spot underneath. (The mold must've been carried over from my last place on the rug, I just didn't realize because it was on a black bear, but underneath the carpet is black on tan and much easier to see.) There's also a fan positioned on my left side, hence, most of the pressure taking place inside of my ear. As the doctor said: it's super weird that it's only on one side. Well, if I'm stepping on a moldy carpet and putting mold spore particles into the air in a poorly ventilated room which then get blown inside of my ear because of that fan well now that pressure starts to make sense.
So I threw the rug in the dumpster and doused the underlying area with enough bleach to make Ichigo Kurosaki blush, and I felt almost instantly better. Still recovering and in the process of cleaning everything at the moment, but it makes a world of difference. I can now write for long periods of time again without feeling dizzy or nauseous and at least for the moment every trace of that garbage is gone. This must be what it's like to be the star of a real life episode of House MD.
Tl;dr I'm feeling better now. I'm suspecting when my doctor calls me tomorrow they're going to relay that they found nothing on the scan and I'll relay this information. Maybe get something to help. That's all, I just didn't want to let you think that I've gone and left you hanging. That's all for now.
Thank you for your patience!
-El Dee
Edit: (Update) No brain tumor. Wooooooo!!
Well, hopefully, it' the mold. That stuff can be pretty nasty.
5458815
Hopefully, but I feel so much better after getting rid of that rug and cleaning my place. So that's my hunch. I also got a HEPA filter now to hopefully clear up anything lingering in the air.
Oh, dude hope your feeling well now, honestly being delayed a bit ain't a problem you completely in pain. I say miss a few days if you ain't feeling well.
5459004
Thanks for your understanding. I just don't like going months without saying anything. I'm enough of a hermit as it is. People will start to think I'm dead!
I can understand this entirely. I am very sorry to hear you are going through this and hope you can get it cleared up quickly. Having lived in a home with it back in the early 1980's I can understand how bad it can affect you. I am just glad you figured it out and look forward to your next installment.