Unfiltered Story #101083

My parents and I are on vacation in England. During the first few days, my ears start to hurt, badly enough to affect my sleep. My mum, who was a nurse at a retirement home at the time, diagnoses me with an ear infection. We stop by the local pharmacy to ask for directions to a doctor or hospital, and since I’m the better English speaker, I end up talking to the pharmacists.
This takes a while, since I can’t hear very well at the moment and there’s a counter between us we both have to lean over. We eventually get directions to a nearby doctor’s office, but because of the layout of the town, bad signing, and the fact that we’re tourists, it takes us a while to get there.
I go up to the clerk and tell her the reason for my visit. She starts to sign me in, but needs a local address to complete the sign in. After some back and forth she (reluctantly) accepts the address of the caravan park we’re staying at. After waiting for about an hour, I get to see a nurse. She takes one short look in my ear and declares that “it’s nothing, just some blockage”. I immediately question this, as blockage usually worsens my tinnitus, and there’s occasional liquid from my ears. Not to mention the pain. She takes one more look in my ear, but stands by her diagnosis. She gives me a prescription for some spray to clean up the (imaginary) blockage and sends me on my way.
The spray does more damage than good, as it ends up burning a trail on my skin where it’s been running out of my (still hurting) ear.
I go see my GP first thing when we get home, about a week and a half later, and she immediately puts me on antibiotics. The “blockage” cleared up in about a week.