What makes you happy ?

I sleep facing the mouth of the cave. Every room that me and J have slept in I take position between her and the door – or if on holiday between her and any large outside / garden doors. It might be one of those ‘men are from mars’ or manwatching things but it is how it is. I can no more go to sleep with my back to the door than I can climb a rope. (One thing at school I never ever could do. I could see and understand the mechanics but when it came to the practice my progress was zero). Anyway, I either sleep facing the door or on my back ready to spring into action (that’s the theory). I go through phases, I suppose most people do, of having to sleep in one position for periods of time. If I got into bed and tried to go to sleep lying on my back when my head wants to lie on the side then lying on my back just isn’t an option. I could lie on my back for hours and hours, but turn to my side and bang I’m in dreamland. Or the other way around.
Years ago – must be 12+ or more – I had a scaffold piercing in my right ear. It’s the one that has 2 holes connected by one long bar on the back top edge of the ear. It’s never given me any trouble. With that in mind I decided that I wanted some chunkier metal in there and last weekend ordered a 2.4mm * 40mm bar. It arrived yesterday. The top hole in my ear managed to be stretched gently using a taper and the new bar (the original was 1.6mm) was slid through. An increase of .8 seems little….. it’s not. The second hole wasn’t keen on the stretch. It was also at a funny angle for the bar. The taper was fine as it was free at both ends. The new bar also had eternal threading. It was really tricky to get the bar angled right, introduce it to the hole and then gently push.
The cartilage is quite thin there so it bends easily and not always the right way. The skin there also slides around a bit so while the start was around the bar, the end wasn’t being aimed correctly. So my ear was getting a little bit upset as it was. I asked P to check behind my ear and she said she could see some steel in there, so I gently pushed again… I had to give it a little more nudge than I would have preferred but it did go. And it hasn’t been happy since.
I have – and yes I know it’s all my fault – a persistent throbbing pain in my outer ear which is dulled by ibuprofen but not removed. I know it will settle in time. The problem is that I need to sleep too. My body and my head want to sleep facing the door. My ear is letting me know that isn’t such a clever idea. I can’t sleep on my back so I have to strategically place the pillows and my right arm to allow my ear to touch nothing at all as I drift off. Which I do for all of a few minutes before something moves and my ear gives me a big “Remember me?”. Last night I got hardly any sleep. It hurts just as much tonight – if not more actually – so I’m in for more of the same it seems. If I wasn’t in ‘guard the mouth of the cave’ mode I might stand a chance….. maybe caffeine and FFVII could get me through instead.. it is Friday after all…

Pierce and stretch ear lobes? Easy.
Same with ear cart? I’d forgotten just how ouchy this is.