Soaking Up the Silence

My job is so noisy, that it drives me crazy some days. Like TODAY.
I'm just tired of all the noise. It has physically exhausted me.
I'm just sitting here in the quiet. Hearing aids off. Ahhhh. How nice.
I wonder if other hearing impaired people notice that too?
I wonder if they too, sometimes just want the quiet.

Some noises drive me insane. The vacuum cleaner for instance. Running water in the tub (actually I don't like the sound of any running water). The hair dryer. Mixers. Blenders. Any Electrical saws or tools. Outside with cars constantly passing on the road.
I literally turn off my aids anytime those noises are present. The noise isn't "too loud" and it doesn't "hurt" my ears, it just drives me insane.
I've never seen them listed like that, and now that I look at it,,,,there is a pattern there.....roaring sounds.....don't like them. Odd that I never noticed that before.
Wonder why those noises?
Interesting.

What Do I Want To Hear, When I Grow Up?

I can't believe how comfortable I am with my hearing loss at work. Today, someone called out my name in the kitchen, the very noisy kitchen, I looked around to everyone I could see and no one was looking at me,(I have to do this because I can not localize sound, in other words I can not tell where sound comes from) so I yelled out "Where are you?!?" they were behind a door. They stepped out where I could see them and said "Right Here!" I loved it. It made life so easy to just come out and say it. I was laughing about it, I was like "yeah I was looking all over trying to figure out who was talking to me". It was so empowering and such a burden off my shoulders, to just be me.
Later I got the chance to do it again. I heard someone call my name from the office. I came out to the kitchen looked around, no one. I said "Who called me?" Someone replied, "Melinda, she needs you to unlock the closet." No one thought a thing of it. I couldn't believe it was that easy. Usually I would either act like I didn't hear them and wait on them to come and get me, or I would go around to each person individually and ask them if they needed me. This new method is so much simpler. Gezzz....
I just couldn't get over how easy it was, so I tried it again. Someone was talking to me from across the room, while I was busy doing something. I said "Come over here so I can hear you."
It was that easy. I was making a big deal over what was apparently nothing.
Wow. How nice.
Today was a good hearing day. Another great milestone in my self confidence as a hearing impaired person, in a hearing world.

The Word of the Day IS...

Okay, so today I found a new word I was pronouncing incorrectly.

For those of you who are not hearing impaired or have never experienced it, this is a crazy thing. You've went your entire life saying a word a certain way, only to find out later that its not the way its pronounced. For me its VERY hard to correct. Either I misunderstood the word when I first heard it, or I read it, and have never actually heard the word spoken to know its pronunciation. A lot of times too, I will think there are alternate ways to pronounce a word and that is why sometimes even though I know the correct way, I think mine is okay too.
Some of my most common ones, and the ones my hubby and mom have corrected me on numerous times, are just plain funny to me, at this point I know the correct pronunciation, I just don't realize I'm saying the words wrong.

~Suite (I say suit,, Hotel Suit....my hubby loves that one...hey it makes sense to me, I mean, we have a suit of furniture and suit of clothing which is a group of items so why not a hotel suit?!?)
~Preference (I say per-fer-ance)
~Magnolia (I pronounce it mag-no-yee-a, this is my moms favorite...she has corrected me since childhood and I still get it wrong)

~Todays Word: Ter-tast-er-fee (the actual pronunciation is *drum roll please*........

Catastrophe !!! Thats right folks thats how I've been pronouncing catastrophe.

example: The party was a tertasterfee....)

Oh, the crazy, funny, life of the hearing impaired. You just gotta love it...
Its still kicking my butt at 31. Only now, I can laugh at it. I love being an adult, because its okay to like yourself and laugh at your imperfections when your a grown- up. Its a shame you're not allowed to do that as a kid.

If a Woodpecker Pecks on a Pine Tree and You Can't Hear it,,,,does it still make a sound?

Today we went hiking. We had such a great time. We always do when we're outside. Especially in the forest. We love to hike, swim, ride our bikes, explore, anything in nature really. So, today, we're out hiking and we find a beautiful resting spot by a little stream. It's the most perfect weather, the most perfect amount of sun and shade. I was sitting there being thankful for the beautiful day, while Cam and Lar were looking for "fish" in the stream. All of a sudden Lar had us all be quiet so Cam could hear a woodpecker.

Umm,,,,

Shhhhhhh!!!

Shshh!

Mommy can't hear the woodpecker...

Ohhhh, wait. It must be too far away for us to hear it.

"Hey! Cam, can you hear that Woodpecker?"

"Yep, its going peck, peck pe e e e e e e e ek"

WHATS GOING ON?!?

By now I'm irritated. I want to hear the stupid woodpecker. My hearing aids have different settings on them that my audiologist and I set up for me. I have one that I use that is basically just my normal hearing but REAL loud. I use it at College to hear the professor in a large, quiet room. So anyway I turned it to that setting....and BAM! It was like the world came alive! I could hear birds, the woodpecker, leaves falling, water trickling down a stream, and way off in the distant other hikers.ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?
I was living more in the dark than I realized! I felt so cheated!
When I first got the aids I'm wearing now, I could hear like that. Over time they have gotten weaker (I'm pretty sure its not my hearing.) and I really hadn't noticed HOW much I was missing!!!!
Grrr...
I hope I can find a woodpecker to peck on a money tree for me.
Because New Hearing Aids = MONEY
Its a double edged sword though,

Because New Hearing Aids = New Technology & Much Better Hearing, which = MONEY....

My biggest fear is money. That sucks. My insurance company should pay for them!

I needed to know that I wasn't hearing as well though...

So!
Thank You Woody Woodpecker!

Information Packet For Your Childs Teacher

This was the best site I found for how to present your childs needs to the teacher. I changed what I needed to and added somethings that my child needed. A BIG Thank you to Cheryl and Listen Up for putting this info out there!
I also listed it at the bottom in my resources and website section.

http://www.listen-up.org/edu/hand-out.htm

Mommy's got Strep Throat!

I've got strep throat! Uggg. This is horrible. Thanks TK for giving my strep... ;)

I can't get near my kid.

I can't eat.

I can't swallow.

I can't sleep.

But what bugs me the most, is that

I CAN'T GO TO CAM'S SCHOOL AND TALK TO HIS TEACHERS ABOUT GETTING HIM THE SUPPORT HE NEEDS TO GET AN EDUCATION!

However, after much, much searching I found a great resources for explaining and giving the info to the teachers. I desperately was searching for something that would help me explain the strategies and techniques that were needed to give Cam the best start in school that we could give him. I put many searches together and came up with a package I think might work.



Later when I'm feeling better I'll give you a better look at what I came up with.

Time for mommy to teach the educators how to do their jobs!

I've been doing a lot of research into how I want to present Cam's case to his school, and his teacher. I have specific goals I want us to reach with him.
Today I sent a note about the books we had read over the weekend, and also to let her know that Cam didn't know why he wasn't suppose to bring his orange folder home. She sent NO reply. Not professional at all. She never replies. I'm very irritated. She apparently doesn't see the need in communication with a hearing impaired students mother?!? Wow! How ignorant is that? She's suppose to be the educator right?
I guess I need to be her educator. Obviously she didn't see the need in educating herself on her new student.
I guess I will start with communication. She needs to understand how important that is for Cam's education and development as a student.
Let the battle begin. I'm going to go to the school in the morning and see if I can get anything accomplished.
Its just so irritating!!!