So about 6 months ago I started having this itching inside one ear that kept getting worse and nothing fixed it so I went to my doctor and he was like, “Huh. There’s a lump there. You need to see a dermatologist and maybe get a biopsy” and so I made an appointment and they were like, “We can see you in two months” and I panicked a little and they were like, “Okay, you can come in in two weeks and be seen by our PA” but then when I went in the PA was like, “Huh. Let me go get the doctor after all” and then he was like, “Well, it could be nothing but it also could be cancer and I’d rather have you see a specialist to look at it before I do anything” and so I made an appointment and they were like, “We can get you in NEXT YEAR” and then I may have cried a little because WHY ARE WE SO LOW ON DOCTORS? And I explained that I already have cancer and that I don’t want to wait until next year to find out if I have more cancer and she looked at my notes and was like, “I can fit you in with a resident doctor in a month” and yesterday I met with the resident and he was like, “Huh. That looks weird. Let me get the doctor” and then he came in and looked at it and was like, “Oh, that’s just eczema. You’re totally fine. You just need some meds.”
Anyway, all of that to say that I hadn’t realized how much this was weighing on me until I started crying in relief at the doctors office and I just want to say “sorry” that I haven’t been myself lately and that I’ve been a little absent from everything but I guess it was affecting me more than I thought.
SO, YAY FOR NOT HAVING ANOTHER KIND OF CANCER! That’s a weird thing to celebrate but I’m doing it anyway.
Honestly, sometimes it’s worth it for me to just start with the cancer card to get them to pay some freaking attention and not dismiss things. It’s weird as hell that some docs are HIGH ALERT for every lump, bump, scratch, and dent after/during cancer and some still just blow you off like everything is hysteria. Exhausting af, and I totally support tears of relief. And emotional support treats. Just saying. yay to not another cancer!
Kmg they put you through the wringer for exc
One of the few times you can say “YAY FOR ECZEMA!!!”
As someone who gets psoriasis in her ears, I totally feel you. Also, YAY for no more cancer!!! Cry all you need, that relief is huge! Love you, Jenny.
What a long, hard slog there! A cathartic sob was definitely in order. I had a ditto experience around breast cancer (having had cervical, then uterine), going as far as you could go for diagnosis before finally finding out it was OK. The strong me just melted — that doctor’s still mopping up her office.
This is also a peri symptom. ☹️ I have it too.
Yay for no new cancer! Your sobs were totally justified. Side note: my inner ears would not stop itching for weeks, so I finally searched on Dr. Internet. Normally a bad idea, I know, but itchy ears can make a woman desperate. Turns out, it’s a super common menopause “gift.” Can we have just one damn inch of our bodies that the Big M doesn’t mess with? Ugh! Right after learning this joyous detail, my ears stopped itching, but apparently, putting Flonase on a Q-tip and inserting it into the ear will stop the itching. WTH??? Also, I do not care that I’m not supposed to put Q-tips in my ear canal. As if that’s going to scare me at this point! If the itching returns, I’m probably trying it.
Yay for No New Cancer! Sobbing in relief is perfectly understandable. Hugs!
Celebrating with/for you!!! 💕🎉💕
To Anonymous who said:
“putting Flonase on a Q-tip and inserting it into the ear will stop the itching.”
You have no idea how many women that may help. Go post it everywhere.
Jenny, cry away. I still love you. ❤️ You’ve been through hell with your health, Hayley’s health, moving. It’s a lot. Give yourself some grace. 🫂
You should order a “not another cancer” cake to celebrate!
So glad you’re okay and release crying is great. And Q-Tips should not be inserted into ears past the point where you can’t see them. Big article about this recently.
You should ABSOLUTELY celebrate NOT having cancer! Hell, celebrate getting out of bed! Celebrate NOT getting another autoimmune disease…oh, wait, that’s me. 😂
Celebrate everything always.
ps. Glad it’s not another cancer and sorry it took so many doctors to say, “yer skin, it’s just yer skin.”
Xoxoxoxo andrea
Menopause and perimenopause is hell. Everything, and I mean everything, goes haywire and weird.
Jenny, not cancer is the BEST thing to celebrate!! So glad you’re okay and sorry this is been so hard on you. Love you ❤️.
