Thursday, August 22, 2013

August 22, 2013

The Ripple Effects From the Deafness
Thursday,  August 22, 2013

My lack of ability to hear still causes problems.  When I am wearing the Cochlear Implant's sound processor, I can hear.  When I am not wearing it, I can't hear.  It is as simple as that.  And I do mean CAN"T HEAR!  I mentioned that we had rain in the middle of the night Tuesday night.  When I got up Wednesday morning, I went into the garage to get a load of clothes out of the dryer.  There was a portable work cart that my husband uses on locksmith jobs, sitting next to the back door just inside the garage.  I could not figure out why it was there.  It had not been there when I put the load in the dryer late the night before.
Occasionally my husband will use that little work cart to work on some locks that he brings home, but I was not aware of any pressing job.  I was curious each time I passed the cart and also a little frustrated because it was in my way, but I didn't mention it to him.  Late that evening, he explained why it was there.  It seems that when the thunderstorm (that I never heard) started, he decided to get out of bed and go turn the sprinklers off since he didn't need to keep watering the lawn.  The pump for the sprinklers plugs in beside the dryer in the garage.  He unplugged the pump, and then when he was ready to come back in the house, he noticed he had locked himself in the garage.  This has happened before to him.  In fact it has happened to him several times. 

In most homes, one would simply knock on the door or ring a door bell or as a last resort knock on the bedroom window.  In most homes, that would work.  In our home, that doesn't work.  He could knock all night.  He could ring the bell until dawn, but I would peacefully continue to sleep.  I can not hear those things when I am not wearing the sound processor.  We even have a special VERY loud door bell on the front door.  As the housekeeper can testify, without the sound processor, I don't hear a thing!  So he did what he always does when this happens.  He gathered the needed tools and drilled out the lock and got in.  Then he set up a new cylinder for the lock and it was all fixed before I got up.

Maybe because he can drill and replace the cylinder, he doesn't think to check the lock on his way out the door.  Our locks are not the normal ones that most homes have; they are a little more advanced.  He can handle that.  What he has trouble with is remembering to check the door on his way out.  Poor guy.  As I said, most people could just wake the sleeping person and ask them to open the door.  It doesn't work that way at our house.


 Today was a rather normal day.  Wow!  Normal!!  That means I could hear.  I did some sewing on a current quilt project before I went to work.  This project was started 5 or 6 years ago (at least).  It uses photos I have taken of birds in the area.  Those have been printed on fabric and then I framed each one with fabric that goes well with the photos.  As you can see from the photos, I still have much to do, but am making progress.
 
At the office, I worked on a little bit of bookkeeping and waited on customers most of the morning while Ron was out on jobs (probably getting paid to drill out cylinders and replace them!).  At one point while Ron was in the office, he was tied up on a long phone call.  A customer had come in but needed to talk to him.  So rather than have the man pace the floor, I began talking to him.  I used to do that many years ago.  Just talk to the customers.  I have avoided that now for a long time.  One of my favorite questions to ask people is, when you aren't at work, what do you like to do for fun?  Do you have a hobby?  This was a man who is probably in his late 40s, and his answer was that he does Drag Racing.  He goes to a town about 70 miles away that has a speed racing track.  We had a very interesting conversation about that and about his daughters - one likes to go watch and the other doesn't.  This is what I have been missing for years.  Just talking to people.  I have felt so isolated for so long!
 
Our son Jeff, who lives here in town also stopped by looking for some papers he had at our office.  He stayed and visited.  His dad was out, but I could enjoy a conversation with him.  I didn't spend the whole time asking him to repeat or pretending I heard what he said.  We just talked - like normal people.  It is when things like that happen that I thank God for answering the prayers of Jeff's daughter Rachel, when she continued to ask God to , "Please let Grandma hear."  Thank you God, and thank you to the medical people who have perfected their skills to make this surgery possible.  Thank you to the man who invented the Cochlear Implant - as I recall he died a few months ago, but I thank God for giving him the ability to create such an amazing engineering masterpiece! 
 
God has gifted each of us to do unique things.  I hope that we are each seeking to discover that talent or gift and developing it to the fullest.  Your gift may not be inventions, design, or engineering, but it may be gardening, letter writing, or teaching (someone had to teach math to that inventor).  Whatever your gift or talent is, I hope you are using it to touch the lives of others for good.
 
During the afternoon after Ron returned, I did some Immersion Reading in a new book I downloaded last night and then spent much of the afternoon designing a calendar with bird photos that I took mostly during spring migration this year.  There was an offer from Shutterfly (an online company that makes items using your photos) for one free calendar, so I couldn't pass that up.
 
After work we had supper with my mom and I continued experimenting with the remote to the sound processor to find the best setting for the restaurant noise.  Then I did birthday shopping for a couple of people in the family who have birthdays next week.  Now if I can just get them mailed!  It was late when I got home, but I must tell you, shopping in Brownsville with limited hearing has some advantages.  Oh, the arm was much better today, far less pain.  That is a very good thing. 
 

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like a good day. Hope you have more and more of those--at least for the next couple of weeks anyway! The bird quilt is lookin' good!

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    1. Yes, Tiny, there are more and more good days. I am having to work sometimes to come out of the shell I have built around myself all these years. I hope to work on the bird quilt tomorrow.

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  2. Your journey keeps reminding each of us to be grateful for our problems whatever they are & work to make things easier for others. Helping others has always been my thing anyway; that's why I stayed in Insurance Claims for most of my life. With the ones I handled, I was able to make people's lives better or easier. Also, I can share my learned knowledge from my work with others. Most people never think of insurance claims in that light, I've learned, but that it why many of us stay in such stressful situations. I thank you for sharing your life & progress with us. It has helped me with my mom & other friends who are hearing impaired. You have turned a negative into a positive in your own life too along the way!! Hands together for your continued improvement with both the hearing & the elbow.

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    1. Dottie, a caring, sincere worker in an insurance claims department could be such a blessing to someone. That is what I mean, we all have different abilities, but they can all be used to reach out to others who may be hurting (physically or in other ways).

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