When I was in college, I experienced ear pain. I ignored it since it was not disturbing my daily activities. Until 1 day, the pain got severe. It pushed me to go to the doctor. My ear was already infected. I learned a lesson to listen to my ears.

Ear pain or discomfort warrants a visit to your doctor. Your ear, head and neck will be examined. Your hearing may be checked. If you have external otitis, your ear canal will likely be cleaned using a suction device or cotton-tipped probe. Antibiotic eardrops are often prescribed. Sometimes, the drops include a steroid to treat inflammation in the ear.
An oral antibiotic may be prescribed if there’s swelling around the ear or of the outer ear or nearby lymph nodes. Prescription or over-the –counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (such as aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen) may be needed to relieve pain. You may be advised to keep your ears dry for 7 to 10 days. Usually, improvement is noticeable in 3 to 4 days.
Invasive external otitis often requires intravenous antibiotics often and hospitalization for several days. Sometimes, surgery is needed to remove dead or infected tissue and bone. Following hospitalization, intravenous antibiotics may be continued or oral antibiotics may be needed for several weeks.

This picture was taken 9 years ago December 1998. I was just a newly midwife by then. We used to have a 24 hour shift. Only 3 midwives on duty. It was one of the busiest shift I had. I can’t imagine how we handled this. One of the co-midwife was having backaches so she just charted and only me and the other one delivered the babies. It was an exhausting day. But when we look at the babies, they melt our hearts away. They are worth for our hard work. Now these babies are already 8 y.o. I can’t imagine.

As I said, I am interested about the field, but I know we should not trust people we deal with 100% especially if we don’t know them. We have to do our share of research so we know somehow what we will encounter or how to deal with a possible trap. The very people who are knowledgeable about the working of the real estate industry such as developers and their brokers are always unwilling to furnish information that could be of help to the perspective buyers. But:

A good real estate agent have many services to offer at no cost to the buyer. By all means, take advantage of their knowledge and know-how, especially for first-time buyers and out-of-towners. They have more properties to show you that you are not aware were available in the market. It will cut you down on your time and efforts searching for a home.