I suddenly hear better!

We all have earwax and whether we like it or not, we must live with it. It’s meant to protect the ear canal from water, infection, injury, and foreign objects. But, like anything else, too much of it can be too much, and it has to be eventually removed.

Genetically, I happen to have a narrowed ear canal, which explains why my wife at times thinks I listen to her far too selectively (not enough broadband as it were), and of course wax has been building up inside for the past 72 years!

Well, last week, I went for my annual doctor visit and he told me that my ears were filled with wax. So he orders the nurse to remove it. She began power-washing my hears to the point that I thought her treatment was fit for the Spanish inquisition, Bush-Cheney water-boarding or modern oil-fracking, with water getting into my brain and inundating my thoughts.

She thought she’d done a good job, only to be dismissed when my Doctor looked at it, still wasn’t quite satisfied with her work and doubled-up on it, by injecting gallons of extra water into my eardrums.

It helps that Park City boasts a mining heritage and a front-seat row in the extractive industries.

Eventually, decades old layers of wax were extracted from my ears like billion-years old fossil fuels are brought out of the earth crust. I was beat-up, ready for a vacation and not receptive for that kind of treatment ever again. Yes, after that I heard a tiny bit more clearly!