A funny thing

I love music, it has always been a part of my life. I also play keyboards, in fact, still play it live at church, on a weekly basis, for the best part of the last 19 years. I have also been a fan of rock and roll, in addition to car racing. So that explains part of the reason why my right ear's hearing has decayed.

I suppose that is so, although doctors insist the problem might be genetic. I don`t know, I remember having more than my share of ear infections when i was little, and that my performance in school would decrease the farther I sat down in the classroom. I reckon I had been kind of deaf since my early age, but since I did not know better, and nobody probed...

Notwithstanding, tests reveal (at the least the last one) that my hearing loss is not throughout the entire frequency spectrum. I have trouble with mid range, which is basically the speech frequency. Very high and very low I hear OK, which explains why I can spot a wrong note played by an instrument.

The funny thing I am referring to is that my hearing decays, I take more pleasure in listening to music at low volume, rather than loud volume. In fact, very loud music somewhat irritates me these days. At my office, I tend to put my ipod at a low volume, and I enjoy it for hours. Funny how things develop.

How I discovered I was going hard of hearing

My deafness discovery was as funny as when I found out I was going bald.

On the second case, I was in business trip overseas. I went to take a shower, and the bathroom of the hotel had mirror all over the place. Suddenly, I was able to check just how bald I was on the back of my head. I still entertained the idea that I lacked hair only on the front.

I immediately called my wife, overseas, mind you, to give her the news. She obviously replied, "I have known this for a long time".

As for finding out my hearing was going to the dumps...

I was in bed, just about waking up. It was raining outside, and I just thought to myself, "I don't want to get out of bed, the sound of the rain falling is sooooooooooooooo nice". Then I shifted around in bed. Before, I had my left ear unimpeded, and I heard the rain. When the right one was left to do the work, the rain stopped!

Just like I called my wife to let her know I was going bald, I actually believed, for a second that the rain had stopped. Fact was, I could not hear the rain drops, only with my right ear uncovered.

This must have been some fifteen years ago.  

Bad hearing, bad eyes

Before I start, let me say that I am not complaining.

I suppose I have worked my eyes hard, and my ears as well, during the entire life. I am a compulsive reader, write for a living, and as my pass time, build and collect miniatures. I am a musician and play live with a very loud band, and like car racing, both very loud endeavors. So I am quite aware that a lot of my woes might be self inflicted.

I am 52 now. My eyesight is not bad with glasses, of course, and the eyes are basically healthy, albeit weak. My eyeglasses are as thick as Saddam Hussein's bunkers, however, new technology makes wearing them easy, I don't need a counterweight on the back of my head to ensure my head does not drop frontward.

There is a feeling, a not very nice feeling, I admit, that I am slowly losing communication with the world. Sure, with the aid of eyeglasses and hearing aids I can still function rather well, thank you very much. But I am not too old yet, and I keep on thinking, in what shape will I be when (if) I am 80?

There are advantages of course. I don't hear my cat meowing outside my bedroom door at all hours of night - my poor wife does. However, I am ever in a building where there is a fire, and I have the wrong ear uncovered, I might be doomed.

It might seem I take the whole deal very lightly. I believe laughing a bit about it helps overcome some of the anxiety related to losing senses.

But I trust God will keep just enough of it going.