The Spring of my Discontent

I went back to the ENT physician's assistant yesterday.  It was a disappointing visit.  Although the fungus is gone, the ear is still weeping.  Worse, the perforation which used to be between 7:00 and 8:00 now stretches from 7:00 to 9:00.  She offered faint hope that it might shrink as the inflammation decreases, but I am not holding my breath on this.  There is also something in the center of the eardrum.  It's either an indentation or another perforation, she can't see it well enough yet.
So, she powdered me again with the steroid/anti-fungal/drying agent, and we will go back on Wednesday.   The next step will probably be antibiotic with steroid drops.  This fills me with dread because the drops will go into the middle ear which feels like a hot poker has been inserted.  This delightful feeling lasts for hours, so with a twice a day regimen, most of the day is spent on the couch suffering.

Traveling this year has been extremely aggravating.  I realize this is a first world problem, and I should be smacked for the whining, but whine I must.  Winds in Jensen curtailed any hope of road riding.  We came to Boise to ride the Greenway.  It's under water.  Yesterday we wondered what's happening to the Wood River trail in Ketchum.  It's also flooding.  Worse yet, almost every mountain bike trail in the area is closed due to recent rains.  So, that's disappointing. Perhaps there will be hiking.  Our time in Ketchum will be cut short as it is, due to the wretched ear.

And then there is the RNC.

On Friday, the Republican National Committee, which handles national fundraising and campaigning for the GOP, filed a public comment supporting a proposal currently awaiting judgment by the FCC, Recode’s Tony Romm reported late Tuesday. The petition, filed in March by the marketing firm All About the Message LLC, would permit private companies and political organizations to deposit automated messages into consumers’ voicemail inboxes without causing the cellphones themselves to ring. If the FCC rules in its favor, the proposal would move “ringless voicemail” robocalling technology from a regulatory gray area to legal fair game, potentially opening the floodgates for telemarketers and political organizations to inundate Americans’ voicemails with messages hawking products, services, and candidates for office.

Can you believe the perfidy of this?  They want to flood your inboxes with their unwanted solicitations.  Deleting voice mail now takes forever since Verizon started reporting the number that left the message, its duration and other un-needed information.  They're trying to make you sign up for visual voice mail, which costs money.

It's Memorial Day Weekend.  There is a B-17 flying in the area, her name is Aluminum Overcast.  It's pretty cool to hear that engine overhead.