We're home from our Christmas travels. All in all a good experience despite the sinus infection. On the 23rd I flew from Chicago to Atlanta. Not too painful but my ears closed up...and I stopped hearing.
And I heard very little until the 27th when they popped open again in a hotel room in Macon, Georgia.
Most of the silent time I spent in Atlanta with my daughter, son in law, four little children and two big dogs. Now you might think this would be a disaster but not hearing has it's advantages. It was the quietest Christmas I've had in many years. I heard no background noises, no television, almost no music.
It was sad not to hear the little ones but they weren't really aware of the problem. How did I manage conversations with the adults?
I'll tell you a secret. When I was a child I received almost no health care. After several bouts with strep, I lost all of the hearing in my left ear and some in my right. Months later, at the special school I attended, rather than sending me to a doctor, they ordered lip reading classes. (When I was a young woman and working at Emory University I finally had ear surgery to restore most of my hearing.)
But the blessing in all that is that I still, after all these decades, read lips. I think that looking at people squarely in the face when they speak to me has been a great benefit in communicating. Especially since my (so called) career was all about communication.
So, over the holidays, I "heard" family members by looking very carefully at their beautiful faces.
***
And I heard very little until the 27th when they popped open again in a hotel room in Macon, Georgia.
Most of the silent time I spent in Atlanta with my daughter, son in law, four little children and two big dogs. Now you might think this would be a disaster but not hearing has it's advantages. It was the quietest Christmas I've had in many years. I heard no background noises, no television, almost no music.
It was sad not to hear the little ones but they weren't really aware of the problem. How did I manage conversations with the adults?
I'll tell you a secret. When I was a child I received almost no health care. After several bouts with strep, I lost all of the hearing in my left ear and some in my right. Months later, at the special school I attended, rather than sending me to a doctor, they ordered lip reading classes. (When I was a young woman and working at Emory University I finally had ear surgery to restore most of my hearing.)
But the blessing in all that is that I still, after all these decades, read lips. I think that looking at people squarely in the face when they speak to me has been a great benefit in communicating. Especially since my (so called) career was all about communication.
So, over the holidays, I "heard" family members by looking very carefully at their beautiful faces.
***
