The answer, in my case, was “yes”. I did only have mild bruising and there was no damage to the eardrum.
As for how this happened, Small Sophie helpfully woke me up with a chopstick in my ear. I grabbed it, pulled it out, fought with her over it and ultimately won (because I am much bigger and stronger than a 2-year-old even while confused and sleepy), and said, sternly, “No putting things in ears!”
She cried, probably because I rarely raise my voice.
In a short while, she was in her own bed and sad, because she had no chopstick, and I was in my bed and happy, because my ear had no chopstick.
The next morning, something was wrong. My ear hurt, I had slight hearing impairment in the ear the chopstick had been in, and I nearly tripped while walking. The hearing problem went away and my balance seemed better as the morning continued, but I kept getting pain if I walked or moved my head quickly.
At the doctor’s office, I learned that I fortunately had no damage to the eardrum. All that the doctor could see was that I had trauma and swelling in the part of the ear before the ear drum. I was prescribed some medicated ear drops to help avoid infection, and that was that.
It would be safe to fly, which was my other concern.
Now, had it not been safe to fly, I had already started looking at my options. I purchased the ticket with my Venture X, which came with trip cancellation insurance for the plane ticket for up to $2000. As far as I understand the terms, a sudden severe ear injury (that was not an accidental injury from a sports event, racing, speed contest, or uncertified scuba diving and which was not intentionally self-inflicted) that prevented me from flying would qualify and I could have my flight ticket, but nothing else, reimbursed. However, I did not get to test this by contacting Capital One with a doctor’s note because I could and did fly.
