22 Jan 2011

Fun with Fireworks + Deafness - a photo essay/stuff about me!

Morning! Well, afternoon really. As per last week, here are some snaps from my Blackberry. This week's theme is `fireworks`. Only a few pics this week - fireworks are kind of hard to take decent pics of y'know - what with them moving around and all. The reason I have chosen fireworks is because I have had good news relating to my hearing loss/deafness....but you'll have to get to the end of this post to see what it is. Enjoy the pics:







 Next week's photo essay is "Stuff I saw on my lunch break", which seeing as I work in the City of London means I should get some good pics!

Right, the good news, here are the facts you *need* to know, in handy bullet points:

  • I wear hearing aids in both ears. This is cause my 'ossicles' (cool name huh), the 3 teeny tiny bones in my middle ear don't work. You can read more about this here
  • I have worn hearing aids since I can remember, so from around the age of 3.
  • My hearing loss is hereditary (god that's hard to spell) although only one of the bones in my mum's ears are messed up. We both have the hearing loss because...
  • My grandmother had rubella when she was pregnant with mum
  • My mum had an operation to 'fix' her hearing when she was 16. 
  • My operation wasn't possible because of all 3 bones not working :-(
  • I don't make a big deal about my hearing loss + most people don't know when they meet me until I tell them.
  • You can't tell I'm deaf from my speech
  • The consultant told me today that actually my hearing loss is moderate-to-severe. Which surprised me. So perhaps asking for stuff is no bad thing. 
  • I worry that I'm a pain, asking for stuff, like subtitles, louder volume, people to face me. Stupid huh!
So the good news is.....the consultant I saw today wants me to see the specialist doctor-y type people to see if things have changed re: operation. Wow. Crumbs. Yikes etc etc. Not getting hopes up but still. Amazing news no less! I can't imagine what it would be like to er, *hear* normally I guess. Exciting all the same. Just wanted to share with you all.

Happy afternoon!

SG

PS Thanks to everyone who has been reading + commenting + RTing + generally supporting my blog. You are all lovely and I am sending you virtual champagne as I've had over 1000 views this month alone. 




5 comments:

  1. Good luck, stupid girl. Is it weird to think of changing the way you perceive the world so radically? Are you scared you might lose part of yourself? This is something I've always wondered about when it comes to "curing" sensory impairments.

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  2. < raises glass of imaginary champagne >

    Lovely pics, especially the first one. Seriously, don't worry about being a pain. You come across as so with it, that I'm sure I'm not the only one who just doesn't think about it and would totally welcome the occasional reminder that small things (to me) like looking at you make a big difference to you. Exciting potential news for the future :-).

    Caroline

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  3. Emlyn - that certainly has crossed my mind. What will it be like? Will I still be the same person? Sounds stupid I know but it is part of my identity. Not that that is any reason not to investigate operative possibilities but I think you know what I mean.

    Caroline - thanks both re: pics + exciting news :-)

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  4. grandma in waiting24 January 2011 at 10:53

    OK small details but just so you know for the future :-)

    Grandma had MEASLES badly as a kid, not rubella when she pregnant - which caused our eyesight problems.

    It was Papa getting BEATEN about the head viciously while a Japanese P-O-W that caused him to go deaf in one ear and I inherited it and, sadly, so did you :-((

    My first op was when i was 18 (the youngest person ever to have had the op then prformed by Tony Bull, who was then a VERY dishy young blond guy ) and the second one ten years later.

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  5. grandma in waiting24 January 2011 at 13:47

    have just been reliably informed that our hearing loss cannot be genetic through Papa's injuries...so do not know why we were targeted :-(

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