Day 242 - 3rd October 2010

So, after another terrible nights sleep (what sleep!) I was up and showered around 5am.. laying in bed was just too annoying, and overnight I had developed some pretty large swelling around my ear and jaw... not too painful, but pretty large.

I waited around until 7am and caught a taxi to Bangkok Samui hospital. Once there, the usual registration forms, blood pressure, temperature and medical history. Then a wait for the doctor who was due in to work at 8.30am.

Promptly, I was seen as soon as he came in, and he questioned me about the last 3 weeks, and I told him all I could remember... from all the different drugs, ear drops, syringing, cotton buds, paper etc.

First, he inspected the ear that was not ruptured, and cleaned it out, not through syringing as the clinics had on Koh Tao, but with a motorised suction device... the kind the dentist uses to suck up all the saliva while working on your teeth. A few scraps of paper... not too much and some wax came out. He said, that the ear canal was inflamed and infected.

Second ear, swollen (and apparently ruptured 3 weeks ago) was cleaned out as before. Nothing beside some fluid came out. It felt so nice when he was doing this as it was kind of scratching the itch that I cannot reach.

Anyway, ear cleaned, he told me that both ears are still infected, definately outer ears, but possibly middle ear infection as well. He could not see any perforation (which is good) but said there was probably a small hole where all the drainage is coming from.

So... to summarise. I am now on different antibiotics for the next 10 days... if there is no improvement within 5 days, I have to return to Samui for another examination. He said i should see a significant decrease in the fluid discharges from my ears within the next 3-4 days. I hope he is right.!

If the ears clear up, the specialist said I should wait another week to make sure the ears are fully healed before attempting to dive, and I have to pass 3 checks to ensure that I am good to go.

£200 worse off, I am now waiting for the ferry back to Koh Tao (which is delayed by 2 hours) and will get to the island by 5pm.

Just one point to make. I will not go on my own again... It was awful not having Jenny to just talk to, or cuddle, especially during my very long night of non sleep.

SD