Ear Bugs

June 21, 2018

Another lesson in aging. As I rode my motorcycle to a doctor’s appointment to try to diagnose the reason for the pain in my left hip, my ears began to itch, which was quite annoying because I can’t get a finger in between the helmet and my ear to scratch it. This wasn’t any old itch; it felt like little bugs were trying to crawl inside my ear canal, something of which I was definitely not in favor. I suppose it’s better than those times that I’ve driven into bees which promptly wedged themselves between the helmet and my cheek, stingers first. THAT is annoying in the first degree!

Today was only mildly annoying, but there wasn’t much I could do about it till I arrived at my destination. Except think. Which I did. Soon, I realized that there were no bugs trying to make themselves at home in my ears; it was the wind whipping those pesky ear hairs that grow like weeds in the ears of people over sixty. I don’t know why God thinks I need hair in my ears; I’d much rather have it on the top of my head where it belongs. I could put up with the feeling of bugs crawling all over my head if it meant I could sport a follicular forest. But no...I have to settle for bugs in my ears. 

If I had to choose however, I would choose ear bugs over the throbbing ache in my left foot and hip. The good doctor showed me the X-ray report from my last visit that I had totally forgotten about. The mild arthritis that showed up didn’t in his opinion, warrant an MRI or any other tests. He offered a prescription for inflammation that I’ll get filled, but probably won’t take regularly like he wants. I don’t like taking medicine, regularly forget when it’s prescribed, and am not so debilitated that I can’t do most of what I want to do, although I admit that tonight, my hip and foot are letting me know in no uncertain terms that they aren’t happy with the mile and a half walk Linda and I put them through this evening. All in all, it’s not so bad. I can get around, and that hip and foot are pretty reliable indicators that I’m still alive. And for that, I am thankful. Still, I could do without the hairy ears.