Hello again! \u00a0I\u00a0haven’t disappeared off the face of the earth, though it really has been a long time since I’ve posted. \u00a0I really meant to so many times, but somehow time just fizzled.\u00a0\u00a0As we get older, we start to realize, acknowledge, and\u00a0perhaps even\u00a0accept some of our less than\u00a0stellar\u00a0 characteristics, and one of mine is letting time get away from me. \u00a0Maybe you’ve\u00a0had this happen to you, too\u00a0– you really mean to do something, but other things come up, other things take priority, something just causes you to say “ok, I’ll get back to this tomorrow,” but then tomorrow the same thing happens. That’s what the last several months have been like for me. \u00a0Of course adding a puppy to the family accounts for much of that, and now our beloved\u00a0Brooklyn has a precious little \u00a0brother. \u00a0(More on Hudson with a picture in another post.) \u00a0 He’s 10 months old and already showing tremendous empathy and understanding that I can’t hear, so I’m feeling very secure with my two furry\u00a0guardians. \u00a0He’s also noticed my hearing aids – note to readers – if you wear hearing aids, be very careful to keep them away from dogs. \u00a0I’m told they love to chew them up!<\/p>\n
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Speaking of hearing aids (how’s that for a segue?) I’ve come to the end of the line with mine and it’s time to try something new. \u00a0Mine have been a lifeline to me for a long time now, and frankly, it’s very scary to give them up. \u00a0They may not do all the tricks and perform as much as new ones might, but they’re like comfortable old slippers. \u00a0We know each other, we’re comfortable with each other, and I’ve\u00a0relied on\u00a0them.<\/p>\n
There’s not much anyone\u00a0can do for\u00a0my loss, but I’m never going to stop trying. \u00a0Without the hearing aids, I’m 100% deaf, \u00a0and even with them, have zero\u00a0speech understanding. \u00a0Usually with my kind of loss, cochlear implants are the best option, but, for many reasons, they’re not an option for me.\u00a0So I have to try to manage with what’s available and do the best I can.<\/p>\n
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About 30 years ago, the doctors and audiologists told us that\u00a0I was very close to\u00a0\u00a0the end of the line. That\u00a0\u00a0I wouldn’t be able to wear hearing aids at all and I should prepare my family and house for the inevitable\u00a0– my having to live in absolute silence. \u00a0Whether it’s my stubbornness or someone watching over me, I can’t say, but that still hasn’t happened. \u00a0Though I don’t hear any\u00a0sound whatsoever without them, hearing aids still bring some sound into my ears. \u00a0My audiologist explained how those few sounds help me read lips and keep me connected to the ‘outside’ world, so even though I still can’t really hear, it helps my brain make sense of some things and it’s worth continuing.<\/p>\n
So I’ve had the new hearing aids with the hot new technology for a few weeks now. \u00a0I can see how incredible they’d be for someone with more hearing than I have, and how they’d change people’s lives. \u00a0I get jealous sometimes and wish I could experience the full value of their amazing capabilities. But for me, it’s just continuing what I’ve been doing for so many years\u00a0– I’m coping. \u00a0But it’s well worth it. \u00a0I’ve learned to thrive when I might have only survived.<\/p>\n
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People still ask me how I live with hearing loss. And I still ask them what choice do they think I have? \u00a0Should I curl up and die because I can’t hear? \u00a0Should I hide in my house and give up any semblance of life because I can’t hear? \u00a0 Should I become a miserable person and complain all the time? \u00a0 Not in my world. \u00a0I don’t ask for accolades for learning to live in a world that depends on sounds for everything from safety to communication to joy. \u00a0I’m not a hero and I’m not doing anything anyone else can’t do. \u00a0I’m just stubborn and refuse to have any less of a life because my ears don’t work.<\/p>\n
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I don’t often give advice or make assumptions, but for anyone out there with hearing loss, I implore you – don’t quit. \u00a0Don’t give up. \u00a0Use anything available to you to help you cope. If you have to sign, learn sign. \u00a0If you need people to repeat, ask them to repeat. If you need them to write it down, ask them to write it down. \u00a0Ask for help when you need it and don’t be shy about it. \u00a0We only come to the end of the line when we give up and refuse to keep going.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hello again! \u00a0I\u00a0haven’t disappeared off the face of the earth, though it really has been a long time since I’ve posted. \u00a0I really meant to so many times, but somehow time just fizzled.\u00a0\u00a0As we get older, we start to realize, acknowledge, and\u00a0perhaps even\u00a0accept some of our less than\u00a0stellar\u00a0 characteristics, and one of mine is letting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":438,"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions\/438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lostmyhearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}