i t z i e . d i a r y l a n d . c o m

Spare some change for a hearing aid? // 2003-05-21


Today I was off of work! Yay! But I scheduled two doctors appointments today so I wouldn't have to take the time off to go to them some other day. Boo!

So, first off, I have a wonderful new primary care doc who actually sat down with me and talked to me about my health issues and explained stuff really well. I like him lots. Yay! And he gave me a perscription for my medication. I'd just sort of been not taking my medicine for the last few months while I dilly-dallied about finding a new doctor. I was scolded. Luckily, I only have hypothyoroidism and not something more serious that would demand daily medication. I've simply become bloated and sleepy and depressed is all. No big whoop.

And then, I went to my audiologist because my fucking hearing aids have been fitzing out WAY too often and my old pair is broken outright, so I don't even have backup. Every time I go to the audiologist, I hope that they say something along the lines of "Oh hey! Since the last time you were here, engineers have invented a new hearing aid technology that will make that left ear of yours hear just like normal people can hear! And it's cheap technology to boot!" But they never say that. And there really isn't any point in hoping for that. You see, my left ear everything sounds like a radio in another room. You can sort of hear what is being said, but not exactly - it's kind of muffled and you hear the bass sounds really well, but none of the treble. And even if the volume is turned all the way up, it's just a really loud radio in another room that you still just can't quite hear. She did a test for me where the sound was cranked as high as I could stand it and she read a list of words to me and I was to repeat them. It really drove home exactly what sort of things I'm missing. She says: "Rake" and I hear "mmphake" That could be lake, make, take, shake, bake, cake, wake etc. and the only way I can figure it out is from context. But then there are those words where I can't even catch the "k" sound so it could be plate, flake, mate, eight, shape, quake, date or pretty much any one syllable word with a long "a" in the middle and some soft sound at the beginning and a hard sound in the end. So my left ear is shit, period. Ok, it's not quite that bad. Luckily, my right ear, with amplification, is close to 100% perfect. She cranked the volume on that side and I repeated that list with no problem. So my hearing is 60%/100% left/right respectively. Ok, so no miracle technology for me. She did suggest that maybe I would want to invest in some FM technology where I could plug a little receiver in my hearing aid and then have my friend hold a microphone so that I can hear them better in a noisy situation. Yeah. I can just see everyone passing the microphone around at a bar so I can hear the conversation - everyone speaking in turn and waiting to say something until they have the microphone in hand. Right. I just have to get used to the fact that I'm not going to do well in some situations. That's that. And then she suggested that I get over-the-ear hearing aids. Ugh. Ok, I'm a little vain about this. I do not want them to be all that noticeable. I like my in the ear aids because I feel like people don't notice them right away. It makes me really happy when someone doesn't even notice the hearing aids until later and then is suddenly all like "OH! You have hearing aids!" Behind the ear ones... it's different. And then sometimes people treat you different because of them. Some people expect me to be deaf or near deaf. And yeah, most of the time, the joke is on them and I'm secretly laughing at them as they pull out a pen and paper to "talk" to me... but then, there's also a part of me that feels a little sad when stuff like that happens. I don't want to be treated very differently. Just repeat yourself if I ask you to - that's all you have to do to make me happy. And I don't ask THAT often. I don't think I do anyway.

Ok, but then here comes the kicker. Hearing aids have apparently taken a price leap since I last purchased some. The last time I was aware of the price, they were $550 each. I assumed that they might be like... oh... $900 or so each by now. No. They are now $2000 EACH. FFFFUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKK! Where am I supposed to come up with $4000? And do I really want to spend that much on an aid for my left ear when my left ear is such shit anyway? Don't even bother leaving me messages about "doesn't your insurance cover it?" Don't even get me started on that. No, insurance almost NEVER covers hearing aids. We, the hearing impaired, must somehow come up with approximately $4000 for a new pair every three years or so. Fuck. So. Ramen noodles anyone? Anyway, it will work itself out. I'm going to get my old old pair repaired so that I have a backup, I'm getting an electric dehumidifier for the current pair (that should help a little in the fitzing out department) and maybe I'll buy them one at a time. And the audiologist said she would do some research into a cheaper pair for me and I could do a payment plan and blah blah blah. I've been saving some money for a used car anyway, so I guess I'll just can that idea and get a hearing aid instead.

Ok, so enough with the bad news. The good news is that I ran into bookstore boy 2 today. He'd just gotten off the plane in Seattle after visiting his dad in Virginia. His dad had some heart surgery done or something (this is the THIRD parent of a friend I know of who has had heart surgery this month). He was on his way to a friend's house to pick up his mail and he happened by the P-Patch as I was heading out. We had a nice little conversation on the way to his friend's house. Yay bookstore boy! And he's now in the state until the end of the summer! Yay! And I can go visit him in his mountain abode sometime soon! Yay! And we may get coffee later this week. Yay! I wish I could meet my own bookstoreboy2 - except that mine would not be already married. *swoon* Alas. But he's the best damn pen pal a girl could ask for.

I also ran into Pete and Alana - Pete being a former housemate and Abby's first Pete (as opposed to RePete) and Alana being his wife. And I ran into Mary, another old housemate. And then I ran into Revolutions Jim, a guy I used to hang out with a good bit. And then I ran into Quita, my current housemate. And then I ran into Lauren, my photography pal, in front of my house. So that's 7 people I know who I randomly bumped into today. Seattle is such a small small world.

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