Ok, so, as usual, my life has funny moments.  The background…
I have NEVER had sinus problems, I have never had ear troubles (except during my recent trip to DC when I coughed so hard I broke some blood vessels in my ears).   Last weekend, Jennene and Mike and I completed the first phase of getting scuba certified: book work and pool dives (full gear).  So, after Sunday’s pool work, my right ear didn’t clear until late that night.  On Tuesday I swam laps for an hour and afterwards my right ear felt wacky again…like I had just gotten out from the pool dive.  Hmmmmm, THAT’s a problem since we’re going to Catalina on Saturday to dive in the ocean for 2 days.  If you have problems with your ears, you can’t equalize whilst descending which means you should cancel the dive.  OBVIOUSLY, I don’t want that…so, I went to Urgent Care tonight to see what was going on.  2 things worth noting…

In the waiting room, I got into a conversation with a woman who desperately believed in socialized medicine…whatever…except that it was like her gospel and she was actively hoping to convert me.  Trust me, I am NOT the right candidate for her gospel.  To give insight…on the front end, she asked why I didn’t want a reformed health care system and I responded with ‘Cuz I think the government should be involved in as little as possible…’  It ended with her telling me why I was wrong and with me giving her the ‘Oh, ok’ and opening my book and starting to read a new chapter.

Then, when I finally saw the doctor, he concluded that I did NOT have an infection, but that I did have signs of  hemorraging in my ears…’normal for divers’ (it was funny how he kept referring to me as a diver throughout our time together).  We discussed LOTS about how my ears are sensitive, how sudafed will need to become my friend, and how I just need to really make sure I equalize etc.  When I asked him to write some of this stuff down for me, I kid you NOT, he pulled out a tongue depressor and wrote down the highlights of our conversation.  He wrote ‘ETD eustacian tube dysfunction’ on one side and ‘pseudoephedrine (Sudafed)’ on the other.  I said, ‘Are you writing this all down on a tongue depressor?’  He smiled and said, ‘Oh yeah, I always do.’  Huh.  My $250/m premiums and $45 co-pay get me ‘paperwork’ on a tongue depressor?  Maybe I should upgrade…to the plan that offers an actual diagnosis on copy paper.  But that benefit is probably like $350/m, though.

Is it just me? Or….?