Oh boy, you’d think that what
happened a few months ago wouldn’t happen again so soon. What am I talking
about? I don’t know if you remember this post: http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2011/03/stick-it-in-your-ear-with-flattery.html.
This time though, no flattery was involved. What I’m talking about is another
piece of earplug broke off and got stuck in my ear, this time in the left ear!
What the heck?! Has the quality of these rubber earplugs gotten worse? Until
this year, this has never happened to me and I’ve been using those types of
earplugs for more than 10 years. When I woke up last week, I felt some pressure
in my left ear but didn’t make the connection right away. Then I had a déjà vu
moment, then disbelief. I looked in the mirror to see the location and depth of
the rubber piece but it was difficult because of the angle. I took another hand
held mirror and positioned it ala a sideways periscope. It was then that I
could see how the piece was lodged in my left ear. Like a few months ago, I
attempted to pull it out with tweezers but with the used of two mirrors, my
depth perception was altered. Before calling the doctor for an appointment, I
tried looking for a couple of neighbors to ask them if they could use the tweezers
to pull the object out. But all of them were still at work. My next attempt to
dislodge it was turning my head sideways and pound it with the palm of my hand,
kinda like when you try to remove water from your ear after swimming. It didn’t
work the first time but I persisted. The second time, I felt the rubber tip get
a little loose. With a little help from the tweezers and two mirrors, I was finally
able to take it out! Whew! With a little bit of luck, I was able to save myself
a doctor’s visit this time.
So what do I do now about blocking
out the noise during my sleep? I just bought a dozen of those rubber earplugs a
few months ago but now I’m wary about using them. Maybe I’ll try one of those
noise reducing industrial ear muffs. I found one at Harbor Freight Tools for
$2.99. There were more expensive ones but I thought I’d try the cheap one first
to see how it works when I’m in bed.
Let me digress for a second. At the check stand
of the Harbor Freight Tools store, there was a woman behind me who looked
familiar but I wasn’t sure if she was the one I used to run with the Runner’s High Club in
the late 80’s and early 90’s. So I turned around and asked her “Is your name
Jade?”. She said yes, and I introduced myself. Fortunately she remembered who I
was after hearing my name. I certainly hoped she remembered me. After all,
after one of Runner’s High’s track workouts, we drove together to Long Beach
Memorial Hospital to visit Cindy, a teammate who was in a coma due to a car
accident. I asked Jade if she was still
running. She said yes. Then I told her about the situation with my ankles and
that because of it, I couldn’t run any more. She said she would die if she
wouldn’t be able to run. I told her that I’ve survived so far without it. I
then asked her about her husband and she said he doesn’t run as much as before
because he is getting older. I said “aren’t we all?”. After the short
conversation I asked her to say hello to Joe, her husband, then bid her
goodbye.
Back to the earmuffs. While all this conversation
was going on at the check stand, I happened to have a 20% off coupon and
another coupon for a free LED flashlight. So my final cost for the earmuffs was
only 2.60 plus tax. I tried wearing the earmuffs that night but I’m not sure if
it helped because it didn’t block sound as well as the rubber earplugs, and it
was a bit uncomfortable. So far, I’ve used it twice: once for night sleep, and
another for day sleep after work. Because of the earmuff’s obtrusiveness, it’s
hard to decide whether it really helps of not. Further testing is required.
I wonder if using one of those
sound machines or white noise machines would work better instead of inserting
something in or covering the ears? Well, here’s an update. I bought one of
those machines, tried it twice, but it didn’t help me with my sleep since the
noise around my building overpowered the white noise. So I returned it to the
store. I may have to go back to the earplugs and replace them every few months
before they get too brittle and break off again in my ear.
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