Ear ITCHsues

Okay this is going to be a rant.  I'm just slightly feeling fussy today because I spent a BOAT LOAD of money on my ears.  My ears? you ask??? Let me tell you. 

I hate my ears.  About 3 years ago I started to get really itchy ears.  Like SO crazy itchy.  Not just in the ear hole (for lack of a more sophisticated word), but all the way down almost to my throat.  It started in just one ear and about a year later it began in both. THE most tremendous itching you have ever felt in your whole life.  Like when they itch it feels like I have 10 mosquito bites in each ear drum and no matter how much I poke, prob, and dig nothing makes it go away. 

It's awakened me SO many nights these past few years I thought I could die.  They get sores and cracks due to all the itching and dryness, which only makes them more itchy!  Such a vicious cycle.  I'm telling you- it has been SO miserable! 

I've tried everything.  I've researched.  I've prayed.  I've made a gazillion horrible noises with my throat that Cory hates just to try and reach the deep itch inside my ear.  I've tried all my essential oils from Doterra, coconut oil, hydrogen peroxide, deep digging with a q-tip (MAJOR NO-NO!), etc... I've even gone off of gluten and dairy to see if it was a food allergy.  I'VE TRIED EVERYTHING!!!  To no avail. 

So finally, when we were in Ohio, they got so bad that I was determined to see a specialist of sorts when I got home.  And once we got home I kept pushing it off and procrastinating until FINALLY I told Cory that I was D-U-N and I had to go to someone.  He happily agreed either out of sure sweetness or annoyance that I haven't shut up about them ever since he's known me. 

Side note, I can remember when we were dating and he was so concerned with my well-being (still is, I hope. Don't worry!) and one night we were watching a movie and he looked at me so sweetly and said, "How are your ears feeling?"  I died.  I hadn't even brought up how itchy they were, but he knew and cared so much.  Maybe he was just trying to impress me ???  Either way, love him. 

This is us when we were dating.  So young, still spry. Ignorantly blissful. 

That was my "however statement" in this post.  You know how when you write a paper and you're supposed to put like an opposing view for a small portion of it?? Well, that is my positive "however" to this post.  This is a negative post, we are not focusing on the positive here.  Make sense??

Good. 

Moving on.  Soooo......... After years of this affliction I got my wits about me and went into the Ear, Nose, and Throat place in Draper.  First of all, we have a $3000 deductible and so insurance didn't cover a thing for the hearing test and office visit.  So I initially thought we were just going to have to pay the $145 for the office visit and I was fine with that.  I said I'd pay anything just to make it go away, and I stand by that statement.  But then she said that the hearing test was mandatory and cost an extra 60 bucks.  Even then I wasn't that bugged.  I thought- $200 bucka-roozies to cure my insanity?? Done!  And Cory was fine with that too.  

Oh, and to make matters worse, the nurse weighed me.  It's like- why on earth do you have to know how much I weigh when I came in here for itchy ears?? Being the protective person that I am, I covered it so Cory couldn't see, but then, to my dismay, he snooped and watched her enter it. I coulda killed him.  Oh, and did I mention I was fully clothed and in my tall, tall leather boots.  I'm not kidding I was probably wearing close to ten pounds of clothing (at least that's what I'm telling myself).  I was ticked??? Now, does Cory's wiff not only have itchy ears, but a WEIGHT problem.  (I am not fishing.  Do not comment on this part of my post. Thanks bye.)  So that kinda put a wringer in things- like my mood.   

The doctor poked in my ears and up my nose and down my throat and the WHOLE NINE YARDS and finally concluded that I have Eczema in my ears.  Do you want to cry for me??  He said it's chronic, but that the ear drops he was prescribing me had a steroid and some oil in it to help with the crazy itch fest going on in there.  

Everything looked good, he said.  All the while I'm thinking, IT'S NOT GOOD!  FREAKING TELL ME SOMETHING IS WRONG AND THAT I'VE DAMAGED MY HEARING BECAUSE OF ALL THE Q-TIPS AND FINGERS I'VE PUT IN THERE.  TELL ME IT'S INFECTED! Please just tell me my misery hasn't been in vain.  

(Am I the most messed up person ever?) I was actually SO thrilled to hear that everything looked good.  Just give a girl some validation, would ya? Of course, it was a man doctor.  What do men know about validation anyway? :)   

When I asked him about the drops he told me that insurance companies consider it a trial medication (or something) and wouldn't cover it.  I wasn't too bummed because we're not even CLOSE to meeting our deductible anyway.  He's like, "Yeah, they're pretty expensive."  So, naturally, I asked him how much.  "Oh, I think they're about 30-40 dollars."  I'm like- oh phew.  That's not that much. I'll pay anything to get my hands on those drops.   

And let me tell you, I really did. 

We pull up to the pharmacy to retrieve my lifesavers and she's like, okay so your total is $169.blah, blah, blah.  I'm like, "Excuse me??"  I could buy SO many items of clothing with that. She's like, "Yeah, you have to meet your deductible first," and whatever.  I said, "I know!  But my doctor said it was 30-40 dollars!"  And she said, "Yeah, doctor's don't really know."  I'm dying in my car.  I'm looking to Cory like HELP!!!  I've fallen and I can't get up!  Of course, he just shrugged and said to pay it.  What choice did we have??  

Meet the drops that are making it so we will starve.  They may look benign, but they've got a lotta monies tied up in them.

I do have to say, since I put the drops in this afternoon, my ears haven't been as itchy.  

But seriously, I feel like I've been raped by the medical system.  Did I mention the bottle of drops is 20mL which isn't even 1 ounce!!!!!  

I'm enraged.  And they will only last me about a month. So let me do the math. I am paying almost $200 a month so that my ears don't itch because "I have Eczema."  Good gosh.  

"Oh, but I'm giving you 6 refills!" the doctor says.  As if I'm really wanting to spend 1200 FREAKING dollars on ear drops.  

When I said I'd pay anything to have my ears stop itching I wasn't lying.  We gave them an arm AND a leg.  

I rest my case. 

SOS. 

M