Wax Museum

Old barbershop tiles on wall of café in Madrid
Old barbershop tiles on wall of café in Madrid

The tail end of our vacation in Spain was spent in the mountains of Mallorca in the Balearic Islands. We rented a house there from a friend of our nephew’s girlfriend. The place came with a pool and if that wasn’t enough, Mediterranean beaches were thirty minutes away in every direction. I did a lot a swimming, even got a dip in while I was waiting for the water to boil for coffee. For the last few days I had water trapped in my left ear, trapped behind wax.

I tried everything. Q-tips, rubbing alcohol, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, a hair dryer. I tried creating a vacuum with my finger to plunge it out but no luck. Back home I made an appointment to see my doctor. He had me hold an ear gutter under my ear and he squirted warm water from a big stainless steel tube into the ear. He explained that he was trying to get the water behind the wax to force it out. After four liters he gave up and referred me to an ear, nose and throat specialist. They scheduled an appointment for the 28th. I couldn’t believe it. I had not been able to hear out my ear for a week and now I had to wait another two.

I said I was desperate and they got me in with a cancelation. The specialist used no water at all. He had some sort of vacuum that sucked out the wax. He started with my good ear and showed me the clump. The left ear was problematic. All the products I had used made the wax gooey and it was completely sealed. He kept warning me, “This is going to be loud.” And it was. Louder than a rock concert but it worked. It was the most satisfying doctor visit I have ever experienced.

4 Comments

4 Replies to “Wax Museum”

  1. A few years ago we thought my mom was going deaf. It happened really fast. We took her to an ear doctor and five minutes later she was fine. Same thing.

  2. That happened to me in the Virgin Islands once. The locals in a remote spot didn’t know what to do. They almost didn’t let me on the plane out. But back at the Manhattan Ear Eyes and throat doc — that awesome water stream at high pressure, like an ocean in the eardrum.

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