No apology needed! You were just being human💗 so grateful it was only eczema👏
No apology needed. I have history of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in a weird place (breast), so I tend to freak out when I find things. I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis last year. I’ve had joint pain for decades, but the tests kept coming back negative. Then I asked my dermatologist why my nails looked weird. And that’s how I ended up at the rheumatologist. I didn’t have a history of psoriasis (other than my nails apparently), but looked in my ears and said ‘oh, there’s a little spot in your ear.’ I have psoriasis in both ears, which explains the itching. That was my first thought when I read this. And possibly around the inside of my eyelids? Why do our bodies have to be so weird?
I think you totally deserved your reaction after all the sh*t you were put through. Sometimes relief can be as overwhelming as sadness. You go, girl!!
I immediately thought eczema because my mom also had eczema in her ear and it was super aggravating. Very glad for you that it’s not another cancer even if it is annoying eczema!
Sending hugs and many, many good wishes!!!
Getting an appointment at the local Dermatology practice is as you described. I’ve only seen a P.A. (and she’s great) but at my last visit, she did a skin biopsy on a mole that’s been on my forehead for several years. She said she wanted to re-check it and to make an appointment in a month. Despite being informed that she wanted to see me, the earliest I could get was in November which was then 7 months away.
I’d have cried too 😂 I’d have also had many frustration cries over the appointment saga.
Well first of all yay for not having another type of cancer
And of course you have eczema it’s a type of autoimmune condition of course you have it I would be more surprised if you didn’t have eczema
I hope you know I say that with all love and good humour
As for specialist doctor’s appointments oh my God my pulmonary who I’m supposed to see every 6 months for a rare weird form of COPD every time I go to the reception we always joke that” the doctor says he wants to see me in 6 months yes I understand the basically I’m going to be scheduled for about a year”
And it’s the same thing with my other specialist and I don’t live in a small City and there’s majour medical schools and health centers in my it’s crazy
Of course you cried tears of frustration at them not seeing you asap, and then cried from relief when it turned out to be a benign skin issue.
You’ve been through a very tough year, and there only so much bad-bad-ass-ness we humans can manage to keep up. Speaking from experience, we all have a point where we just lose it.
Cancer and autoimmune issues are a constant struggle, and it’s getting harder to get an appointment, even to get a screening mammogram (in CT we have to schedule them a year in advance.) I think a lot of healthcare workers left the profession during the COVID pandemic, so everyone is short staffed.
Yay to no new cancers!
Yay to you getting them to see you asap!
Celebrate the small victories, then it makes it easier to tackle the big ones.
Eczema sucks SOOO BAD, but it’s better than cancer!….BUT I’ve had to have two of my eczema lesions biopsied before (at separate times) because they wouldn’t go away even with meds. So keep an eye on it and if it continues to itch with no relief on meds, get the eczema biopsied!!!
Yay!!! for no more cancer and Boo!!! for the American “healthcare” “system.”
Life is short. Celebrate all the weird things. Preferably with cake.
Crying from happy relief is a delightful change of pace, no?
I bawled like a lost calf, when I got my thyroid biopsy back, with a “Non Malignant Solid Mass” result.
Righty the Lumpy Thyroid still got yanked, and biopsied again afterwards, because it was a literal lump in my throat.
Bawled again, in recovery, when they said Lumpy was just a lump.
Medical personnel are used to tears, so no apologies are needed.
Also, YAY, NO EAR CANCER!
Crying from happy relief is such a good thing. Thanks for sharing your good news and yes, one kind of cancer is enough!
So glad for the good news, it totally sucks that you got such a prolonged run& around.
What a clusterfuck. So sorry you had to go through that.
It’s great to have a GOOD reason to cry.
Guess what I have the same thing inside each of my ears so like children say WE MATCH !!!!😄😄😄😄
So hooray
I’m so glad you don’t have more cancer! But I seriously do not understand why it takes so long to see an actual doctor. Years ago my mother kept having shortness of breath and it took about six months of appointments and waiting for more appointments until finally she was in yet another doctor appointment when she literally had a small heart attack in the office, and they STILL wanted to send her home! Turns out she just needed a quintuple bypass. 🙄
Holy shit that is a lot. I’m so glad you don’t have more cancer. I hope for better health and some boring days and nights for you
Oh Jenny, I am so sorry. So thankful it’s not cancer. So sorry you were dealing with this run-around and this not-knowing, this fear that weighs down on you, slowly suffocating you. (or maybe that’s just how it feels for me when I’m awaiting potentially scary test results.)
Sending lots of hugs! I’m glad it’s not horrible news. (I want you to know I got the email notification for this blog post right before I had to leave for an appt and I just saw the “Apologies to the people who saw me sobbing as I left the doctor.” part and I was like ‘What now?!’ because the universe should not be giving you any more bad news.)
