Hello and welcome back! I can’t believe it’s fall already. The leaves have started to change, and the weather—at least where I am—has gotten colder. I’m sure I’ll be pulling out my winter coat in no time. Boo hoo, since I don’t like winter! With the temperature changing, fall is also the time for all those changing-of-the-season illnesses.
I wanted to share a story about a minor health situation that happened to me on our summer vacation. Thankfully, everything is fine now. But things could’ve been worse if I hadn’t gone to the doctor. I’ll share all the details in a bit, but basically, my vacation was nearly ruined because I had an annoying ear issue and couldn’t go underwater. Swimming was the one thing I was looking forward to the most on this vacation.
Which brings me to the life lesson that I learned: when your expectations have to change, focus on the things you can do, rather than what you can’t. In other words, instead of thinking about what you’re missing, try to think about things you’re gaining. It can help shift your mood from being sad to glad. (Well, at least sort of.)
Here’s what happened…
No soup-rises here
I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like being sick. Whenever I’m sick—no matter what my symptoms are—my mom always tries to give me chicken soup. She claims that chicken soup is one of the best natural cures for illness; I’ll also go to the doctor if needed. Chicken soup now reminds me so much of being sick that I can’t have that type of soup anymore. Not even when it’s with chicken soup with noodles. (Ha ha to anyone who gets that joke.) For the record, the only soup I like is tomato soup. That might have something to do with the fact that tomato soup kind of resembles ketchup, my favorite condiment.
Anyway, during the last weeks of August, my family always goes away on our annual summer vacation. This summer, we were staying at a place that was close to the beach. Awesome, right? Even better, the house had a pool. Double water options? Even more awesome! If there’s one thing I love in the summer, it’s going swimming.
On our second day away, though, I awoke with a clogged right ear.
I wondered if maybe I had gotten some water stuck in my ear with all the swimming I’d done since we’d arrived. I didn’t hear any of that water-inside-your-head sloshing around like I usually do. That ruled out swimmer’s ear. Then I thought, maybe there was a lot of wax built up in my ear. So, I cleaned my ear using a warm washcloth. The clogging on my right side didn’t get better. (For the record, my ears were pretty clean.)
It was also a bit hard to hear on my right side. When people talked, they sounded a little muffled.
Do you want to know what’s worse than being sick in normal times? The answer: being sick on vacation. That’s why I kept my clogged ear issue to myself and didn’t tell anyone about it. Instead, I hoped my ear issue would just get better on its own. I guess you could say I was hoping my clogged ear would get EAR-rased.
Sadly, it didn’t.
I’m all ears
My ear issue took a turn for the worse when my head started hurting if I lay down. One day, I stood up after relaxing on the couch. My mom saw me grimacing in pain (not to be confused with Grimace, the purple character).
“Noodle, what’s wrong? Why did you just grab your ear?” I was hoping she hadn’t noticed.
“Nothing’s wrong. Everything is fine,” I told her. Honestly, my ear issue really wasn’t that bad. I’m pretty sure pain from strep throat was far worse.
“Well, let’s keep an eye on your ear. We may need to go see a doctor. Until then, you probably shouldn’t be swimming under water.”
No swimming underwater? I thought to myself. My already bad mood turned even more sour.
Once you’ve experienced the joy of swimming underwater, it’s super boring to swim above water. Unless you’re on a fun raft or float, of course.
I tried convincing myself that my muffled, sometimes achy ear wasn’t that bad. I could surely survive the discomfort. The not-swimming-underwater part, however, was something I couldn’t deal with.
(Not) making a splash
I sulked around for the rest of the afternoon. I refused to even stick my toe in the pool. It was a hot day, too, so avoiding the pool seemed like a cruel punishment—even if it was my own doing.
Everyone else seemed to be having a grand time splashing around. I know it was in my head, but it felt like they were teasing me by swimming underwater. I was missing out on all the underwater fun.
When my mom asked about my ear issue the next day, I told her that I was fine.
