30. A bit of DIY ~ 28th June

I went back to see the audiologist for the third time this week to sort out my other painful hearing aid. I was surprised to see the electric-sander hadn't been replaced. Inevitably as soon as he turned it on it kept making terrible noises that even I could hear. After a few questions I discovered that the machine isn't even an audiological piece of equipment, but rather something you get from your local hardware store! I thought it looked very similar to the one I have in my garage! I would have brought mine along if I had known! He shaved a bit off both hearing aids, but I cannot tell at the moment whether they are comfortable because of the blisters and cuts they have already caused on my ears.

29. Rainbow Eyes ~ 26th June

I have to apologise for being behind with my blog, I've been away and also submerged under life's stresses - I'm sure you know the feeling!

I went to the audiology clinic today for an appointment to see if I fit the criteria to be given some equipment to help me lead as normal a life as possible.

The lady almost immediately commented on me having different coloured eyes. All the usual thoughts sprung to mind when someone says "oh my goodness you have different coloured eyes!" such as 'duh..do you think I have never noticed that before?' (of course I didn't actually say that to her!). Rather than the normal "wow, that's so cool" or "that's so unusual" or "they are amazing" or " have they always been like that" or "they are so beautiful", this time was different with the lady saying "interesting". I asked her why they are interesting and she started telling me about a condition called 'Waardenberg Syndrome'. She told me that two of the symptoms of this condition are different coloured eyes with one eye having a different coloured iris eg one of my eyes is blue and the other is a mixture of blue, green and brown. The other symptom I have is being deaf. I looked into the condition when I got home and other than those two traits, I don't have any of the long list of symptoms such as a white lock of hair, premature greying etc, so it has been ruled out).

Then the questions began:

"Can you hear your front door bell ring?

Can you hear the telephone ring?

Can you hear the person at the other end of the line when you're on the telephone?

Can you hear the television?

Can you hear someone shouting from downstairs to you upstairs?

Can you hear the fire alarm ring?

Can you hear your alarm clock?"

........ The questions carried on and on. 

She said that I met all the strict criteria and in a few weeks time a man will come to my house with lots of goodies and gadgets. I wanted to jump up and down, finding it hard to contain my excitement knowing this will be life changing for me.

24. Day 3: Yogi Alarm ~ 19th June

For me, the first session was one of the most important topics of the course. A man talked to us about different sorts of equipment available for those hard of hearing. After talking to us he showed us some of them and we were allowed to touch them, feel the weight of them and generally have a fiddle around with them and to get the general feel to see whether they could help us or not. There were different types of amplified telephones, alarm clocks, door bells, pagers, fire alarms etc. I asked the man if he could let me hear how loud the fire alarm is to see if I could hear it (I can no longer hear our two fire alarms at home which were fitted by the fire brigade...that's another story!). The man pressed the button on the alarm. Can you remember me telling you in my last post about Yogi the hearing dog? Yogi is trained to react to particular sounds ie a particular doorbell, fire alarm etc. As soon as the man pressed the alarm button, Yogi bounded over to Steve (his master) and firmly put his paw on Steves leg to get his attention and then lay completely flat on the floor. This is Yogis way of alerting Steve that a fire alarm is ringing. That wasn't even the fire alarm which Yogi had been trained to respond to....a highly intelligent and amazing animal.

To see how Yogi has helped change Steve's life, please watch this short video (he is on at the start of the clip)  Click here.

During the morning, I learnt that there really are things available to help me lead as normal a life as possible. The only problem is that sadly the majority of all these things are very expensive.

We discussed 'tinnitus' this afternoon. I already know a bit about tinnitus as I have it. Most tinnitus sufferers have a very high pitched ringing in their ears. I find the louder the background noise and also being very tired being makes the ringing sound worse. I have had it several years. Since wearing hearing aids I have found that they have stopped the ringing in my ears, however the moment I take my hearing aids out, it comes back with a vengeance. I have a love hate relationship with tinnitus because whilst I hate the tiring, annoying, monotonous ringing, it makes me grateful that I am able to hear something.

As soon as the session had finished, I drove to a nearby shop to buy a present for Yogi after all, he deserved it.

             

We finished the evening by watching The World Cup...Maybe I should avoid that subject!