Recap on Atlanta/Speak into my good ear

Just to remind everyone-I fenced in a National tournament almost two weeks ago in Atlanta, Georgia.

It's the first tournament since I have been back that I really felt ready for-physically, mentally, etc. However, my ear did not feel the same way about the situation. "Huh?" You might say, let me explain.

It all started just a week before I was supposed to leave....

I woke up one morning with swelling on the cartilidge of my right ear. It sort of looked like a cross between a bug bite gone wrong and something a wrestler would get. Apparently I'm wrestling in my sleep?

Anyways, I spent the week at practice with very little discomfort even though the mask was right up against my ear. The thought to go to the doctor did cross my mind, but I wanted to wait a little bit and maybe the swelling would go down on it's own.

No.

About a week later and a day before I leave for Atlanta, I saw a ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. The ENT looked at me and said, you have swelling in your ear and you can't fence for about a week or two after I lance it and take care of it. What? No. Way. I did not have the time to just wait around for this thing to heal and what about it is such a big deal?

The doctor warned me that it could get worse and if left untreated my ear would be somewhat deformed for life (think of caulliflower ear...ew..). Scary thought, but I had to fence the competition. To which he replied, "Well, we all make choices in our life, don't we." Yeah, we do, and I chose at that moment to walk away from the office and set up an appointment to get my ear drained as soon as I get back from Atlanta.

That's when the real drama began. After I warmed up and fenced my first bout, my ear just swelled up more and more. The thing had swollen up to a size of a small egg in the cartilidge of my ear. The pain at that point was unbelievable it was at that point the trainer told me that I might have to pull out of the competition. To which I responded with tears and probably a few choice words.

I thought about it and I decided that I would rather cut my ear off than stop fencing in the tournament. Was it the adrenaline talking? There was no way that I would be held back by something as crazy as an "ear injury". I was very angry and subsequently beat people in my first round pool rather badly. I was not a happy camper but anger can be very helpful during competition.

The saga continued. Throughout the day the ear got worse and I couldn't put my mask on without A LOT of pain. So, the trainers and my physical therapist rigged a bolster to be put around my ear and wrapped around my head like some head injury victim. It was truly amazing-I thought I looked like a vet from those old WWII movies. I had to have someone help me put my mask on and I looked absolutely ridiculous. I didn't care about the look but fencing with extra padding in my mask was none too comfortable.

I ended up sixth overall and I lost to the girl that eventually won the competition. Amazing that I did that well considering my ear was exploding! After I lost my match in the top-eight I left for the nearest emergency room to drain my ear. There was no way that I would get on a plane with a very swollen and painful right ear. I just couldn't believe my luck that day.

To make the long story a little shorter. The nurse at the ER drained about two teaspoons of blood from my ear (um, without waiting for the novicaine to kick in before she cut into it with a scalpel). The next day I got off the plane in Rochester and headed right over to the ENT who cut it open again and placed a tight bolster on it so that it could heal. I didn't fence for all of last week because I couldn't put a mask on.

After the ENT took the stiches and bloster out I had to come up with a way to put my mask on without irritating the ear. This actually proved to be more of a challenge than I thought. I went to a guy that makes prosthesis for a living and he couldn't think of anything except to put some sort of ski headgear on to protect the ear. He also thought about some wrestlers head gear-there was no way any of that was going to fit underneath my mask along with my large melon head. I also thought of a hundred different things and rejected them all including my Dad's suggestion to put a jar lid on my ear. Who knows what he was thinking? What has worked so far is wearing a bandana that ties my ear back so I can slip the mask on and off without doing much damage.

The things we go through.

At least the bandana makes me look somewhat scary or maybe just looks like I'm about to do some house work/serious dusting. Either way-it covers up my poor little/swollen right ear.