It's been one of those weeks

What my aid looks like inside, so cool!

Here's the thing. My hearing aids are vitally important for me to be able to work and function. So when one decides to bomb out my life grinds to a horrific halt. Last week Thursday I was cleaning my right aid before work and the tubing crumbled. This is one of those nasty maintenance inconveniences that occur with aids. Except my hearing aid company can take up to four days to repair it, especially when it's near a weekend. And of course it just HAD to happen the week I had about a hundred practical assessments to do. Here's the funny thing about life though, you just have to make it work. Taking sick leave for a broken hearing aid is just not worth it. So, I stuck my left one in and hoped for the best.

The problem with only having one aid is that you feel HORRIBLY off-balanced. I'm not lying when I say that I crash into EVERYTHING when my hearing aids are out or I only have one in. My legs are a road-map of bruises at the moment from desks and cars. Don't get me started about how disastrous my ballet lesson was last Thursday... to give you an idea, ballet relies a LOT on balance... I looked like an elephant trying to balance on a Pilate's ball. Horrific.

Apart from the lack of balance I lost all peripheral hearing. So I can HEAR people talking to me but I have NO idea where it's coming from. Frustrating to say the least. Let's not get started about how tiring it is. My left ear has been basically doing the job of both, which means increased concentration for my brain and lots of confusing sound so I have to rely solely on lipreading. It is EXHAUSTING. I've been coming home feeling like I've been steamrolled simply for one pretty average working day. Yet, what else am I meant to do? The reality is, I need to work, and as long as I have one functioning aid, I'll be okay.

So what happens when neither work? Well, then that's it in terms of my functionality. Last year I sent one of my aids in for repairs. I woke up the next morning, reached for my remaining aid to find it gone. Cue hysterics. After frantic searching for an hour in tears, I had to message my boss explaining the situation as I could not call the school to explain (joys of hearing loss). Imagine being so completely helpless that you are tied to your house because your disability prohibits you? It's so frustrating. I sat down to do lesson prep and marking instead, angry as anything that I had lost my aid. Two hours later I was looking through my handbag for something and voila! Hearing aid! Turns out my cat had knocked it into my bag during the night. Mad rush to work, exhausted, and then had to carry on as usual.

Then there's the times my aid runs out of batteries. Hearing aid batteries last +/- 10 days depending on the aid and battery that you use. That's two new batteries every 10 days, often less. Our batteries are disposable and come in packs of 6. So basically every 3 weeks I need to restock as they are expensive and I can't afford to buy in bulk. So naturally, I run out quite often and forget to buy more! They run out at the most inconvenient times, often in the middle of teaching, so I've become skilled at changing them fast. Problem is, when I forget to buy more it's a mad dash to the nearest chemist, and since certain brands last longer I can't just buy any battery! Frustrating? Tell me about it. 

So enough complaining! My right aid was fixed and I fetched it yesterday. It's amazing how less tired I'm feeling already. Such a small thing and such a huge difference. People don't understand though, this whole week I've had comments from students and colleagues how tired I looked (gee thanks?). Thing is, it's hard to explain how one aid missing can make such a huge difference in my hearing and balance. After I picked it up yesterday, I literally shoved it into my ear and sighed with pleasure because it's like the world snapped back into focus again.

Note to self... Get aids serviced during holidays only!