Kris

[Doofy]

I've got the teeth thing to.

My parents completely misunderstood.

They thought that if my baby teeth went yellow it wouldn't matter as they would eventually dissapear.

Oh well.

About 10 years ago when I went back to visit, Mom surprised me. She had set up a dental visit to get a whitening treatment, She paid for the whole gig.

It didn't work.

Its really kind of ironic, my Mom feels horribly guilty about my teeth.

At one time I could have written several pages of things I hold against my Mom. Never in my life would my teeth have made that list.

When DD was in hospital they told us that putting her on oxygen, would cause her to wear glasses.

DD wears glasses but she's here.

You make the best choices you can, as both DD and I are living with the results. I would say it worked out.

[Kandi]

My next youngest sister has this problem. She had terrible kidney infections as a toddler and up into grade school. She finally (in her 40s) went and got braces and then had lumineers put on. The whitening does not work on those situations. I would love to do some whitening, but find it silly to spend $500 on something just for vanity sake. My teeth are fine and the home whitening kits work well if I've drank too much tea or soda.

All the rest of us have great teeth most of us needed braces except for the two youngest. Two of us had to have maxilofacial surgery to adjust our jaws. I have some interesting medal work in my head.

I have no idea how much lumineers cost though.

[krisinluck]

They may not be lily white teeth like you see on TV, but by God, I do not have ONE filling in my head. Not one. Never had a cavity.

It's a tradeoff.

They don't give Tetracycline to children anymore, though, because of that. No one knew.

About your DD - my daughter was on a vent for a day or two after she was born. She had some minor lung issues when she was a toddler, but outgrew them. Thank God. She wears glasses, too; but I had glasses three years younger than she did. I think that's just hereditary.

Her hearing problems? THAT bothers me. Nevermind what the audiologist says about her's being middle ear and mine being inner ear. Living with my own hearing loss every day makes me sensitive to that, and I hope like hell it's not the onset of this nerve deafness that claims the women in my family.

I think my grandmother pissed off some backwoods voodoo woman. Maybe messed with her man? I haven't seen a doctor YET who can tell me why I'm going deaf. The two generations before me got no reason either. They just tell us it's a "nerve deafness", but no reason for it. It's a hex, I tell you! lmao

[Doofy]

Dang this is getting scarey.

One of our parents must have done some traveling we don't know about.

I'm losing my hearing, I don't know why but suspect it was to many years of Ukraian air conditioning, and other heavy equipment.

I went to a specialist who wasn't very special.

The trips to his office were free, but the four private clinics he sent me to for testing I had to pay for.

After each result he would say the tests were inconclusive.

I swear to you, that he wanted me to go back to the first place I had been tested at and start all over again. So I said TY but NO and I've never been back.

I'm pretty good with subtitles, but I bug the crap out of DW at the movies.

Do you find some voices are just impossible to hear, where others are fine?

Theres a secretary at work that must think I have the hots for her.No matter what she says I just sit and smile.

The worst is DD on the phone, I feel like such an A-hole when I tell her she'll have to call her mom.

How do you take orders at a restaurant?

My tips wouldn't be great as they would have maybe half a chance of getting what they ordered.

[ssnafu]

Ah but I love the American way of life and thinking. Blame everybody and everything for the way we are, and what we are!! Pop pills and magic elixires to insure long life with one of those four hour.............................................. ....erections!

We are What we are because thats what we are. So what if someone tried to help but erred. Get the hell over it, moved on and do the best you can with what you got. Because in reality thats all you "fucking Get!.


And placing the blame elsewhere is plain Bull Shit

[krisinluck]

Doofy - you didn't know I'm on my way to stone deaf? I thought everyone here knew that!

I wear hearing aids in both ears, and I read lips. The reading lips is the only thing that makes it possible for me to keep working. They shouldn't even bother with the hearing aid in the left ear - if both ears were that bad, I would already have a Cochlear Implant according to the ear doctor.

They gave me a glimmer of hope talking about how benign tumors sometimes form on the audial nerve. They thought maybe that was why the left is so much worse than the right. There is a 75 decibel difference between them. So I had an MRI the next day, but had to wait a month for the specialist to be back at our rural hospital to get the results.

I was hoping they'd find a tumor on the right ear, frankly. At least then the hearing that remains would not be lost.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. No tumors. He told me that and I said "Shit." He looked at me like I had three heads, then said "Maybe one out of every 2000 patients responds that way..." I told him my reasoning behind it, and he understood. But he can't tell me why I'm going deaf. All that is known is that my mom and my grandmother both lost the last of their hearing in their early 50s to "nerve deafness". I'm on track to join them.

