March 18, 2014

Hello, Doctor.  I Can Hear You.

March 18, 2014

The General Practitioner that Ron and I use is a man named Dr. Bhondi.  The first time I met Dr. Bhondi was when I went to see him a couple of days after I lost my hearing.  I had lost the hearing on a Friday afternoon and my husband had a bad case of the flu, so I waited to go to the doctor on Monday morning, thinking he would say my ears were stopped up and that is why I couldn't hear.  So almost all of my visits to Dr. Bhondi were last spring and early summer when I was deaf.  He had quickly diagnosed the problem as Sudden Hearing Loss, but then referred me to other specialists.  I had many visits with him as I prepared for my Cochlear Implant surgery early this past summer.  I think I have only seen him once since I got the implant and I think I was with Ron on a visit at the time. 

Today may have been the first time I had gone to Dr. Bhondi alone as a patient, without Ron going along to help me understand the conversation.  I have had a minor sore throat and sinus infection going on for a while and then added another minor infection so I went to see him this afternoon.  It was nice to hear him and converse with him without the aid of the iTranslate program on our cell phones that we used last spring.  He is a very pleasant man when he is not worried about his deaf patient.  I could tell each time we saw him last spring that my condition weighed heavily upon him.  He wanted to make me well, but could not do it.  It would take a specialized surgeon to help.  But he pointed me in the right direction each step of the way.

Today he decided to try a new antihistamine and to give me an antibiotic.  He had a new technician working for him who was a very nice lady.  She did some x-rays of my sinuses and we talked a good bit about my Cochlear implant.  It turns out she had so many questions because she has a family member who can't hear.  I gave her my blog information and told her to read about my experience.  She appreciated the information and thanked me for answering her questions. 

Ron had gone to see Dr. Bhondi this morning for a follow up on his physical and I asked him to make my appointment while he was there.  Ron said he and the doctor had a great visit while the doctor told him to cut back on the cheese, etc.  Too bad. 

I kept busy this morning while he was out of the office and this afternoon after I got back I had several tasks to finish up.  I am still boxing up old files.  I realized I had boxed all the shop files last winter (from the previous year), but not my personal files.  That was about the time I went deaf and too many things got set aside.  So I am in the process of going through two years of files, but I made good progress today.  A couple of the Winter Texans from the church were in the shop this afternoon and it was good to visit with them before they head home.  They say things have thawed out back up north where they live, so they think it is time to leave. 

After work I went to pick up the two new prescriptions and then headed home.  I again spent time in the yard when I first got home.  Our winds are still very strong - almost 50 mph much of the day.  I filled ponds and feeders.  Very few birds are venturing out in the wind.   Ron worked at the office until very late.  He had  a lot of tax things work on and got some of it done.  I fixed supper and ate alone long before he got home and pointed him to the leftovers when he arrived.

The yard is alive in color.  There are so many buds on the hibiscus bushes along that brick wall.  They will soon be even more beautiful as the blooms open.

I think I counted about 25 buds in this small section of the hibiscus hedge.  It will be so lovely.

 This is the second pot of amaryllis plants and two of the 6 buds are open.  They are doing so well this year.

We do have a problem with stray cats that come in our yard and kill the birds.  Does anyone have a suggestion of how I can get them to go away?  I think this next cat was put together by a committee or out of leftover parts.  Look at those back legs! 

We changed some of our plans for this coming weekend.  We had hoped Stephen could meet us in Houston, but that didn't work out.  We are going earlier than originally planned and will be staying with our friends who open their home to so often.  They are moving soon to a new location and I thought they would already be moved, but their move has been delayed.  We will really enjoy spending some time with them. I think the last time we saw them was when I was at the Quilt Festival in October. 

This evening I talked to our son in San Antonio.  After we had talked a while, he asked how I was doing on the phone these days.  After the third time I had him repeat the question, I guessed right about what he was saying.  Does that answer the question?  I can do the phone, but it takes a lot of effort on both my end and on the other person's part to keep repeating the things I don't understand.  We did catch up some on the various things going on in our lives and the lives of his family.