Update: enough with the ears, and can't get enough of the family

Life continues to be rich and full here in Enoughsville.  

For me, the big news is all in my head: I snagged an early appointment with an ENT, checking out the increasing ear/jaw pain and the ringing I've been dealing with.  He had good news and . . . well, not bad news, but he didn't have the magic wand I was hoping he could wave and make this all go away.  The good news is that we've managed to rule out lots of things that might be problems.  In particular, my ringing is not currently caused by

• DBT (my knee-jerk, go-to, self diagnosis of "Deadly Brain Tumor"; I'm glad that that my ENT appreciates the humor in my both jumping to this and also that I know that it's irrational);
• Ear infection;
• Ear wax (I'm squeaky clean, thanks to the ear-rigation I had earlier);
• clogged Eustachian tubes (they're clear now, apparently);
• hearing loss, probably (I have some asymmetry, especially in the high frequencies, but I'm still mostly hearing well in the speaking range).

All of this means, there's no easy fix.  However, one of the oddities my ENT did see is that I've been clenching my jaws, unbeknownst to me.   In other words, the gold star for long-distance diagnosis goes to my uncle who wrote to me to suggest,

Only thing I can say is that I find that if I'm clenching my jaw muscles a lot, that can cause a lot of tinnitus for me. I have to consciously relax the jaw muscles and keep them relaxed to make it go away. But this may have nothing to do with what you're going through. I hope it goes away soon! 

I've been clenching so unconsciously and so consistently, apparently, that it's hard for me to figure out the difference between doing it and not doing it.  My ENT says the way to stop is to "be a detective"; I also read some advice on the internet that if we relax our jaws into the right position when we pronounce the letter "N".  So I've been doing a lot of the Batman song ("na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na") and saying "Nnnn" to myself at night as I prepare for sleep.  And so far, it seems to be helping (although being obsessed with where my jaw is happens to be another learning/life experience!).  I have a lot less discomfort in my ears and jaw now --- it hasn't gone away completely, but it's subsiding.  The ringing is still there, but even that seems less . . . oppressive and overwhelming, I guess.  So, I'm grateful for this week's developments.

Moving on to out-of-my head topics, I'm tardy in sharing these cute photos from attending a performance of Grease with two of my daughters last week.  I know it seems all sappy to say so, but I love seeing how my kids have turned into awesome, fun-loving young adults, and even more so that we enjoy spending time together.  

Kinderling and Inkling dress appropriately for the show.

Aren't they adorbs?!?

(Inkling, good luck in the Tour de Fleece!)

Even my kids who are farther away share activities with us from afar.  We'd grown up dancing to Footloose in the living room, and here's Gosling hoofing it up to the same song.  She writes,

Went to a Three Sheets to the Wind, concert last night. They are a yacht rock cover band. They played footloose... I think I take after my father

Gonna get loose, footloose,
kick off your Sunday shoes!

(By the way, Gosling, I hope you got the car window fixed, and so glad that the rock that flew out of the lawnmower didn't hit your leg!  Plus, I know I owe you a letter.  I think now that my head is settling down, I'll have the headspace to write.)

Nelson called me up to ask me for advice (I love that) and then again to thank me for the advice (double-love!).  Then he sent this photo of sharing a meal with Sizzling and her fiance -- I'm so looking forward to seeing them in a month for the wedding!

Yummers!

And I don't have a photo of my guy, but he's been having fun traveling to the armor museum and doing more protest stuff.  The most recent was today; he was with a group who were escorting women safely past anti-abortion protesters.  While much of his group was doing the escorting, he and one of his friends walked over to two of the protesters and had a nice conversation about what drives their beliefs and behaviors.  It sounded very cordial; he says he really enjoys being able to engage like that.

And that's the news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures.  May you and yours be similarly prosperous.