Taking stuff for granted.
Speaking to Paul on the phone and reading his comments about Hurricane Jimena, it’s clear that we all take basic things
in life very much for granted. The following was passed to me by a fellow commercial pilot who, like me, as you will probably appreciate, requires regular medicals to be passed fit to fly. It serves as a reminder to all of us that we should value frequently our health.
Here’s the tale.
I just watched a recording of the The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, when they first appeared in the States. It was like yesterday. I knew the words of all the songs. It was alive and timeless.
But what would it have meant if I could not hear ?
Perhaps it comes with age, but from time to time my ears become a little blocked with wax, so that when I wake up in the morning, I can hardly hear. It normally clears quite quickly, once I’m up and about. All of a sudden there will be an extra pop and I can hear normally again.
Recently the trouble got worse, so I decided to use some ear drops in order to loosen the wax and hopefully clear the problem. But what must have happened was that the wax sealed the ear drum completely in both ears.
I was now to enter a very quiet world; the reserve of many people who suffer in silence.
My wife would prod me in the morning because I didn’t hear the alarm. Unless she was looking at me directly I could not hear what she was saying. She became very frustrated, and got quite cross.
We give no thought about how we talk to each other around the house, one in one room, the other in a different room, or one with their head in the fridge. How could I hear?
The interesting thing was that I could not judge how loudly I was speaking. At one stage I was in a computer learning area. I had finished what I was doing, and suggested to my mates that we finish and get out quick. Hey they said, you’re shouting.
When out with the children, I twice nearly got knocked over, because I couldn’t hear the approaching cars.
Local people must have thought I was being rude and not speaking to them.
In fact there was something strange about the sounds around me, like being in a goldfish bowl. I didn’t know where the sound was coming from and I found it quite off-putting.
I started to become withdrawn, because I just could not hear. There was no chance of hearing anything in a room, because there was just a blanket of noise, so I would smile and pretend I had heard, because it sounded stupid to keep asking people to repeat themselves.
My brother-in-law lost his hearing in one ear when he suffered with some sort of clotting that got as far as the brain and caused permanent loss of hearing. Had the same thing happened to me?
By now it seemed possible because there was no let-up. I was almost totally deaf and whereas previously there would be a sudden break through of noise and things would get back to normal for a while, this time something else had happened.
If I used the telephone for an outgoing call, I could hold the telephone closely enough to hear what was being said, but I never heard it ring and there were many missed calls on my mobile.
The big problem was that I was not at home when the Doctor’s surgery was open, and then we went away camping, so could not get an appointment as this was not urgent.
In the end I took myself back home and called at the surgery. With a bit of pressure and a sob story I was told I could have a ten minute appointment. Which ear would I like syringed?
“I’M SORRY I DON’T UNDERSTAND!”
The problem was that you need 20 minutes to have both ears seen to on the (UK) National Health Service, so as there was only a ten minute slot I had to choose which ear I would like to have cleared.
Thankfully, the nurse was not aware of this silly rule and in a few minutes had cleared both ears. I even heard the noise as a lump of wax was cleared and my world of sound returned.
I could speak normally. I could hear; the birds: passing traffic. The children got used to talking with me again. My wife looked at me differently, the level of stress which had become normal, disappeared.
All was back to normal. What a disability!
My Mother wears a hearing aid. My brother-in-law wears a hearing aid.
My best friend wears a hearing aid. New digital one. Very expensive!
Why did I never realise what life must be like for them?
Well now I will take more time to try and look at them when I talk. I realise now that many people have hearing problems. I will recognise the signs. Just think what it must be like to learn, and use, sign language.
Just think what it must be like to lose your job because you can no longer pass a medical. Phew!
By Bob Derham
P.S. The picture at the head of this Post is Georgia Horsley, Miss England 2007. The story in The Daily Mail online version shows that Georgia is deaf!
Learning from Dogs 