Not the ear-peeking instrument on the table at right. Soon the doctor came in, looked in my left ear and proclaimed: “You’ve got quite the ear infection! There’s a lot of goop!” Thus, the seemingly innocuous cold, blossomed into a 2-week (so far) adventure of partial deafness, terrifying snot, ear drops and pills.
ETA: An additional round of antibiotics later, I finally feel normal. All viruses need to die.