This is an interesting one for me. When I was about 8 years old I had an erupted eardrum. I remember hallucinating with a fever, my head felt shrunken into a pillow and my hand would expand like a balloon. My ear was popping out of control like a drum. The drumming because every growing rapid like a drumming roll until it popped, then ringing that faded.
It was a bad experience but I remember it like it was yesterday. My parents finally took me to the hospital. I always had ear problems so I assume the thought I was either being dramatic or that 'this one will pass too'. Either way, I had to have surgery to have an artificial eardrum put in place. Now, this was 1991? Technology can't be that great so I have been legally deaf in one ear since.
What is interesting is what came after. I missed a full year of school - probably some fundamental things I missed. I was not held back, oddly. The school gave my mom a big box of homework to do that my older sister basically did for me. So I passed... weird right?
So I laugh about that year I missed - the subjects, and how that set a course for the rest of my life. I am not good at trivia. I am not great at remembering things. But beyond that, being deaf, has caused a lot more issues for me in my life.
I always wanted to be 'cool'. So that means sitting in the back of the classroom goofing off with the other knuckle heads. Not good for a deaf person.
I can read lips, I had to learn, so if you have your head turned away from me I cannot understand you. The TV is always loud in my house. Subtitles are always on.
But what has been difficult is communicating with people. If I can't hear you, I might skip over the phrase with a 'yeah' or 'sure'. I have no clue what I just agreed to, but it's better than asking them to repeat. That has to be frustrating eventually to always ask someone to repeat themselves. I think this is why I keep to myself in social environments, or keep to smaller groups that I speak up and chat on subjects with.
But this has been a big part of my life and what I have become, so wanted to share...
