It is what Shrek pulled out of his ear and used for a candle. Imagine you can do the same. Would people like it or find you disgusting? If it comes to body fluids we are rarely charmed by it. No one likes to whisper into a dirty ear, see a clot of ear wax while talking to you. Snot, drooling isn't charming either but imagine what life looked like if you have a lack of body fluids. More people than you think to suffer from it. Especially women and elderly people.
Frequently I think of the lady lying next to me in hospital. Bruises allover, not able to turn herself or to drink. There was plenty on her side table left by her daughter but if you can't reach for it and always feel thirsty...
It's strange how not one of the other patients, all mobile, cared about her. There she was in her bed. The sun shone on her face. A woman dehydrated, her skin so extremely dry that it changed into a white kind of cardboard. They came to wash her, change her diapers but no one gave her something to drink or was willing to put some cream on her skin. A skin that couldn't heal only got dryer by the hour. Her biggest organ was neglected.
I crawled out of bed and closed the curtains to make her feel more comfortable. Several times a day I gave her something to drink. If you really believe an infusion 24/7 doesn't make you feel thirsty, avoid a dry skin, you are wrong.
Without body fluids, with a dry skin it's not just about dry lips. You can not cry, there are no tears which means your eyes are always infected. Inside your nose it's dry and the skin is torn and it's hard to smell. Your mouth always feel dry and no matter how many times you drink it doesn't help. Swallowing is hard and eating and drinking easily makes you cough and choke and ear wax? Ear wax became history. Instead you suffer from ear pain because all protection is gone.
It is strange how fast time passes by. It's hard to imagine that elderly person once was a baby, a funny toddler. A child that drooled and shed tears. A person that blowed her nose and took care of herself, her skin. Once old you no longer look attractive. The smelly teenager changed into a smelly, elderly person with a dirty taste in her mouth. Someone people avoid and I shared my chocolate with so she could taste at least something else for a few minutes a day.
Sjögren disease is one of those illnesses who does this to you and you know what? You don't even need to be old to suffer from it.
The prompt 'ear wax' is provided by 
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