I've been having a little problem with my ear for the past couple of weeks. Nothing serious: ear pain, crackling, inability to "pop" on command. I thought I should have it checked before flying this week so I visited with the kind folks at my local Urgent Care. After reviewing the symptoms with the nice lady doctor she promptly took her magic ear looky-inny-scope and checked my left ear. Not the ear I'm having problems with. Off to a bad start, I'm thinking. No, she said, I want to look at an ear that isn't giving you problems first. Good plan, I thought. She then looked in my right ear. For a while. She leaned back with her serious doctor face.
Dr: "Do you have pets?"
Me: "Yes." And in that fraction of a moment I frantically tried to figure out how I was going to tell Kathryn and Jon that we have to get rid of them all because I assumed she was going to tell me I'd developed some horrible allergy to all of them - just by looking in my ear.
Dr: "Are any of them black?"
Me: "Yes" I say - now thinking it's a trick question and she's actually just looking at my white t-shirt which has black fur on it and the animals MAY just have a chance at life but that I may be dead.
Dr: "That's what I thought!"
Me: "What?!"
Dr: "You have a two pieces of animal hair sitting right on the membrane of your ear drum."
Me: "I'm sorry - did you just tell me I have a hairball?"
"Maybe it's from the orange kitty Mom?"