I've used closed captioning (subtitles) on the television for years. I might as well not have it on otherwise. And I rarely go to movies in a theater for the same reason.

There are some voices I have trouble hearing. I'm not shy about it anymore like I used to be. If someone is talking to me with their hand over their mouth, I tell them I need to read their lips or they might just get their eggs in the shell out of the cooler. The regulars all know I wear hearing aids, and that helps. But without the ability to read lips, I would be screwed.

I can't understand either one of my kids on the phone. One talks too fast. The other one seems to have the receiver pressed against his mouth. For me it's not about the volume of the voice; if someone will slow the hell down and speak clearly, I do okay.

What I hate is when people (okay, my bosses are the worst about it) tell me to "turn my hearing aids up". I'm not shy about telling them how rude that is anymore either. Damn. Like I chose this? They haven't done it for a long time now; the last time, they wouldn't let up and I said something about hoping those applications I put out around town would pay off soon. lol...she told him to shut up, "Kris is getting pissed".

Works for me!

As for the teeth...I would rather have never met a dentist's drill than have pearly white teeth! They aren't terrible; they just seem sort of translucent. I can live with that.

[Kandi]

As mean as it sounds, I hope some of these idiot young people riding around in their cars with the bass so loud do go deaf. You try to tell them it will affect their hearing down the road, but they don't believe it or don't care. The dumbass teenager across the street is driving now. When he pulls up and sits in the car for whatever dumbass reason, has his stereo so loud with the bass that I can hear it in the back out of the house. I can even feel the vibrations. For a "tinnitus" sufferer, those low sounds on that kind of basis are incredibly irritating.

With the tinnitus as well, sometimes I wish I were deaf, but I don't know if the tinnitus would still be audible. The change in pitch and volume can drive you damn near bonkers.

I knew a family way back in my younger days that everyone was born deaf. The mother, her kids and her kids' kids. Elvis (yeah funny) could hear very little. So we called him "Who". For some reason he could hear that sound and you could get his attention. After that, he read lips. Never would learn sign language. One of my sisters has been teaching her kids sign language since they were babies. She has a brother-in-law that was born deaf, so she wants the kids to be able to communicate with him.

Wasn't it Marble who had the hearing aids that also had bluetooth for cell phones? I think she said it was like having God speak into your ear. I think those would be awesome, but were terribly expensive.

It is such a shame about your hearing loss though. I think I'd go mad if I couldn't hear music or hear my voice to be able to sing. We so seem to take many things for granted...

[White Owl]

Kris...((((Kris))))), I totally understand you. I have been deaf out of my left ear my entire life. Well, since I was one month old. It really sucks, but REALLY sucks to need to explain to co-workers about my constant repetition of acting like a freaking light bulb and declaring my Whatts.....;)

Then one gets, when partially deaf, the joys of allergies and the experience of the one ear that one has a habit of being clogged, etc.....btw, hearing aids are obsolete.

I just LOVE it when others say to me "are you fuckin' deaf" and then to see their faces when i tell them "actually, yes i am, in one ear..." /sarcasm

Thankfully, I am not tone deaf. I have been told that I can carry a tune. I can only hear in stereo when not having headphones on. Actually, i CAN play the piano, and sing when not coughing from (again)smoking too much. I guess i have much to be grateful for. After all, i CAN hear.What sucks is, my dad can't hear at all due to old age. I'm guessing it is heredity. I'm guessing that the years that i was in a band and listening to Zep and Floyd will catch up w/me sometime. But fuck.....I had a great time listening! Still do as a matter of fact! :1chirol_k

[krisinluck]

Tinnitus lives, Blues. Sadly. lol I don't have it all the time, but every so often it will just crank up like a high pitched whine and scare the hell out of me. I get it in both ears, actually, but not at the same time.

I don't miss the booming bass! I dealt with that in both cities I lived in before moving up here, and you just don't run into it in this town. The cops shut them down, and then they get their name in the paper where they list tickets given out. lol!

Music...man, I'm gonna miss music. But here's the brighter side of the coin: Cochlear Implants weren't available for my mom or grandmother. They lived out the rest of their lives in silence. I won't have to. It's just a waiting game for the right ear to deteriorate enough to qualify. They won't implant one until both ears are profoundly deaf.

