My Inspiration

When things seem difficult to me I always think back to my father. He has and will always be my inspiration. It wasn't until he retired at the age of 72 that I learned that he had lost his site in his right eye. What makes that situation amazing to me is that the accident that resulted in his loss of site occurred 15 years earlier. He worked for 15 years without saying anything to anyone. I remember asking him why he hadn't said anything for all those years....he turned to me and said "That's what I had to do. I couldn't let that stop me from providing for my family". I remember thinking how lucky I was and how much he had suffered through on his own. I've never forgotten that conversation. I remember it as if it was yesterday. I'm grateful for his sacrifice and now measure myself to that. Whenever I let my ear issues get the best of me; I stop and relive that conversation. I remind myself that today I have family reponsibilities that will require nothing less then what my father sacrificed for his own family..... for me.

What's The Plan??

I spend a lot of time compensating for my loss of hearing. At meetings I've learned to sit in strategic places. I tend to move around so I can have the best listening angle. I've learned to do many thing to help myself in the last two years. But, I do think about the next stage of my life. As I get older the task of compensating will get harder. So "What's the Plan'? Do I learn sign language? Some people I talk to about that look at me like I'm crazy. Am I? Am I crazy to worry about loosing even more hearing? I don"t think so. Loosing 50% was bad enough.

P-E-R-M-A-N-E-N-T!!

Permanent! I never really thought about this word. I didn't have a reason to despite having heard it before. I remember the guy who did my tattoo saying "You know this will be permanent". I remember another Doctor saying " The scar will be permanent". For some reason permanent didn't have such an impact then. But, when the ENT said "Your hearing loss is permanent" it had harsh feel to it. I've thought about it often as to why that is. I think I finally got why. I remember others using this word and feeling a sense of empathy in their voice. None of those situations were life changing. Yet the person who delivered it was sincere in their delivery.  The ENT did even look at me as he told me that the hearing loss was permanent. The one person I expect to have empathy missed that class in medical school. My take away....WORDS DUE MATTER!

Pill or No Pill?

For months I've been looking for help with the noise in my head. But, I now understand that people like me will suffer from Sudden Hearing Loss simply because there isn't enough interest from the medical field to find a cure. What I found is a pharmaceutical industry that wants to sell me a pill to help stop the ringing. Have you ever read the narrative on these over the counter drugs? They all for the most part say you should take them for at least six months before seeing any results.Wow! Why solve the problem when you can make all that money.