Well this is something.  I spent an hour and a half writing a blog for this post and saved it numerous times while editing.  I clicked “Publish” and the whole thing disappeared.  Only my title remained.  It was a good one, too!  Darn!

Anyway, I started off by apologizing for not writing anything since July.  That’s an indication of how busy my summer was and how busy I’ve been.  Since I have the (not so) new hearing aids, I’ve been out and doing more things.  I’m feeling much more comfortable in the world again.

I had an experience last week and wonder if anyone else has ever had a similar experience.  I was on a tour of a huge local music store that has everything possible for the student to the pro – even recording studio stuff.  Would you believe they had a piano that costs $180,000.00? (I wonder if the music sounds different on that.) We went into a room that was a simulated sound mixing studio and I noticed there was a big difference in the sounds.  They were pure and clear – no echo, no fall off, no blurring, no bouncing.  Just pure, clean sounds.  (I still couldn’t understand speech of course, but the better sounds gave me better cues for reading lips.)

Someone asked what the funny little squares on the walls were, and our guide explained they were samples of acoustical materials.  Remember my little lightbulb that goes off sometimes?  TaDa! It was the acoustical squares that made that room special for me.  I want them!  “Could I get some of those and somehow set them up around me to help me hear?” I asked. The guide didn’t know and said I’d probably have to talk to an acoustical engineer and the whole thing would cost a fortune.  Totally out of reach and impractical.

But what if I’m on to something?  What if audiologists could simulate the acoustics in that room with these new, expensive, highly programmable hearing aids?  Shouldn’t someone find out about that?  Shouldn’t someone be interested in the possibility?  Shouldn’t someone care?  If anyone does it will be Wonderful Audiologist and I’m sure she’ll be interested.  But what about everyone else? What about the people who make hearing aids? How many lives could be better if someone would take an interest?

Something that really bothers me is that though I recommended three friends to Wonderful Audiologist, only two have gone.  She can help them, too, which is great.  But friend number 3 isn’t going because and I quote, “I don’t have money for hearing aids and don’t know when I’ll have that much.”  Way to go Ontario Health Care.  With all the hype about government health care and care for everyone, she can’t afford to hear.

I may have posted before about how the government only contributes a pittance to hearing aids every three years (I checked a previous blog, hence the edit) or if your prescription changes enough. I was months away from being entitled to that pittance and they denied me because they said I don’t have enough hearing to consider it a prescription change.  They said I had to wait all those months to get new hearing aids or forfeit my assistance. Which my taxes pay for by the way.  A good portion of our taxes go to the health care system.

Thanks to Darling Hubby we took the financial loss and I didn’t have to wait.  My life has been so much better because of it. No, that’s too mild. My life has resumed because of the new hearing aids. But what about people like my friend who just don’t have the money for expensive hearing aids? Anyway, my opinion of the health care system up here is another blog.  Right now let’s leave it that I’m not a fan.  Not a fan at all.

So if the government doesn’t care about people who can’t hear, who does? People who can’t hear don’t have anything to identify us to others so they won’t hit us with their cars, bikes or strollers, or slam into us while they’re skateboarding, rollerblading, etc. because we can’t hear them. There are still TV shows that aren’t captioned and we’ve found the cable “On Demand” shows are rarely captioned.  “Don’t complain to us,” says Rogers Cable. Who should we complain to? They don’t know and won’t try to help.  Now we’ve found some movies recorded on their system aren’t captioned either. Commercials?  Only a few.  And what about movie theaters?  Captioned theaters do exist but they are so few and far between, it’s very difficult to see a current movie.  Movies have tons of commercials these days too.   What? Only hearing people shop?  Hey world, don’t you want my money too?

Some of us can’t hear, but we are here.

Hello, can you hear me?

I’m afraid I just have some rambling to share today because I don’t have a solid topic (and probably don’t have a point either!)

