Wednesday, January 27, 2016

I can hear clearly now...

Not running or weight loss related, but life related!

I can hear!! 

All of my life I have struggled to hear. In my mid-30's I got my first hearing aid. Later I got a pair of hearing aids. But even with the hearing aids, I missed a lot of what was going on around me. 

I have a family history of hearing loss. My Daddy and his dad both were almost completely deaf by their 40's. About 15 years ago, we got a name for the hereditary hearing loss. My brother (3 years older) had a CT scan due to a concussion. The doctor told him he had otosclerosis.  I was told that I probably had otosclerosis.  In September, I went to an ENT surgeon who officially diagnosed me--and a CT confirmed it--with otosclerosis.

otosclerosis

 [o″to-sklÄ•-ro´sis
the formation of spongy bone in the capsule of the labyrinth of the ear, often causing the auditory ossicles to become fixedand less able to pass on vibrations when sound enters the ear. Approximately 10 per cent of adults have otosclerosis, but inonly 1 per cent does it affect the stapeswhich becomes fixed to the oval window and causes symptoms. adj., adj otosclerot´ic.
 source


In December, I had a stapedotomy--where my stapes (stirrup) bone in my left ear was replaced by a prosthetic. After a week the packing came out, and I could suddenly hear things I had not heard before.

Here are some of the things I noticed/posted in the first couple of weeks:

  • Do "normal" people hear their footfall--every step?!?! 
  • Not only was I able to hear the speaker at the staff meeting--I was able to hear everyone--at the same time. Now I have a headache!
  •  I thought John had messed with the balance on the car radio (too much treble?). But when I muted the radio, it was still there. We get a lot of road noise in our car!
  •  I had to turn the car radio down several notches.
  • When my phone connected to the car radio, I had to quickly turn it down quite a bit--it hurt!
  •  In the 11 years I've used this office phone, I have always had to turn the volume up to the top. And sometimes I still couldn't hear. Today I turned it about halfway down.
  •  I heard a car drive by on the street. From my office. On the 6th floor. With no windows that open.
  • The open refrigerators at Albertsons (deli meats, cheeses, fresh meats) are REALLY loud!
  • It would have been okay if my newfound hearing had not extended to hearing every single bang of each of the eight hammers on each of the toolboxes the Webelos are making. Add the fact that the hall has a dome shape that echoes....
  •  I need to talk to my doctor about ADD! I hear all of the conversations around me now--at the same time!

1 comment:

Thanks for your support on this journey. Please be nice (to me and to other commenters).

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