For now, I still have music. I soak up as much as I can when I'm on the road. Yesterday was a road day, and today will be as well. So I'll have a veritable karaoke machine in my head by the time I go back to the regular job tomorrow. lol

White Owl, I've had customers that mumble instead of speak even when I ask them to repeat themselves. One guy comes in all the time with his dad, and it was busy the night he stopped speaking English. He looked at me and made a motion like turning up the hearing aid. I set down the ticket book and pulled the hearing aids out of both ears to check the volume on them. Shoulda seen his face! He was like "I was kidding!" I just said "I'm not."

He's been great about not mumbling since then!

I don't mind it when people who don't know say something, but when the people I work with - who have been there during the "mourning" periods after a hearing test when I am smacked upside the head with the loss - make fun of it, it pisses me off.

It's an invisible disability. If someone is in a wheelchair, or uses a cane, they aren't treated like "why the hell don't you walk like everyone else?" Blind people with a white cane are cut some slack. But deaf is invisible to most of the world, even if you have big ol' behind the ear hearings aids that are visible. The only people who notice them are those who wear hearing aids or are hearing impaired themselves.

I'm gonna use the freakin' light bulb comment one of these days. I like it!

[Doofy]

Do you find your partner is the biggest pain?

My DW drives me crazy. (uh oh Teks gonna get me I'm gossiping about DW)

She insists on talking to the back of my head, or she'll yell from the top of the stairs.

I tell her I'll always reply, even if its just ok.

If you don't get a reply I didn't hear you, thats pretty straight forward isn't it?

Around here, not a chance.

[Kandi]

Mr. Blues' pet peeve...I yell for him when he's upstairs. He'll answer, "what babe". Ahem, now the parrot calls for him by name in my voice and before Mr. Blues can answer, the parrot says "what babe" in his voice. Beyond hilarious.

Sorry about the tinnitus. Mine is permanent and 24/7. Very odd when you stop in the middle of conversation, turn your head and hold your ear. You can't focus or concentrate when the volume was turned up that loud and changed pitch. You just can't.

I hope they are able to fix it as best they can for you as soon as they can. I can't imagine a silent world, although I wouldn't mind experiencing a silent world for a few hours.

[thebigkahooouna]

I wear hearing aids in both ears, and I read lips.




http://www.undp.org/cpr/disred/images/news/2006/Jan06/GeorgeBushSr.jpg





READ MY LIPS!!!

[tekobari]

Guys, I had no idea about your hearing losses, especially Kris', since it seems so severe. I have tremendous sympathy for you. I'd be so scared...

[ssnafu]

Ahhhhhhhhh,Kris my little lovely, Always did want to run into
a woman that would wait on me, and never say NO because
she didn't want to admit she didn't hear my request! :lol

[toke]

http://www.undp.org/cpr/disred/images/news/2006/Jan06/GeorgeBushSr.jpg





READ MY LIPS!!!

Oh my god. You are so funny.

[toke]

Really. I mean it. That was hilarious.

[toke]

Seldom in my life have I had such a resounding guffaw.

[toke]

I can only hope the entire OAI can share in the hilarity.

[krisinluck]

Do you find your partner is the biggest pain?Not anymore!!!!!!! :1th_drum:

He smokes a pipe, and he would have that thing clenched in his teeth, in the kitchen, with his back to me, and get pissed when I would ask what he said. For God's sake, you dumbass...you knew I was losing my hearing when you met me. You've adjusted to the closed captioning on the TV. I really am deaf, so take your deep sigh of exasperation and....yeah.

Tek - I'm not scared of the deafness. Frustrated and sad, but not scared. My grandmother was deaf before any of us grandkids were born. My mother began to lose her hearing when I was about six, and the last of it went about two years before she died. Again, it's been part of my life always.

I hate it, but it is what it is. A few more years, and I'll have simulated sound through the implant. Hard to say how long it will take for the right ear to deteriorate to that point. The surgery and adjustment to the Cochlear - *that* scares me! gah.

Ahhhhhhhhh,Kris my little lovely, Always did want to run into a woman that would wait on me, and never say NO because
she didn't want to admit she didn't hear my request! :lolHAH! The ex would tell you have I no problem saying no.......

BigK, Toke...lmao!

[thebigkahooouna]

Oh my god. You are so funny.



Hey I've had hearing problems all my life,so I can joke about it.
My wife wanted me to see a specialist.I relunctly went because I didnt
think my hearing was all that bad.After the doctor examined me,he found out
I had a disease,but there was nothing he could do for it.I asked him what disease?? He said "selective hearing"........badda bing, badda boom