Last night Darling Hubby and I went to watch the fireworks on the Hudson River.  It was 90F outside and there was a really huge crowd.  I haven’t heard the final totals yet, but trust me, it was crowded.) We didn’t want to be loaded down, especially in this heat, so we carried as little as possible.  I didn’t mean to leave my hearing aids’ remote control at home but I somehow did.  (At least we had the bottle of frozen water.) Anyway, I figured I’d just adjust the programs and volume right from the hearing aids themselves, but go figure – I didn’t need to.  For whatever reason, the noise of the crowd (and the fireworks) was minimized and I could have a conversation with Darling Hubby. Talk about smart hearing aids!

So it’s a few months now and the hearing aids that shouldn’t have worked not only work for me, they work in ways I can’t even undertand and make my life better.  As I’ve said before, they’re not magic hearing aids and can’t give me what I don’t have, but they sure do give me enough cues to read lips again and for that I’m grateful.  Needless to say, I’m pretty happy.  So happy, I’ve been doing things again without stopping to worry about whether or not I can hear.

Now back to the fireworks.  They were a stunning display and lit up the night sky in colors, patterns, and bursts. I know nothing about pyrotechnics but I always wonder how they make these things go exactly where they want them to be in shapes and patterns.  And to top it off, they do it at the exact right time. I’m not one to talk about timing.  I’m lucky if the meat, vegetable and salad are all ready at the same time when I make dinner.  (Though the cooking lessons are helping that.)

That reminds me.  If you want a bottle of water to stay cold, freeze it the night before. It will melt, but it will stay cold much longer. Believe it or not, ours still had a big block of ice in it after three hours outside in that heat.   I’m not sure it’s good for dogs that cold, but it’s great for thirsty, dehydrated people.

Now, a word about this blog. I’ve noticed that people have signed up to read it but I’m actually  not sure what the protocol is for that.  I know you’re out there so I’d like to welcome you and thank you for reading whatever pops out of my fingers.  I started writing this blog for me, but now it’s kind of for you, too.  So don’t be afraid to comment (unless you have something really not nice to say) and tell me something about you.  You sure know a lot about me now and I don’t even know how you found me!  Ahh, mystery!

Speaking of mystery, I’m in the middle of a good one so I think I’ll go outside on the balcony and see how long I can last in this weather. It’s 99F in New York right now, folks!  And tomorrow is supposed to be hotter!  Now I know why I have Monday Brain Mush!

I’ve had a few more weeks with the Siemens hearing aids, there have been a few adjustments and I’ll probably need some more, and life is good. So good, that I booked a course for Darling Hubby and myself and until the night before we were to attend, I didn’t think about the idea of not being able to hear it.  How’s that for progress?  We went to the course this morning and we now have cards from the American Red Cross certifiying us in Pet CPR and First Aid. And their assurance that no animals were harmed in the making of the instructional DVD. Whew.

Actually, the course was great and though I couldn’t get every word, between the book, the DVD on screen and Darling Hubby repeating things, I feel satisfied that I learned a lot.  My lack of hearing didn’t get in the way at all.  It hardly gets in the way at all these days.  The sound is so good, I’m reading lips really well again.  (Go figure that I need sound to read lips because I can’t hear. Sounds almost loopy, doesn’t it?)

The course was scheduled for 10:00 on a Sunday morning, so you can imagine how much we love dogs.   Anyway, there were twelve of us and a bunch of mats with stuffed dogs and cats.  Not the kind you buy in a toy store, of course.  These had noses that you could blow air into and chests meant for practice compressions. (By the way, don’t ever feed your dog chocolate, grapes, raisins, onions, or moldy cheese!  They’re toxic to dogs. )  Learning what to do in emergencies gave us a feeling of security that we aren’t helpless anymore when it comes to Precious Dog.  We hope he never tests us, but we feel like we know something now.

If you’re interested in taking the course yourself, check with the Red Cross web site. I don’t know if they have the courses in Canada, but they do have some advice about pets on their web site.  We took our course in New York City so I know it’s available in the U.S.  It’s a very worthwhile thing to do and hopefully, you’ll never need to use what you’ve learned.