So I put my story out there yesterday with hesitation, because on so many levels I feel blessed in this world. I did not want to come off as a whimpering woe-is-me but I was desperate for information. Just a day later I am now a member of HLAA –Hearing Loss Association of America – the nation’s leading membership and advocacy organization for people with hearing loss. It is an international, non-sectarian, educational organization of people with hearing loss, their relatives and friends. I will receive their monthly magazines full of information for people like me, plus I have three chapters to choose from here in Connecticut where I can get new information about products and research and developments while interacting with others who have dealt with the same hearing loss issues. It’s a beautiful thing. And I have to wonder, why was I never told of these resources by the three different hearing specialists I have seen throughout the years? It took the blogging community to bring these resources to me.
I’ve also heard success stories from other bloggers who have had the cochlear implant surgery and would do it again, it has been that good of an experience for them. A friend here in town who reads my blog reached out to her relative and got information for me on another implant, and so I’ll do research on that. Some of you have suffered hearing loss too, and we’ve laughed together over the daily annoyances that make up the life of a hearing impaired person… You HAVE to laugh, really.
Example: Just yesterday I went grocery shopping. I got into a long line to check out, and apparently the one next to me opened up and the store clerk was calling me to come on over to her line. I didn’t hear her. She then began waving her arms REAL BIG and I saw the waving and looked over… she pointed to her empty line exasperatedly, but by the time I saw her waving, others had too and jumped in.
Sometimes the check out person or a restaurant worker or a gas station attendant or the mail delivery person joke around with me in casual banter that you all are used to. It’s a part of everyday interaction. A word of advice that you didn’t ask for…. ENJOY those little interactions.. they warm your world, believe me. I can only hope my responses are appropriate, because most of the time I can’t hear it and I’m winging it. Sometimes… the reaction from the other party is one of a silent, odd look… and I know I got it wrong.
Restaurants are a nightmare, as are any social functions where there is any background noise whatsoever… meaning any social function whatsoever. I don’t join friends for a drink or a social outing anymore because I won’t hear the conversation, and I don’t want people I care about to have to repeat themselves over and over. It’s easier to just stay home. At the Dog Days events, I no longer work the adoptions table because with all the barking dogs and crowds of potential adopters, I cannot hear the interview I’m supposed to be giving.
Jane, a blogging friend of mine, knows my woe. She said this after my post.. and I laughed out loud. THIS is what I want for Christmas… “I think we should get T shirts that say DEAF on the front and DEAFER on the back!!
I want to thank each one of you for commenting kindly on that post, for sending vital information that I did not have before, for commiserating, for the camaraderie, for being there. I had no idea when I started blogging, what an important community it would turn out to be. Thank you, thank you – I feel as if a shroud has been lifted. Ok, maybe it’s still stuffed in my ears, but I’m no longer blind to the opportunities. I have resources.
