24 Hours.....almost Bauer-style

A very mixed 24 hours.

A lot of bad, but a little bit of good. Let’s start with the good…..I am now officially teaching status. I sent an email yesterday evening to PADI Australia asking them to rush my instructor paperwork, because I am heading back on the 9th and need to get my 25 certs. A very nice lady by the name of Olivia Ingram, who helped me with my DM paperwork, emailed me today and let me know that she got it pushed through. So I am now 100% legit.

Other good news: had free food at Hippo’s last night as it was a celebration of their first year of business; I am now three quarters done on the MSDT course, barring the 25 certs on the internship; and, I am now also nitrox certified.

And now a host of bad news.

First, while enjoying the free food at Hippo, someone stole 1,500 baht from me (approximately $50-60). At least I think they stole the money. As the missus said, it might have fallen out of my pocket, but I find that strange because it hasn’t happened since I have been here. And the place was packed last night. Free food, advertised and passed on by word of mouth, on an island where almost all of the divemasters live hand-to-mouth. It was a zoo.

And as if that wasn’t enough to seriously piss me off last night, when I got home the Castle Party was in full swing. I tried watching the end of “I Am Legend” in the hopes that I would simply doze off, but nothing doing. Listened to my iPod, but kept getting woken up regardless. So I got about three hours sleep last night.

Hmmmm, what to address next? The crappy news or the potentially devastating news? Crappy, methinks. I have a suspicion that the milk I put on my muesli this morning was slightly off. I say this because by the time I got to Ban’s I had the runs. Which I didn’t have before. Two trips to the toilet at Ban’s in about 20 minutes….the only thing that stopped me from going all morning, was that I think I cleaned out the system on the two quick trips.

I still have a rumbly belly now. Not fun.

Ok, so leaving the best ‘til last, after our second dive this afternoon, I surfaced with an incredible earache. Like the water in my ear wouldn’t drain out. I tried putting warm water in my ear on the boat and I tried getting the bubble to pop using a gentle valsalva manoeuvre (where you pinch your nose and blow with your mouth closed). Nothing worked. I tried shaking my head with my right ear toward the ground (the right ear being the one with the issue). I got off the boat with the ear still being a pain in the arse. In fact, I got off the speedboat back at Ban’s with the ear still being so much of a problem that I didn’t have a good sense of balance and fell over as I jumped to the sand.

I got home, lay down (with the affected ear facing down) and fell asleep. After getting up, I felt worse than before. My ear now positively throbs, I am slightly dizzy and I am experiencing mild vertigo, loss of balance and a feeling like I am walking on a rocky boat, despite the fact I am sitting stock-still. I’ve mentioned before the sensation of feeling as though the room is moving as a result of rough seas, but the ocean was once again mirror-like today, so it isn’t that. I know that being tired from yesterday isn’t helping, but damn.

Having gone over my rescue diver skills repeatedly for the DM course and the IDC, I am quite concerned. There are a number of possibilities:

1) Worst-case scenario: I ruptured my round window (a membrane in the middle ear that leads to the inner ear). This would result in absolute disorientation, massive pain and a complete loss of balance. So I don’t think it is this.

2) I burst my eardrum. Not as bad as a round window rupture, but would still be shitty, particularly as it would likely mean that I couldn’t dive again before I leave. A ruptured eardrum fixes itself, so this is not as bad as 1), although it does make that ear more prone to future rupture.

3) I have water stuck in my ear. This is quite possible, because when I make gentle valsalva’s I can hear a sucking noise quite clearly. If I had done either 1 or 2, I think that doing a valsalva manoeuvre would likely make me pass out. If this is the problem, hopefully a day off diving will cure the issue (tomorrow we do our equipment specialty, so there is no diving). Poking around at my ear and trying gentle valsalva’s may have actually irritated the ear, causing the discomfort I am currently experiencing.

4) I have an ear infection (which would again be affected by the dicking around on the boat), but I think this is also likely not the cause, because the discomfort began immediately after the last dive.

Anyway, a crappy end to a shite 24 hour period (with the absolutely positive exception that I received my teaching status) and let’s keep our fingers crossed that my ear issue resolves itself. I will not be a happy camper if I managed to get my teaching status fast only to not be able to get the 25 required certs because now I cannot dive for the remainder of my time here. It will also suck that I will not be able to go for a dive at all with Gaudette or Heather if that is the case.

Damn. Unhappily signing off for today.