Several days ago while at a school reunion, I noticed my right ear started to feel strange. It felt like I had an earplug or water in my ear; the sound was muffled. While riding in the car on the way home, it got worse from more loud talking. The noise started to make my ear hurt. I’ve had this feeling before after hearing a very loud noise, but the feeling usually went away rather quickly, at least by the next day or two.

But, my hearing didn’t improve over the next couple of days. I also had a louder than usual buzzing in my ear. My ear was very sensitive to “sharp” noises. A clink of a nearby glass, for example, would make me cringe. Since the muffled sound didn’t go away in a couple of days, I checked with Dr. Matthew. He said if the problem didn’t completely go away in a few days, I should see an ENT specialist because I might be having sudden sensorineural hearing loss. He said the treatment for this problem is to take Prednisone, a steroid, to prevent permanent hearing loss.

The problem got better but didn’t go away, so I made an appointment with an ENT physician. I also started taking Prednisone on my own. Ann had an unused prescription, which the Dr. gave her for a foot problem.

I saw Dr. May today, but before I saw the Dr., I saw an audiologist. She performed a hearing test and found that I have near normal hearing at low frequencies, but some loss of hearing at higher frequencies. She said the hearing loss was not enough for me to be a candidate for hearing aids; I believe my loss of hearing of high frequency sounds is probably common for a person my age. She also told me that the hearing loss was symmetrical meaning it’s about the same in both ears, although slightly worse in the in my right ear (the problem ear) at one or two frequencies. I took this to be good news, because the problem I’m experiencing with my right ear is apparently not associated with hearing loss in that ear, otherwise it would have been a lot worse than my other ear.

The Dr. didn’t find anything that could be causing the problem—no wax buildup, no inflammation, no fluid, etc. However, he prescribed Prednisone, saying it wouldn’t hurt to take a round of that. So, I will be taking this stuff for about a week. I go back to see him in about 2 weeks.

I told both the audiologist and the Dr. that Matthew was a head and neck surgeon. I must have told the audiologist that he works in Richmond. After the Dr. finished his examination and I was ready to leave, he said “I know your son, Matt”. He didn’t ask me if I had a son that did his residency in Richmond or any other question. He must have thought, “How many ENT surgeons named Bridges could there be in Richmond.” He said Matthew was Chief Resident when he started his residency program at MCV in Richmond. He knew where Matthew works and other stuff like that.

Small world isn’t it.