Hey Joel!

It sounds like the gas went deeper than your ear...

Joel Sell wrote:

> Thanks for all the *sympathetic* email I received over the temporary loss
> of hearing and scarring of my eardrum!!!!!!  Just kidding. But seriously,
> it DID hurt. When I was 19 I fell about 100 feet off of a cliff (rock
> climbing, rope broke) and managed to break only both of my legs pretty
> badly. I had lots of reconstructive surgery and the gas in my ear came
> close to the pain of all that leg trauma.
> The lady doctor across the street was really cool. While she was pouring
> warm water in my ear, her three kids were trying to cheer me up. One of
> them colored me like 5 Elmo pictures, while the other two kept holding
> things in front of my face, telling me to concentrate on those objects, not
> the pain. Were it not for the extreme pain I was in, I might have found the
> situation a bit humorous. The doctor checked my ear again today and said it
> looked a bit red inside (duh), but other than that, it hasn't been
> bothering me much. My eardrum is still intact, and I think my hearing is
> back to normal (but I'm not telling my wife that- just another excuse to
> not take out the garbage. "Oh, I'm sorry honey. I didn't HEAR you ask me to
> take the garbage out. Remember my ear?"  Heh  heh heh).
> Joel