Mastoiditis

Behind your ear, where the skull bone forms a small protrusion, it throbs. It hurts, it burns, perhaps the skin is swelling. The ear itself aches, the fever rises, and with each passing day the feeling grows more unsettling: something here is not calming down but digging deeper. Medically, mastoiditis is an inflammation of the mastoid process — that portion of bone behind the ear that connects to the middle ear. It usually develops as a complication of a middle ear infection that does not heal. It is not a minor symptom, but a serious condition that requires specialist care — immediately.

And at the same time it tells a story. Because what is particular about mastoiditis is not only that something has become inflamed. What is particular is that the inflammation has reached the bone. The load-bearing structure. The substance. The level at which normally nothing may be shaken anymore.