This post is unlike my usual ones, and while I hope for a happy ending, right now, I’m still in the unknown.
It all started 12 days ago when our son caught a cold. He had a fever and wasn’t his usual energetic self, so we kept him home and later took him to the doctor. At that time, both my husband and I were feeling fine. However, his condition didn’t improve by Sunday, so we went back for more medication, which turned out to be stronger and in greater amounts. He also had flu and other tests done which turned out negative. The doctor advised us to keep him indoors.
By Monday morning, I had a fever and muscle pain, but I didn’t feel too unwell. My husband went to work, and I managed through the day with some medicine I had at home. It wasn’t until the evening that the fever really hit me, leaving me exhausted. I ended up lying down with our son, watching cartoons, and napping to recover some energy.
On Tuesday (March 11th), I had an appointment to process my APRC, so we had to go to the city to get my no-criminal record and complete some other formalities. That evening, our son had a follow-up doctor’s appointment, so I also got checked, and my husband did too, since he started having a sore throat. We all received medicine and assumed things would soon improve.
At first, my ears were still okay, but gradually, I started feeling some pressure. The weather had turned crazy - thunderstorms, heavy rain, and then a sudden drop in temperature. Maybe this hot-and-cold switch made everyone sick. All three of us had fevers that came and went away to return again, but otherwise, we were doing relatively fine.
Although it wasn’t the flu or any of the more dangerous viruses going around recently, it definitely didn’t feel like a simple cold. It’s not normal for your temperature to jump between 38°C and 35°C, making you think you’re getting better only for it to hit even harder. My son and husband are still taking medication, and I really hope they’ll be fine soon.
I thought I was recovering since most symptoms had disappeared except for a runny nose. My hearing felt off, but that wasn’t unusual for me during a cold - it usually improved within two or three days after. However, the persistent congestion made my head hurt. By Saturday, things got worse. It felt like I couldn’t hear anything from my right ear.
The weather was still terrible, and since the clinic had no parking nearby, we decided to wait an extra day. On Sunday morning, when the rain finally stopped, we went to see the doctor. I was feeling even worse, and now there was this constant ringing in my ear that was beyond annoying. My husband and son got extra medication, but I was told to go to a bigger hospital in Hsinchu immediately. The doctor warned that if left untreated, this could lead to permanent hearing loss.
Hearing that made me feel like I was about to faint. I had never considered this to be something serious - just an annoying cold symptom that would pass like always. Luckily, we have good friends who didn’t mind watching our son, so my husband rushed me to the hospital. Unfortunately, the doctor wasn’t available during weekends, and we were told to return on Monday morning.
After more than three hours of waiting and tests on Monday (March 17th), I finally got some good news - my hearing wasn’t severely damaged, and it should return to normal with medication. I was prescribed a lot of medicine to take over the next seven days, and now, I just have to wait and hope for the best. I also hope the side effects won’t be too strong. I’ve had bad experiences with cough medicine before, where after taking it twice, I had to stop because it made me feel awful.
The issue seems to be fluid trapped in my ear canal, which, if left untreated for too long, could have led to permanent damage.
We live in Toufen, and unfortunately, the clinics and hospitals here have a really bad reputation. Everyone always advises going to Hsinchu instead. At the clinic, the doctor also told me to go straight there, specifically to Mackay Memorial Hospital, as they are the best for these types of issues.
Having been to several clinics and hospitals, I must say that Mackay Memorial is by far the best. Everything was in English, and everyone - from the doctors to the volunteers (usually elderly people helping with registration or questions) - spoke English.
Living in Miaoli, I almost never meet people who speak English. I always have to go to the doctor, immigration office, or anywhere official with my husband to help with communication. But at Mackay, for the first time, I felt like I could handle everything on my own.
Even though English is my second language, I consider my level quite high. However, medical terminology isn’t something I use often, and my Chinese isn’t good enough - especially when it comes to medical conversations, where my knowledge is basically nonexistent.
To sum it up: take care of your health, even when it seems like just a small cold. Don’t assume symptoms will just disappear on their own. Sometimes, even a few days can make a difference between full recovery and lasting damage. I never thought a cold could threaten my hearing, but here I am, hoping for the best.
As of now, I’ve spent over a week without doing any video editing or managing my blog or anything else much. Despite being sick, I still took care of two sick people at home, cooked, cleaned, and went shopping as usual. Maybe the lack of rest and not taking care of myself made things worse, but that’s just me - I always think about my family before myself. It’s already difficult to get things done with a child at home, and now, not being able to hear properly means I can’t work on videos either. Oh, I really hope things go back to normal soon, as I'll be taking the meds. The bad point - I now got sour throat and started to caught...
On top of that, since our son missed a few days of school, I was shocked when he finally went back and brought home all the homework and classwork he had missed. There were about 40 pages to complete. He managed to do some during after-school classes but still sat down at home to finish everything. I didn’t think it was necessary to do it all in one day, but he wanted to complete it for the next day, so he kept working until nearly 9 PM. The amount of work kids have in Taiwanese schools is really overwhelming. He even said he thinks it would be better to go to school in Poland!
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