Originally published at: Man thought he had water in his ear but it was something much creepier bugging him | Boing Boing
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The next day, it was still bothering him, so much that he went to the doctor. The physician advised him to try drying out his ear with a hairdryer.
What a strange story. If I went to my doc and said “can’t get the water out of my ear,” I hope he’d be bold enough to, you know, look in my ear with that little ear-o-scope thingamadoodle. Seems basic.
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Well these days, that initial consult with the family doctor is done via Zoom. So no ear peering.
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Was it a female?
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Maybe he thought the patient was a woman…
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This is where bedside manner really matters.
Two scenarios:
- ENT doc looks in and says “Holy shit! You’ve got a cockroach in your ear. Let’s figure out how to get it out.”
- ENT doc looks in and says “There’s something in here - let me get it out” and then explains what it was.
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Ah, OK. The article quoted the guy as saying “I went straight to the doctor. I was waiting for the doctor [surgery] to open up, it was that infuriating.”
I took that to mean a physical visit. But yeah, a Zoom wouldn’t allow for the use of the thingamadoodle.
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Was it this guy’s fault?
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You beat me to it by a minute
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Hell yes. I have removed numerous bugs of various sorts form ears. Usually after drowning them in lidocaine to make the removal easier. Looking in the ear should be the first thing done in a case like this.
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So they just took it out before learning about its special talents? Or what it had to say?
ETA: or worse, what if he had a devil roach guiding him in one ear and an angel roach guiding him inthe other ear, and they took out the angel roach.
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I had a hell of a time finding a half-decent gif of this scene, which surprised me.
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It had things to say?
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That’s disturbing. But, from the “similar experiences” closet, I am an asthmatic and use an emergency inhaler. When I was in grad school, newly married, and living in a nasty apartment, I woke up early one morning, groggy and not able to breathe. So I grabbed the inhaler, exhaled deeply, and took a giant lungful as I depressed the inhaler. I felt something go rocketing into my breathing tube and began a god-awful coughing fit. I couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe, and Ms. Pane was freaking out. After what seemed like a few days but was probably 10-15 seconds I coughed up, from what seemed like the depths of my lungs, a goop-covered cockroach. It was nasty, but I was glad to be rid of it.
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Hey man. I’m trying to eat here.
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Reminds me that I will never forget how appropriately named earwigs are. 
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Unless you’re Jeffrey Toobin.
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We have earwigs around our place, depending on how much rain or how dry it gets decides if we see them. Occasionally they get bad enough and one or two will get in the house.
We’re a relocate all bugs as opposed to killing them house and it applies to earwigs but man those things creep me out.
Every time I see one poor Sulu pops in my head because they look similar to that bug in his ear.
Can’t imagine a bug in the ear.
I remeber the days of the family doctor doing everything in the office but nowadays it’s all referrals to specialists.
My primary doctor is great but unless it’s a common infection or virus he sends me to a specialist. He doesn’t even do the annual prostate exam, I go to a urologist.
It’d be interesting to know if he’d remove the bug or send me to a specialist. I’ll ask next time I see him.
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