But this time, my mom decided to go with her instincts instead of my words.
Her diagnosis? “It’s time we go to a doctor.”
Ear-ritating news
“We can just wait until we get home from our trip.” Maybe my ear issue just needed a few more days. I thought my mom would appreciate me saving her the effort of going to a doctor.
“I’d rather not take the chance that things get worse. If it’s an ear infection, it’s pretty easy to treat.” Harrumph! My mother always seemed to be the voice of reason.
A few hours later, the nice urgent care doctor confirmed that my mom’s medical instincts were correct. I had what’s called “otitis media,” a middle ear infection. Apparently, middle ear infections don’t get better on their own. In fact, if left untreated, a middle ear infection can lead to serious complications. I won’t go into the specifics, but let’s just say that it causes some pretty awful ear issues. And then some.
The doctor prescribed me antibiotics. Since I can swallow pills, a few days of medicine didn’t seem all that bad. But then the doctor gave me a bitter pill to swallow:
“There’s no problem being in the sun if you take this medicine. But it’s not a good idea to swim underwater. At least until you finish all the medication.”
Noooooooooo!
The incredible Sulk
Even starting the medication immediately would only leave me one day for underwater swimming before vacation was over. This ear issue was ruining everything. But maybe there was still a way to salvage things.
Despite what the doctor said about not going underwater, maybe my mom would be lenient since we were on vacation? It was worth a try to find out.
“What if I went underwater a little less? Or maybe I just wait three days for the antibiotics to start working and then I go underwater?” My mom shook her head no.
“You can still go swimming, Noodle. You just can’t go underwater. Make the best of it. There are plenty of other things you can do. You haven’t even tried out the pool floats.” Pool floats for the rest of vacation? That hardly seemed like a good option. Especially for a summer vacation that I fully expected to revolve around swimming and barbeques. This otitis media business was really cramping my style.
I sulked for the entire car ride back to the house.
I sulked as I watched Jill and my dad goof around in the pool that afternoon. I sulked as my mom barbequed hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner. I briefly stopped sulking during the eating part. Hot dogs with ketchup are my favorite meal after all.
I would’ve sulked for longer except after a couple of days, the medicine appeared to be working. My ear issues were going away. Thank goodness!
Music to my ears
Even though my ear infection was getting better, I still couldn’t go underwater. I know I was being a little bit stubborn about refusing to go in the pool altogether. But when you can’t do your favorite thing—the very thing you’ve been looking forward to for a long time—it’s hard to just say “Oh well. No big deal.” Swimming was my most favorite part of vacation!
One night, my big sister, Jill, had some advice, “You’re ruining what would otherwise be a nice trip, Noodle. You’re wasting a lot of time thinking about what you can’t do, instead of what you still can do.” Jill pointed to the basketball hoop and the hammock that I’d hardly used.
I mean, maybe she had a point. If I wanted to play basketball at home, I had to walk to the playground. And I’d never been on a hammock before. It looked like the perfect place to curl up with a good book.
I’d never admit it to her, but Jill may have been on to something there.
The next day, I worked on my dribbling skills and my jump shot. Since Jill didn’t play basketball, I didn’t have to share the hoop with anyone. When I got tired of that, I climbed into the hammock and read one of the books I’d checked out from the library. Soooo relaxing! And when I got too hot, I took a dip in the pool, but only up to my shoulders. While I didn’t go underwater, it still felt kind of nice.
The good news is that our last day of vacation had the most perfect weather. With my antibiotics finally finished, I did a huge cannonball into the pool. I spent so much of the day swimming, my fingers turned into prunes. Even though the vacation started off with a sputter, it ended with a bang.
Take it from me, when things don’t work out the way you hoped—especially when you’re on vacation—I suggest trying to modify your expectations. You just might make a tough situation…well…better than you expected.
Alright. Time to get back to my homework. The countries on my geography quiz aren’t going to memorize themselves.
Until next time, be your best you.
Do you have any stories about learning an important lesson from an experience? Please share them with me in the comments section!
