Three days is a long time to be left alone with nothing but your thoughts.

Slowly, over a period of 24 hours, I simply lost my hearing. It started with excruciating pain with every loud noise I heard.

Every time someone shut a door or talked above a whisper, it felt like someone was putting a large pot over my head and banging on it with a meat mallet.

I can’t remember panicking that much when my hearing went completely. I just thought that it was some horrible ear infection that would eventually go away.

The morning I woke up and couldn’t hear our neighbor’s dog barking outside my window and my alarm that had been going off for around an hour, I thought that maybe I should seek some medical attention.

But my fear of hospitals and doctors had kept me from finding what clinic I should go to. Thank god for the Norris Health Center — yes, they do have other services beside birth control and cheap condoms (if you have an hour to be put on hold).

After a few tests and a little looking in my ear, it was determined that there was no sign of infection. But the doctor wasn’t convinced that I couldn’t hear. I really don’t know why, but people doubted me when I said I couldn’t hear.

The doctor’s advice was to wait a day or two and “if the problem persists,” I should go to a hospital ER. I would never do that. I have this complex where if one doctor can’t fix my problem, then I don’t think that any doctor can fix it. So I left trying to figure out how I would deal with my sudden deafness.

I had no classes that day so I figured I would go home and watch some horrible daytime television until it was time to go to work.

Actually, having to watch “Ambush Makeover” with the closed caption feature on was quite the experience. Sure, we’ve all had to watch TV at some bar, restaurant or gym without being able to hear the sound — but this was at my own house.

“Ambush Makeover” would never be the same again. I would never hear the comments about over-fried hair or the dirty hippie beard that they would always try to shave off.

Losing a major sense influenced me greatly. I spent a lot of time just wondering how different the world is for everyone else.

Three days is a long time to be left alone with nothing but your thoughts. I can’t say that I went crazy, but it did become a joking matter.

While serving customers, it was strange not to have normal conversations with them. I would just explain over and over that a day ago my hearing just disappeared. At least I never had to hear what kind of day they were having.

On the third day I started to worry. I was seriously thinking of going to some random ER, despite my general distain for them. Then I felt a light at the end of my ear hole.

Although I could hear, my earaches were back. The next morning my ear problems had lessened. I was back to excruciating pain with every noise. Any sound would send my head ringing.

I was so excited I threw on yesterday’s clothes and ran to Norris. I wanted to see the physician again, see if she could see how this happened now that I thought is was waning.

When she came to get me in the waiting room, she didn’t call, she tapped me on the shoulder. I yelled at her that I could hear again. Well, kind of.

This time, I did much better on the tests. But alas, she still had no explanation for my loss of hearing or its coming return.

During my whole time in Norris, I had the great pleasure of hearing the constant thudding of construction of the Klotsche Pavilion. The constant pain of every giant support beam being pounded through my head was the best experience of that year.

I got to experience a world without sound. Luckily, it was short-lived, but it made me enjoy hearing so much more now that I know what it’s like to lose it.

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