I Can’t Hear You
Would You Repeat That Please
Looking back, how vain and foolish to be so proud of my keen hearing, as if I had earned it by some achievement of act or will. It made the subsequent losses even harder to bear. Depressing for me, and frustrating for family, friends, and colleagues sums up the ongoing experience.
It took me a while to realize what was happening to me. It started in one ear only, suddenly, and without any warning signs. At first, I thought that my ear was merely blocked up by wax. A trip to my primary care physician, a hearing test, and then an examination by a hearing specialist told me a different story. The loss was significant, and surgery was an option. The surgery was only somewhat successful, and had a serious negative side effect(that tale is for another story).
Of course, in time my “good” ear developed the same symptoms, but inexcusably it took me awhile to figure out what was going on. After several weeks of phone conversations in which I found myself asking the other callers to please repeat themselves, or could you please speak a little louder, the light dawned. I switched the phone to my formerly “bad ear” to find that indeed it was now my “good” ear.
Surgery was not an option for this ear, and so I was fitted for my first hearing aid. What they don’t say directly, at least they didn’t to me…
