September 6, 2014

I'm temporarily deaf...

In one ear, anyway.  Ear infection.

I tried riding it out as most of the time, you can't do anything for an ear infection other than comfort care.  But after 2+ weeks, it was time to pack up and go to the doctor.   Which of course, did not have any appointments on Friday--in fact, they close early on Fridays.  So I headed for the nearest Minute Clinic.  This was not an ED-worthy illness.  I also figured my CVS would be faster than going to urgent care.  I figured it'd also be cheaper too:  should my insurance end up denying my claim even after I explain that it's not my fault my doctor's office closed at noon, I'd only be out $100.

So I leave work early on Friday and go right to the clinic.  There's a few people waiting there and they are very happy to see me.  I'm wondering why considering they're all complete strangers to me...until one finally asks me if I'm going to be seeing them next.

I had come straight from the hospital, so I had my scrubs and ID badge on.  I realized that they saw the "RN" placard and got excited--they thought I was another nurse coming to man the clinic.  I had to explain that I was the patient today.   I declined the offer to read someone's TB test for them.

It's not a long wait:  I'm seen in 30 minutes.   Nurse practitioners run the clinic, which is nice because I can speak Nurse to them and they don't think I'm crazy.  It's a quick visit:  she looks in the ear, declares it's not a very happy ear, gives me ear drop antibiotics and instructions to keep taking Motrin 800mg, forwards my script to my own pharmacy for pick up by the time I get there, and says she's always happy to help a fellow nurse.

The problem is that antibiotics take a few days to work, so until then it's Motrin, warm compresses and closed captioning on the television.