Huh?

Thanks, husker! It means a lot that you had no idea. I'm fine sitting here in my quiet office on the phone...but get me in a noisy restaurant and I can't understand half of what's said.

Thanks to you, too, soz. How is sozlet's hearing these days? Did she get over her loss as you expected?

Beth - nudge all you like. It's very heartening to know that people have been thinking about me even when I'm not aware of it. Makes me feel all warm inside.

I started to write but it's getting long, so I'll put it on sozlet stories and a link here. Just a sec.

here:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1387286#1387286

Oh, man. That's not what I was hoping to hear, either. I sure hope it improves! I know this must be very worrisome for you, but thank God sozlet has a mother who knows the ropes.

Eva, I wasn't here last year and just read this thread. What an ordeal!!! I'm so sorry this happened, but your grace and style shone through it all.

Eva, when you're ready for us to stop thinking about you, you just say the word. Until then, you're a permanent fixture on my people-to-send-good-vibes list.

I'm glad that you've found hearing aids that seem to be working for you. Let us know how it's going!

Thanks, J_B and mac. You guys are really wonderful.

I'd be rooting for you all the time even if I wasn't listening re my own mishegas.

When I make a move from here, I will open up money to buy a hearing aid system. I think, and soz probably knows, my hearing loss is more dismal than your's eva. What?
But not at all more emotional.
Yours was fast.
Your grace in dealing with this has been a lovely feather on the wind for us all.

Yesterday I saw Thea walking to Target. A car seemed to just miss her. She always has my attention. She lost her sight in an auto accident when she was, say, about ten. She can see a bit, but not much. Walks around town with a white cane. She is really a beautiful woman, in, I would guess her later thirties, though maybe a bit younger. Gads she is brave. She comes into our gallery and looks up close.

Thea and people like her have serious balls.

No kidding, osso. Losing one's hearing seems like nothing compared with losing one's sight. At least, to me. That's my worst nightmare. I'm so visual...I think it would kill me.

My sister, whose eyesight has always been terrible, is a professional musician. The idea of losing hearing affects her in much the same way the idea of losing eyesight affects me. She thinks I've been terribly, terribly brave about all this, but the truth is, hearing's not nearly as important to me as it is to her.

I suspect, however, that Thea's sight (what is left of it) is extremely important to her, though. Why else would she brave the urban elements to go to your gallery? It also amazes me how well people adapt to these huge losses when they're still young and malleable.

Eva, I've also been wondering how you are.

Reminds me of my sister who has tinnitis ... she does have hearing aids but refuses to wear them, which irritates us all, because of constantly having to repeat ourselves. She says the hearing aids do help you to hear, if there's no background noise.

I can just imagine how horrible that must be!

Please keep us updated on your progress .. you are such a trooper and inspiration!

Thank you, Misti!

Tell your sister she needs to go back and have her hearing aids adjusted to lessen the background noise. They can do that fairly easily. When they're programmed correctly, they'll work much better in her ears than in a drawer.

That said, no hearing aid can make a person hear as well as they did before their loss. Even with the best technology, it sounds more like listening to the real world through earphones...not quite natural. I still ask people to repeat themselves, but not nearly as often as I did before I got the hearing aids.

Hugs to you, and give Rae a smooch for me, too!

Aha! No wonder I couldn't find them online. I was looking for Research Air, and having no luck. Well, copy and paste to google, and off I go.

Thanks again for all the helpful advice in Albuquerque. It was great talking with someone with direct experience. By the way, I had the same impression of the (one and only) ENT in Farmington. Just making it up as he went along. Not only that, neither he, nor his staff, had the slightest idea about how to talk to someone with hearing loss.

I need a new trip to an audiologist, once I move. I looked up ReSound just now, and ran across this site (Hmmmm....)

http://www.ahearingaid.com/digitalws.htm

roger, you'd be amazed (or maybe not) at how true that is for so many ENT's. Ridiculous. I went to the House Institute in L.A., which is famous for "treating" (mostly cochlear implants) many, many, MANY deaf people, and they were all clueless. Not just lack of signing (that's not a one-size-fits-all solution), but just general things about mumbling while looking down at the chart, etc., etc.

That's one reason I'm happy with the one we finally settled on (for sozlet, but I'm the one who talks to him) -- he gets that stuff and is also great about auxiliary email communication. So they are out there (the good ENTs...)