Strange biking accident
Like most sports, mountain biking has its risks. I’ve had a few accidents, falling off the bike, hitting low branches, etc, but so far (knock on wood) no serious injuries. I am pretty careful and I wear a very good helmet and eye protection. Last Sunday I was biking the single-track at Little River Park just North of Durham, when I came upon a branch of shrubs that had fallen into the path right at eye level. I was going at a pretty good clip, and I had my sunglasses on, so I just ducked a bit and crashed through it. As I moved through the tangle of twigs, I felt a twig poke me in my right ear and then a sharp pain. And I mean a SHARP F#%!N pain! So I stopped and checked to see if my brain was leaking out my ear. It was not. I just noticed a couple of drops of clear liquid. After a few Minutes the pain had mostly subsided, and I got back on the bike and I continued my ride. There was really no obvious reason to stop, and I would have had to ride back anyway.
So after that incident, the hearing in my right ear was all screwed up, muffled, like a bad case of airplane ear. I began wondering if that damn twig had poked a hole in my ear drum. I figured a good test for that would be to see what happens if I pressurize my middle ear. Sure enough – I am able to blow air through my ear. It’s a pretty weird sensation, and it freaks people out to hear a whistling sound come from your ear! So I went to see my doctor on Tuesday. He took one look and said “Yep – you punctured your ear drum.” Then he sent me to a specialist across town. That’s where I went today. He also said “Oh yes – you punctured your ear drum.”
The doctor says that it’ll take about 6-8 weeks for the 2mm hole in my ear drum to heal up. From the location of the hole, near the malleus bone, I was lucky that I did not damage those little hearing bones in my ear. The doctor said that if you experience trauma in your ear and then you get dizzy, that’s a sign that you damaged those bones. But he checked it out thoroughly, and there is no crap inside the middle ear, and so it should heal just fine. I hope so. My hearing is all screwed up. And I can blow air through my f#%!n ear! What a stupid, weird thing to have happen.