Yesterday I couldn’t hear worth a tinker’s darn. I mean, when I turned up the remote on our TV to the point where I could tell what the announcers were saying, and the little black line on the bottom filled up to “69”, it was becoming embarrassing.
Last Monday morning I was sitting at my writing class and we were using a microphone at the table. Altho the words were blurred I kept on smiling. I didn’t want anyone to realize that I had a problem, but finally I asked someone to read a little louder.
After all, I have been living with a man who wears hearing aids for twenty three years. How many times had I repeated myself to him because he truly couldn’t hear well? Over the years we had both adjusted to his requesting and my repeating.
Now the shoe was on the other foot. Especially in the car it really became a problem. Usually he was driving and my left ear seemed to have quit working.
And out of the blue, serendipity you might say, I got a phone call from a local hearing aid center here in town. My spouse had gone to them for some repairs on his hearing aids several years ago. Now the lady had retired and the business had been sold. The new owners were calling her old customers to let them know they were now in business. Like a drowning man reaching for the brass ring I grabbed at an appointment. The next two days were spent talking myself into going to the hearing test that I had set up. I knew that I had a problem,, but it couldn’t be that bad, could it?
The hearing test actually turned out to be fun. I sat in a little booth, repeated the words I thought were spoken to me, pushed the buttons when I heard the sounds, and watched the lines on the computer screen. Technology is wonderful. And technology told me that my left ear was basically in a bad state. I couldn’t hear. The right one was not as bad but on its way to a similar fate.
It was just amazing. He put a small piece in my left ear based on the information from the screen, and I could hear my voice!
This all took place yesterday. TODAY I have my new hearing aid and life has taken on an extra dimension. I even have a little remote where I can set the volume or other good things at any time.
Also I now have something more to put on the charger. My IPad, my IPhone, and my aid charger, can you imagine charging them all every night? Technology has brightened my life in so many ways, and now another big one. I can hear. I can hear the voices of everyone around me. I’ve had to turn down the speakers on the TV. I hear the water running in the sink, or a squeak in my wood floor is new.
So long as I have batteries I won’t have to go back to “Yesterday.” I can relax and know all is well and I CAN HEAR!