Wow, I just had eczema diagnosed in one ear too! Now if I can just stop peeling skin out of it, maybe it will heal. SO GLAD it’s not cancer!
You don’t need to apologize for taking care of your self and doing the best you can. We should all be doing that. Good for you. Sending you such a BIG HUG!!!!<3
Okay, does anyone else think the Dermatologist should have been able to diagnose the Eczema? WTH!?!?!
That’s not a weird thing to celebrate, it’s the greatest thing in the world to celebrate; I’m happy and relieved for you
YAY! And it isn’t weird to celebrate. I had a stroke on July 5 of this year, and I’m VERY emotional. I cry at the silliest and not so silly things.
Have had this same issue. My mom informed me she had it too years ago and her drs just looked at her like she was crazy and it wasn’t til years later she found out it was a symptom of perimenopause. My dr told me it was related to my fibromyalgia (which is a challenge itself as some people still dont think its a real thing) and said cortisone cream on q-tip. Anyone tried this vs Flonase? Curious which works better.
Glad it was a not cancerous resolution. So frustrated with the health care system in general. Had the biggest panic attack of my life earlier this summer when finding out (I think it was the navy or airforce) took womens achievements down from their website and then got a text from my acupuncturist canceling my next appointment. I was 2 hours late for work as I sobbed 50 feet from the entrance.
Use that cancer card like a gold visa, says the one boob wonder!! Cancer is exhausting and you deserve all the perks that shit card provides!
Not at all a weird thing to celebrate Jenny! I’m celebrating with you 🎉🎈
as someone going thru health problems that effect my daily life, you are my hero and my savior! When I feel sorry for myself and read post from you everything turns around . It’s amazing what a good belly laugh can do.
Glad it was exema , but that can be a bitch pain in ass (or ear) too. Love ya, girl andTHANKS!
I am post menopausal. My itchy ear treatment is an ear oil. It helps with wax softening and soothes the itch. I use it as needed, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. Then I forget until the itch starts again. I put some in the ear via the dropper (better at body temp) or drop some on a q-tip. This is the one I like. I am sure there are others as well. (I am not much of a shopper.)
https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/products/ear-oil
Hope this helps somebody. I had NO CLUE the itchy ear business was part of menopause, sigh
Yes to all who mentioned this being a part of perimenopause/menopause for some lucky folks! So glad it was nothing serious for you!
It’s awful that they make you wait that long for that kind of diagnosis I have a lump on my thyroid that I’m getting an appointment for NEXT APRIL :'(
Not ear cancer is a wonderful news. I have a weird and rare indolent lymphoma and so with every lump and bump I worry and so I feel oddly like we are just sisters who haven’t met yet (and that wasn’t meant to sound creepy, but I realize that it just did). Bless your heart. With you.
I hear you can find a witch on Etsy! I hope your luck improves soon!
Good news/relief is TOTALLY worth the tears. Happy that this was “nothing” (although the anxiety they brought down on you is grrrrrrrr).
Happy for ya!
Hooray!!!! It is odd how itching ears are actually common. I was shunted around to a specialist ages ago and he said the same thing to me! A cream fixed it right up! And crying is perfectly fine!
Jenny,
What a horrible run-around. We do need more doctors. We need to quit the horrible weeding-out processes that prevent so many capable, non-cut-throat students from even trying to become doctors. We need to make residency sane. We need insurance companies to treat doctors (and subscribers) with respect. We need so many things to change.
So congratulations of your eczema. May you and your family find the right doctors to restore you to better health.
Another cancer is not like a sequel where you now just wait for it to become a trilogy. One cancer is more than enough per person per lifetime. Crying in joy that it isn’t Cancer 2 is so normal and should be anticipated.
Cheers to no additional cancer and the freedom to weep publicly in good times or in bad. Peace be with you.
Medical stuff can be exhausting at the best of time, but when you’ve had cancer, it’s even more so ‘cos everything could either be it or caused by it. So glad it wasn’t. A virtual hug from a total stranger seems perfectly normal to offer in the circs, as was you crying with relief.
We are all relieved too! Thank God!
Hot tip for persistent ear itching I learned from TikTok: Flonase on a qtip and put it in your ear. I have cured three people!
Ear today, gone tomorrow. 🙂
Pips mom
I wonder why we feel the necessity to apologise for showing emotions, it often feels like an instictive response.