A snapshot of my week!
Most days I wake up and my hearing ‘feels’ OK, but I’m still partially deaf in my right ear. About once a fortnight I wake up deaf in my right ear. (Finger in ear sounds like crepe paper – harsh scratchy). Most if not all times I look over my Apple watch and a bad day it correlates to too much noise the day before.
So 2 weeks ago I went deaf. I had an hour of loud noised the day before. I said to Jill “What happened yesterday between 11 and 12?”
“You were at the doctors!”
That set me back. The doctors waiting room, the pathology waiting room, they are very loud places!
Last week a longer meeting set me back.
I went to the post office, and although I had headphones on, the lady was asking a question so I took my headphones off, right as she scanned and it beeped, and it sent a pain down my ear and a ringing that lasted for 5-10 minutes.
So I mostly wear headphones for protection from unexpected noises.
If I take my earbuds out so as to talk, my ears are vulnerable to doors opening and closing, things getting dropped, loud laughter or kids yelling.
When I take them off my ear feels naked, exposed, because any surprising sounds bring irritation. Gardening is OK if I have music playing. But with headphones off there are too many clunks, and bird noises, and dog’s barking.
It gets claustrophobic having earbuds in 12 hrs every day. And they get smelly! Once a week or so we have been organising for Jill to head outside for 1/2 hr and I can have a time where I turn of the aircon and fridge, take off my headphones, and actually relax. It’s so lovely. Thanks Jill!
Work
Most days I can go to a staff meeting, if conversation is quiet. I can’t hang around for lunch or my ear gets irritated. I tried 3 hrs of meetings and I went backwards the next day. So even if the ‘level’ is low, time seems to bring an ear fatigue somehow. Yet on a different night I survived a 3 hr meeting OK with no implications.
One of the hardest things is finding a quiet space. I was at the church building meeting with someone and it started raining on the tin roof. I had my earbuds with my but not my noise cancelling headphones. 1/2 hr was long enough to set my hearing back the next day.
Leisure
Last Thursday was our day off. I got up and was going to to go to the library with Jill. We drove into town (10 min) in the Lexus and by then my ear was irritated. So I dropped Jill with Ben and headed home. So I didn’t make it to the library.
So days off are a bit boring.
No movies, no coffee shops, no shopping. I went to the jeweller with Jill to buy an 18th present for Laura but it was ‘headphones on’ the whole time at the mall. Signalling with our hands for thumbs up or thumbs down at the various shops. It did make for a fast shopping trip!
We tried a coffee shop, out on the Old Dubbo Read. We were the only customers there. We sat on the back verandah. It was OK, but when I took my plugs out to chat, there were lots of irritating sounds. The fridge fan. The register beeping. Kitchen sounds. So it was not relaxing. People stacking chairs.
Last Sunday night our 2 girls were baptised. It was wonderful! I was unable to attend the service at church, but I watched on Zoom as they gave their testimonies of how they came to follow Jesus, and I was able to head down to the pool at watch the baptism which was fantastic!!! As soon as it ended and the general chatter started, even though it was outdoors, I needed to escape the noise levels.
Family
I must be driving the family crazy. They are so patient with me especially Jill. One day I’m saying talk louder I can’t hear. The next day I’m saying don’t talk so loud it hurts. Communication is so important in marriage and it’s the incidental things that you often take for granted. We are reading ‘the Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work’ by John Gottman, very good and practical. If you are finding marriage hard, (and who doesn’t!!) I’d recommend it. It’s bringing a freshness to our relationship.
CIST and SSHL 