Part V
Before any major medical procedure, one signs a consent form. Before you get a large bore needle filled with corticosteroids injected directly through the eardrum without any anesthesia, you get a very stern lecture that this treatment may leave a permanent hole in the eardrum, cause horrible scaring and possibly exacerbate the deafness. I thought, “What choice to I have? My hearing is already irreparably damaged. Could it really get more destroyed?”
A trackpad and pen recorded my digital signature on a long form stating, “To try to recover the hearing.” If successful, I would undergo three injections of corticosteroids spaced out over three weeks. Each week the doctor would ask me if I wanted to continue or stop the protocol. While lying on an exam table, with my head slightly below my waist and turned to one side, the doctor prepared the solution. He warmed it up to not be too shocking when passed through the eardrum. The high gauge needle burned and stung without any anesthesia. The doctor did offer a topical anesthetic, but said if I could take the pain and not flinch, my eardrum would heal better.
I almost suggested I bite on my belt, but concentrated on pleasant thoughts while the otolaryngologist, using a specialized telescope, passed the needle through the round window membrane into my middle ear. As the anticipation of the agony of the needle passed, the warming sensation of the medicine led to a euphoria and dizziness, but quickly passed. I stayed in the supine position for 20 minutes alone. The most amazing thing happened as I waited, the horrible pulsatile tinnitus quieted for just a time, as my middle ear lay flooded in the brine of medicine.