Question 18 Problem

Question 18 - A problem that you've had

Hearing. I wasn't born with bad hearing. At least, I don't think I was. When I was a baby, I had a high temperature; doctor said if my parents had waited another hour to bring me to the ER, I wouldn't be alive. Yeah, that kind of high temperature. Doctors didn't know what caused it but it burnt the nerve endings in my ears, that's the best way I can explain it.

When I was in the 2nd grade, we had hearing tests at the school. The lady told me, "Raise your right hand if you hear the beep in your right ear and raise your left hand if you hear the beep in your left ear." I didn't hear anything, so she repeated it and made me feel like I was an idiot. So, even though I didn't hear anything, I watched her hands on the machine and started to raise a hand here and there. I figured I had a 50 percent chance of getting one of the hands correct while she was moving something on the machine. My parents received a letter in the mail about a week later stating that the school thought I was deaf. Not so!

But hearing problems, most definitely. It's hard for me to understand the difference in some letters. I had to learn how the tongue feels when you make the "R" versus "W" sound, because it sounds the same to me. When someone spells out a word and they say, "B, D," - I can't tell the difference so I have to ask "B as in Boy or D as in David?"

My Mom said that I was reading lips when we were in a crowded place and I understood what she was saying. My brother didn't believe I could do that (neither did I) until he mouthed a sentence super fast and just as quickly I said the words outloud to him, shocked both of us.

It's a problem. I live with it. The bonus is that the world is pretty quiet for me. And I happen to like quiet :)

Comments

Head Ant said…
I was diagnosed with Meniere's disease in 2003/04. One of the symptoms is hearing loss. At the time, I had a 30% hearing loss in one ear. Now, it's moved to both ears. I can still hear whining though!

I think I've had it for many years as it also affects equilibrium. I've walked crooked as long as I can remember.

I wish I could read lips. I can finger spell and know a little--very little--sign language from my days of working at the Lions' camp one summer.
Candice said…
My mom had mumps when she was little and one of the RARE side effects is deafness. Sure enough, she is now deaf in her right ear. She still has most of her hearing in her left ear though.

I'm glad your family took you into the ER when they did!
An after effect of my stroke was that some of the blood in my brain seeped into part of the area that controls hearing. As a result I hear some sounds muffled. The doctors tell me this could go away with time, it could not. We'll see. I'm getting pretty good at lip reading, I think, or else I just ask people to repeat themselves, please.
It's so important to have children checked out for everything.