I have a colleague (not in aviation) who flew as a passenger on a RPT service in Australia with a cold and on descent burst an eardrum - very painful up until this happened and the cabin crew could not help him.
He was supposed to go on an important job for us and could't. We made arrangements for a latter effort and then he got an infection in the ear and spent a week in hospital. We are now running a month behind and he is just getting over it - but won't be able to fly until early September.