Savingdogs-Saving the chickens

[Farmfresh]

Sorry I was so grouchy at you this morning.

I just got home a bit ago from shopping with my D1 for a friend's baby shower tomorrow. I was talking to my D1 tonight and mentioned the Meiniers disease and that a couple of friends have it and that I was feeling worried for them.

She proceeded to tell me the story about one of the best and funniest veterinarians that she used to work for. Seems this Doc also has Meiniers and while everything medically indicates he should no longer be able to hear a darned thing he was still hearing. He told her how they discovered that he tended to jam his hearing aids really deep into his ear and it was actually sending sound waves through his jaw bones and allowing him to continue to hear in a fashion. He was even still able to use a stethoscope! She said if he opened his mouth you could hear the sounds from his hearing aid. She said he had the dizzy spells and even would pass out from time to time, but that stuff never slowed him down. He was one of the favorite vets that she has ever worked for and the only reason she is not still working there is that he finally retired.

I am glad she told me about Doc C. because now I am less worried about you both. The sun will shine for you again my friend! It has for me. I still have some really bad days, but the happy days still out number them.

I agree totally with Deb. Far better to help each other out here than to wallow in a pity party at some sick people website.

 

[savingdogs]

You were not grouchy, not sure why you said that. You guys told me stuff I needed to hear and it did not upset me.

They call that kind of hearing "bone conduction" hearing. Everyone can test this out...think about when you plug both ears? How do you still hear a little bit? It is the sound going through the bone and to the cochlea that way. That is how my BAHA device worked when I was using it. I had a good side and a bad side, with the
BAHA on the bad side, in the bone. I put the hearing aide on the implant in the bone and it sends sound signals to the cochlea on the opposite side. It sits behind my ear so no one even sees that kind of hearing aide. My curly hair covers it. It usually stays in the box now though, but I occasionally can still benefit, like in a crowded room or restaurant or church, that kind of environment.
But the brain percieves it as hearing from the deaf side. It is really a miracle when I am able to use it. Amazing, huh?

 

[Farmfresh]

Totally.

I do understand that kind of hearing in a very personal way too.

When I was a little kid I had a severe fungal growth on both ear drums, as the result of swimming in a very contaminated lake :/ . I had been hearing like that, through the jaw bone, for quite a while before the fungus was discovered and then finally cured. As a kid it happened kind of slowly and I didn't realize what I was missing until it was fixed.

I have a question about the disease. What parts of the inner ear are effected? We had a neighbor child that was born deaf and received cochlear implants. Would something like that help?

 

[savingdogs]

It is a vestibular issue. A chemical imbalance in the inner ear fluid where the little crystals bounce around and tell your brain what is up and what is down. Too much sodium, not enough potassium. The endomolph fluid does not drain as it should, causing a feeling of fullness and the imbalance issues and can burn out the little hairs that provide sound recognition within the inner ear if it can't be stopped, and in my case I have so many allergies it aggravated it into a more severe case than most.

A coclear implant would be helpful, yes. But I don't qualify for one under my insurance (I hear too well) and can't afford it privately. I am a candidate for it however, in the future, and at some point expect I will get one. The one catch with a coclear implant is you cannot hear music.

I am secretly hoping the waiting will help because they will improve implants and by the time I get one perhaps music will be hearable again. But people with coclear implants can hear speech better than I can according to my doctor. But I hear too well on one side for my insurance to find it necessary. Obviously whoever wrote that policy didn't suffer from my issue!

Insurance companies also do not pay for hearing aides, which might benefit me, but cost anywhere from 2 to 6 thousand dollars. My mother has offered to buy me one but I don't really think it would help. I explain it to her this way. When you have a radio station in your car that is too far away and you can't quite tune it in because of static and interference, does it help to turn the volume up?

Because it doesn't help to make sounds louder if the problem is that you can't make them out, not that you can't hear a sound is being made. But I don't hear a lot of sounds being made either. Hubby has taken to whistling at me to get attention because I hear high pitched sounds only. But I do hear loud things like fire alarms and dogs barking in the same room, etc. I just use the term deaf because I have so little useable hearing, that people do not understand how to communicate with me if I say I'm hard of hearing. But people have to be looking at me, within three to four feet of me and pretty much yell and then I can hear them, but to some extent I am lip reading and guessing. Your brain tries to fill in the blanks.

 

[Denim Deb]

SD, I know what you mean about the volume. When I was in college, I took 2 semesters of French. I could have taken more, but the professor we had didn't have a clue, to put it nicely. He KNEW I had a hearing problem. Part of our tests were on a tape. We had to listen to the tape, and figure out what they were saying. The tapes were horrible! People in the class that had good hearing complained about them. But, he was "nice" enough to turn them up so I could hear them. I tried to explain to him that that made it worse, but he just never got it. Looking back at it now, I could have probably made some kind of complaint and seen if I could have done that part of the test differently. But, I was just too disgusted. When I got that C for the 2nd semester, I was done. I didn't deserve that C, and it was only due to the test that I got it.

 

[Farmfresh]

Well at least there is hope on the horizon for you both.

Listening to the description I am almost positive that is what my grandpa had (at least the beginning stages of) before he died. (He died of lung cancer) I never heard it labeled Meniere's disease, but he had the dizziness and they told us about the imbalance and the little crystals.

No music. That would be hard, but at least you can hear alarms and dog barks. Are either one of you learning to sign? My sis and I both sign to at least some degree, because we work with autistic students and many, while they CAN hear, can not speak. Signing comes in handy for us quite often ... we can talk about our hubbys and make plans while they are still in the room.

 

[savingdogs]

I'm working on learning to sign, but mostly I'm working on learning lip reading. So few people know ASL (I only know two and they are not family members).

I need to take a class....but the college is an hour drive away and because of the vertigo I'm not really driving anymore, so I doublt I could really accomplish that.

Deb I know that frustration so well....I had friends that kept inviting me to "movie night". I asked if they would put closed captioning on the screen, but they kept saying, "don't worry, we will put it on really loud....." I never went.

Alot of people had Meniere's in the olden days but they didn't know what to call it or what caused it. They still don't really know the cause. But Vincent Van Gogh was reputed to be a MD patient and that is why his vision of things was blurry. Also why he was purported to have cut off his ear....he went crazy and the ringing made him think cutting it off would help! And the fact that he went crazy is another clue. I cannot imagine how it would have been like to deal with this back in his era where understanding of this would have been nil..

 

[glenolam]

Just wanted to give you a big and say

. Sorry I'm not of much help, but I'm here listening!

 

[savingdogs]

Not much help? Paaalleeese........you are a huge help to me glenolam.

We woke up today with a new FOOT of snow over our two feet from yesterday. And I just read a weather report....my area could get another FOOT.

We could not dig the chickens out, we just propped open their hatch top. They probably won't come out anyways.

They also predicted 50 mph winds in the "cascades"....which of course are a big place, but that is ................us.

Should be an interesting day. They said we could have "white out" conditions....does that mean blizzard?

The DOGS think this is just too much fun. They are all exhausted from their romp this morning. But today is Computer Nerd's 19th birthday, so it would have been nice if we were not snowed in. I need to try to make a cake with what I have here......I just don't have any frosting.

Any way to make frosting with white sugar that isn't powdered?

 

[glenolam]

No idea about the frosting issue but tell computer nerd happy birthday!!

Your weather sounds a lot like how our entire month of January was. It's finally disappearing but they're calling for some lighter snow in the coming week.

I hope you get dug out soon!!!