Wind Tunnel Ear and other Entertaining Things

Another one of my doctors bit the dust. You get to a certain age when your list of doctors and specialists seems to grow by the minute and even though I picked mine out by age, hoping they’d be around until after I die, the pandemic came along and upset my carefully packed apple cart. I’ve lost a dentist, a dermatologist, an eye doctor, a foot doctor and now I’ve got a new ear, nose and throat doctor and an audiologist. My bone doctor and internist better stick around another ten years or you’re going to see me pitch a royal fit in this, the dowager era of my life. Look at me, adding a new word to my vocabulary since I’ve started binge watching Downton Abbey. I may not be from an aristocratic family like Mrs. Crawley but the definition of ‘dowager’ in this century has eroded enough to include me. At least on the days when I get all dressed up and pretend in my head that I’m a woman of decorum who could easily stare down a lion and win or better yet be a modern day, slightly less notorious version of Lady Whistledown. Have I mentioned I'm also binge watching Bridgerton?

All winter long I’ve felt like there was a wind tunnel in my ear and I thought for sure I’d blown out an ear drum. Both my ear and my hearing aid are also clicking in and out and since it’s been four years since I’ve had an appointment at the ear, nose and throat clinic, I finally got myself into the office. My ear drum is perfectly fine and the wind tunnel feeling, the doctor thinks, is allergies. If it had been my old doctor telling me this, I might have believed him but it’s hard to trust someone you just met when I've had allergies since birth and don't remember ever this feeling like I want to wear ear muffs 24/7. Dr. Google thinks it could be Pulsatile Tinnitus caused by the TMJ that I’ve had for years on that side of my face. 

After the checkup, the doctor passed me off to his audiologist who gave me a hearing test. I’ve lost some hearing in the lower frequencies but after cleaning my old hearing aids and reprograming them, I can actually hear better. I’ve been missing bits of conversations lately and nothing says OLD faster than a person who mistakes words and can’t process sentences because things like a ‘hat that farts’ doesn’t make as much sense as a ‘cat that farts.’ I misheard 20% of the words on the test.

My old hearing aids are eight years old and in addition to wind tunnel weirdness going on in my head, one of my hearing aids was clicking on and off when the audiologist tested it but rather than send it back to the factory for repairs I decided to buy a new set. I’m just getting an entry level set for $2,800 which comes with a four years worth of insurance, cleanings and checkups and free batteries. I have a $2,400 income tax refund due any day so it was an easy decision money wise. The money won’t be in my account long enough to miss it when its gone. I didn’t want rechargeable aids because I already have too many devices to plug at night. I asked the audiologist if the battery hearing aids are heading the way of the buggy whip and will I have trouble getting batteries in the future. He said about 40% of people still buy them because they are campers or hikers or they travel a lot or they are like me, a person who wears one of mine to bed at night so I don’t have to have my TV on so loud it disturbs the neighbors.

We had some excitement at dinner this week. The last day of the month brings a lot of people down to the restaurant for dinner because some people have a hard time using up all their food allowance and they want to spend some before they loss it. They’ll buy several dinners to take back to their apartments to freeze or they load up on pop or ice cream bars. Me, I keep a pretty close watch on my food allowance and budget myself so I’m don’t go over or under more than a dollar or two.

Anyway, while a bigger crowd than usual was gathered for dinner we experienced a surprise flash mob put on by our line dancing class. These 10-12 ladies have been meeting three days a week for a couple of months now. I should have signed up for that class, I’ve sat and watched them a few times. In the beginning I might have had a chance of keeping up with them and while I wouldn't have wanted to dance in public like that, they put on a good show and we all had fun watching. If anyone is bored living in this continuum care complex it's their own fault, and I suspect that's true of all the CCCs now. They're a lot of competition out there for the Baby Boomers' dollars. And so dear readers, as Mrs. Whistledown would end her scandal sheet, I leave you to wonder what my next blog post will bring.  ©