Monday, July 15, 2013

20130715.0758

Those who know me best know that I just took a flying trip to the middle of the country.  The news is not bad, this time; it is, in fact, quite good.  I managed to get done what needed doing on the trip, and my lovely wife and I will be able to move ahead.

As I took the flights (four in total), I was reminded of a few things that are commonplaces in my travels--and I do a fair bit of traveling, what with conferences and all.  One of them was the expense of the airport, although I must admit that living in The City makes the price hikes less noticeable.  Another was the crowding, although, again, life in The City prepares a person for economy seating; cramped as it may be, a seat is a seat, and there are fewer performance artists and reeking indigents with which to contend.

Most notable to me, however, was the pain.  Taking off does not bother me; my ears pop, and then I am fine.  The flight itself is no problem; I usually sleep through most of it, anymore.  But landing...landing is what shoots spikes of pain into the deeper recesses of my head, icepicks driven by increasing pressure in stages through layers of my tissues.  Landing is what makes me want to send up an infant wail at the frustration of feeling my ears shift and pop (ruining my hearing for hours, I might add) over and over again as the place slowly spirals down to a too-often jerky landing.  Landing is what lays me low--and it is far worse when, as now, my sinuses are acting up.

It was not only my ears throbbing, but the plugged cavities inside my head.  I swear I could feel my skull bowing in slightly, the bones of my face trying to flex against themselves to adapt to the pressure differences within and without.  And that was with me chewing a stick of gum and yawning and trying to clear my nasal and sinus passages to allow free air flow.  I shudder to think what would have happened otherwise.

1 comment:

  1. The landing. Egad, have I felt that pain...that "if I put my head between my knees, the engine noise will drown out my screaming" pain.

    I know people who will not fly due to that pain. I haven't taken it that far because it doesn't happen to me every time, but I have canceled a flight when I had a bit of a cold.

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