Key Takeaways
- The author experienced a painful ear issue while quarantined, resulting from a ruptured eardrum due to inadequate medical care.
- Initial treatment involved flushing the ear but led to increased pain, swelling, and hearing loss.
- Despite multiple complaints, medical staff dismissed the severity of the situation until further examination revealed profound hearing loss.
- Eventually diagnosed with 80-90% hearing loss in the right ear, the author plans to pursue legal action against the medical staff at the facility.
In my previous posts, I forgot to mention what happened to my ear while in quarantine at Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center. Its quite a long story, so I guess that was a good thing. Rita has also talked about it but she urged me to tell you again from my perspective.
The Pop.
The first thing that hits you when you walk into the unit at RGC is the wave of sound. Turns out when you have almost 300 people locked in a single building it can get really loud. I woke up one day and noticed my right ear felt plugged up, probably with wax. Since I had to way to clean it out myself, I sent a message to medical. This was my first mistake.
A few days later, I got a call-out to go see a nurse and get my ear flushed, but first she wanted to take a look at it. When she got the otoscope and started looking into my ear, I heard a loud pop and simultaneously felt one of the worst pains of my life. I wouldn’t find out until my provider at G. Robert Cotton Facility looked at my hear that what I heard and felt was my drum being ruptured.
Something is Definitely Wrong.
When I told her it how badly my ear hurt, she blew me off. She said, “oh… you will be fine.”
The pain in my ear was so bad that I wanted to throw up.
Then she said, “ok, lets flush it out.” This is the part of the story where my wife’s blood pressure always raises. She filled the bottle with warm water and started squirting water in my ear while holding a cup under it. I noticed that the water was cold at first and then wondered how long the water had been sitting in the sprayer since it was last used. Then I looked over at the cup, the water was tinted red. The nurse once again dismissed it, saying she must have scratched my ear canal. She said she was sorry but it should heal quickly. She also said she would schedule a follow-up to take a look at it again in a few weeks. Then I was sent back to my cell. I was in alot of pain and that first night didn’t sleep much.
The next day my jaw started to hurt and my ear felt very warm. The side of my face started to swell up. I decided against my better judgement that i should send another message to medical because something wasn’t right. My face was swollen. I could hardly chew food, and then I couldn’t hear anything in my ear. Later that day, a large bloody glob fell out of my ear.
When I called my wife, she was furious. She immediately suspected a ruptured eardrum. We contacted the Michigan Legislative Ombudsman. As far as I know, nothing came out of it.
Sorry Baymax, I was not satisfied with my care.
A follow-up appointment never came. Then a few weeks later, and after multiple messages about my hearing loss, I received a call out to see a doctor. Surely a doctor would be able to figure out what happened and be able to help me. By now the swelling had gone down but my hearing had not returned. When I walked in to see the doctor she seemed annoyed and told me then told me she was.
She said, “I’m annoyed with you. When you were asked questions at intake you never mentioned any hearing impairment.” She then accused me of lying about my hearing so I wouldn’t get “sent over the bridge” to a prison in the Upper Penninsula. I tried explaining what happened in the previous appointment and that at intake I had no hearing loss. She refused to believe me. She said a scratch in my ear canal wouldn’t have caused any hearing loss. After more arguing, she reluctantly gave me a hearing impairment detail, and made a note on my file to show I was now hard of hearing.
After this I was still in pain for months. I had no faith in the people in medical so I kept it to myself.
“Profound” Hearing Loss
Shortly after I was shipped off to JCF, I was scheduled for a hearing test to verify my “hard of hearing” status. My provider wanted to take a look at my ear before the hearing test. I was reluctant but she was very gentle. Immediately she told me something in my ear looked odd and she wanted somebody else to take a look. Another doctor came in and look and asked me if i had ever stuck anything in my ear. I said, “of course not.” He then told me my ear drum had been ruptured. I told him the story of Nurse Crazy and her otoscope. He said, “I can’t imagine the amount of pain you were in having no antibiotics or painkillers.”
I guess the best way to end this thrilling tale is with my hearing test. It turns out I have profound hearing loss in my right. 80-90% to be exact. At 37-years-old I now qualify for a hearing aid. I also have to get a CT scan to make sure nothing else was damaged with the infection and dirty water that was sprayed past my ruptured ear drum.
Thankfully, the medical staff at JCF are so much better than anyone I worked with at RGC. A health care provider told me I should sue. And I will.
