I have an ear infection. A story of love, loss and brake pads.
Yesterday at work was a fun day. For the 3rd time in a little over a year we were moving from one hangar to another. Our personal hangar has been in the process of getting renovated for some time and they are still not done. At first we moved from our hangar down to one of the squadrons that was deployed. Nine months later they were coming back so we had to move somewhere else, so we moved to this tiny little helo hangar next to the T-Line here on Oceana. Now we are moving BACK down the line to VFA-11's spaces in the old F-14 hangar.
While I'm down at the "new" spaces I'm talking with my night shift counterpart about a certain gripe that we had on one of the birds and I felt the need to pop my ears. As I imagine we all have done at one point or another I plugged my nose, closed my mouth and popped them.
Suddenly the world started to spin. I reached out and grabbed the nearest thing -a triwall box- and stood there while the Earth listed in my view. My buddy that I was talking to came up and asked if I was ok and I explained what happened. I shook it off after a bit and then after some normal Navy tomfoolery regarding Quarters I headed home. After eating a meal (and after spending 2 hours at the park with my son, holding back on throttling some obnoxious 8 year olds) I went outside to sit down with my wife and that's when things started to get interesting. I suddenly felt like someone had shoved a flaming tennis ball into my right ear, complete with spikes, broken glass and the shattered dreams of millions of hippies as they look upon a logging operation. After the typical argument with the wife as to whether or not we should go to the ER I relented and we headed on our way to Portsmouth Naval Medical Hospital.
On our way there, we had quite the adventure. A GMC maintenance van spectacularly blew a tire, my wife avoiding getting involved in an accident chain due to her quick reflexes and me screaming "BLOWN TIRE, ALLIGATOR, LEFT ONE LANE!". As we approached downtown Norfolk we were informed, via high tech signage, that the Berkley Bridge was being raised.
"Oh, that's not us", my wife said. "We go over a different bridge."
No. No we did not. So while we waiting for the bridge to finish its maneuvers I got to sit there in traffic listening to all of the Notorious B.I.G's greatest hits -courtesy of the car three vehicles behind us on the right. We eventually make it over the (now down) bridge and into the tunnel to cross over into Portsmouth where at the very middle someone decides they would stop.
Right in the middle.
Of our lane. Accident Two avoided.
Finally we are on the home stretch to get to the hospital when out of nowhere a firetruck comes blazing through the intersection we were about to go through, causing my wife to once again test the material strength and response of our brake system in the 2008 Mazda Tribute. I remarked to the wife that in all the times that I have taken her and our son to the Hospital, it appears that the world has decided to make my ONE visit truly memorable.
After finally arriving at the ER I get fast tracked and find out, 2 hours later, that I have one HELL of an ear infection. In fact, it's so bad that they're concerned my ear drum is going to detonate and load me up on medicine, including vicodin. They also gave me 2 day SIQ (Sick In Quarters) Chit that excuses me from work.
The ride home was uneventful, thankfully. Now I have to get my son to school and get over to work to turn in my Chit.
I could do without this pain in my ear.
