Remembering my last visit (first in life actually) to an ENT (Ears Nose Throat) specialist, the other evening, I tried to kill the goliath of ear clogging with a few drops of soda glycerine shot from the slingshot called….soda glycerine bottle, what else? I hope it would work. And it did…whatever path was open heretofore was closed and my ear felt like a jet airport where the fighters of my own voice landed every now and then. Ah! It was inevitable to see the doctor now, and I knew the pain it had caused me last time, followed by a lasting relief. So I had to see a doc on my birthday. Very well!

Taking my breakfast on this special day, I felt like mines were being blasted in my left ear. Every mouthful was a trial. “Left is always such a mess!” I said to myself. I am sure the left ear heard it but thankfully, it didn’t snap back. After all, it was my ear!

Paying the bill, I went ahead to ask about an ENT at the nearest medical clinic. They didn’t seem to know what that was. I pointed to my ear and said “I got trouble here.” The attendant shook his head and told me they hadn’t got any doc for this thing. “Good!” I felt some relief (prospective pain was hanging on my head) and reminded myself that my birthday wasn’t going to be with a jet fighter airport. So I hired a cab and went to the Rehman Medical Institute in Hayatabad.

As I went in to see the doctor, I was nervous. But he turned out a considerate person (sitting without a sword pointing at his patients). I knew what he was going to do, and he did. If you want to know how I held out while he removed the clogged wax in my ear, just go to YouTube and search for “Charlie Bit Me”. Watch the elder kid and that’s me!

Finally, when he showed me the wax ball pulled out of my ear, I almost shrieked. Man! How could this size of a blob grow in my ear (which now felt open and quite relaxed)? I wondered if he’d wrap it up for me as a birthday present, should I tell him that it was my birthday. My kids (if they ever happened to be) would like to play with it their first soccer match. Thanking the doctor, I exited the hospital, feeling light and free. And it goes without saying that I requested the doc to leave treating the other ear for the next week.

Driven to the chemist in a cab, I touched my left ear lightly and felt sorry for not taking care of it. Yet, I thought this visit was the birthday gift I could give myself- the gift of health.

–Ernest Dempsey, Editor-in-Chief

Recovering the Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing