fat ear

My ears have been sore on occasions. Early in my "grappling career", I didn't give it a second thought, nothing was ever badly swolling, but they were sore on and off. However, I didn't know about cauli ear. As a result, my right ear has become a little thicker and stiffer. Can't really see it (well, I can't anyway!), so I guess I was fairly lucky.

Then I figured what was going on and bought some earguards. One pair didn't fit at all and was way too big and cumbersome. Then I bough a pair of lightweight Brute earguards which stay on and don't bother me too much. I hate them when it's hot though and it does make hearing a little harder.

Lately I haven't worn them much because my ears have been fine.

After Monday however, the left ear was hot and painful. On investigation, I realised that there was in fact a bubble of liquid. Having read a lot about it, and not wanting to spend time hanging around waiting at the doctor's surgery (and then running risk of getting a doctor who doesn't know how to deal with it!), I decided to use the self help approach.

Due to having a farm full of horses, I have a fairly well stocked vet box which includes a good supply of syringes and needles. Needless to say (haha), they are of thicker gauge than what would have been perfect. Animals have tougher and thicker skin. The thinnest I could find was 21 gauge. But at least they are sterile, and so are the syringes. The hardest thing was to see what I was doing and find a good spot. The NJEEK! wasn't as bad as I had anticipated, and I managed to collect some dark blood. Due to the size of the hole, it bled a little longer 8-) . Then I held a wad of tissues on it for a while to compress it.

Operation successful. Patient alive!

I repeated the same the next day and there was less fluid. The following day, there was no discernable bubble so I gave it a miss. Feels fine now. Phew.

I think I'll need to go back to wearing my fancy headgear again. It pisses me off, but not as much as sticking needles into my ear.