Deaf folks and guns.

[GROTMAN]

I clearly remember when I got my first hearing aid. The sounds so common to others that I never heard before. It was overwhelming for a while. The buttons beeping on the micro wave, the dishwasher background noise, wife nagging whenever her eyes are open, not just when I was looking at her.

For a person that's never heard at all before like your son it has to be a really cool thing.

It's sort of like the chair. I get people all the time want to take me hunting, make me feel like a normal person. For a person that has never walked, been in a chair all their life that would be a really cool thing. But I wasn't always in a chair and I hunted a lot, rifle, bow, muzzle loader and did much hiking in the mountains not hunting too. So getting put in a spot and shooting something and then watching while someone else does all the work and then have to get me loaded back up and out isn't appealing to me in the least. I would like to get out on the logging roads and back up in the hills more, I miss that but you get my point or lack there of.

Bawanna.. I know you have not always been in "the chair".. I don't know if it's anybody's business or not, or if too personal but can't help but be curious about what happened to put you there. If you don't want to say I completely understand and will MYOB ..but inquiring minds want to know!

[pudge]

Bawanna,

I came late to this discussion. As long as your ability to maintain your visual cues is intact, you should definitely continue to carry. You MIGHT not be able to determine the need to get into action as quickly in some cases, but if you have practice at dealing with life with even just poor hearing, you are already attuned to the need to pay attention to what's going on around you. That skill can continue to be honed to a very sharp edge. I would say that it's very likely that you may even already be more aware of what's going on around you than those of us who take our hearing for granted. My hearing is poor, but my main concern for myself is hearing but not hearing and seeing but not seeing. It's really easy for all of us to have our minds off in Arkansas somewhere instead of focusing on what's happening right around us. This not only applies to the need for personal protection from miscreants, but it also applies very strongly to us when we are driving our vehicles. We do that so much that we begin to drive subconciously, thinking about everything in the world but what's going on around us. And then we wonder why we parked in the trunk of the vehicle right in front of us!!!

I submit that, at least statistically, operating a motor vehicle on any roadway is about the most dangerous thing that any of us do, and we do it all the time everyday. We are in a great hurry, we are tired, we are angry, we are thinking about a jillion different things, some of which approach emergency status all the while we are zipping along trying to get somewhere as quickly as we can do so. Talk about a wreck looking for a place to happen!! So if you can still drive around safely in your condition, you can also carry your weapon safely. You just have to heighten your sense of paying attention to the matter at hand as much as possible, and leave off thinking about other things till you get there, so to speak. We all multi-task most of the time, but there are always priorities that we should move to the top of the list of things to do and pay attention to at various times and places. You still have those skills even minus your hearing. In your condition, you don't step off the curb without really LOOKING both ways more than once! And you won't pull your weapon without making certain it's justified. And even if you do get completely taken by surprise, wouldn't you still rather have that weapon at hand than not have it? Of course you would!. We all have limitations of one kind or another, and we have to make accomodations for them (if we are smart!). I don't know you personally, but what I know about you from your posts here, and the fact that you are concious and concerned enough to even ask the question tells me that you are likely well able to proceed with confidence.

[Bawanna]

Bawanna.. I know you have not always been in "the chair".. I don't know if it's anybody's business or not, or if too personal but can't help but be curious about what happened to put you there. If you don't want to say I completely understand and will MYOB ..but inquiring minds want to know!

I don't mind at all especially when inquiring minds want to know ya know?

On a beautiful sunny day May 22nd 1995 to be exact after pondering taking the day off to go bass fishing in my brand new to me Bass Boat complete with 150 pony motor on the back my Missouri work ethics overruled my common sense and I went to work. I was partners with another guy doing construction.
We were building a custom home for a transplanted retired LA County Deputy.
Went to stand up a gable end wall and the bottom kicked out on us and it came back over. I think we all dropped our guard thinking it would just slide off forgetting that a couple feet below was a kickout for a kitchen dining area. When it hit that it flipped over fast and hard. As luck or lack there of would have it I happened to be in the middle at the highest part of the wall. Everyone made it to a window hole or got clear. They say I almost made it but not quite.
Basically it folded me up like a pocket knife with my face on the floor between my legs, body apparently wouldn't bend that far.
Had I hit right in a stud bay or if we hadn't sheeted the wall laying down I probably would have been ok.

The lesson for the day is if your pondering going fishing or riding your bike and skipping work, by all means do so without hesitation.

On a humorous note the nurses took me by the job site as a field trip from the hospital. The retired deputy handed me a 45 and told me I was welcome to shoot hell out of the wall. I asked if there was anyone up there that I didn't like and he said it was all clear. I told him I didn't feel like wasting good ammo on just Canadian Plywood so I passed.
Good people. They couldn't handle the good life up here and sold a year or two later and went back to California. Hard to comprehend. Felt far worse for them than myself to be honest.

[GROTMAN]

Thanks for sharing. Amazing how your life can be just going along "swimmingly" and bam..disaster strikes. I'm an occupational therapist (hence the OT in Grotman ) and see it all the time. Not a day I don't go home and thank God for my health. Truly admire your attitude and enjoy your humor.

"The lesson for the day is if your pondering going fishing or riding your bike and skipping work, by all means do so without hesitation."

Will do and tell them "THE BOSS" told me too !!

[Bawanna]

After all these years I still clearly remember my two things each day, except the one day they added Psyc to the list which turned out to be a shrink, I had a ball with that poor guy. One visit was all that we needed. Hour of PT Physical Therapy and hour of OT Occupational Therapy. Couldn't tell the difference really both were mostly exercising. Much to my good luck I had been working quite regularly doing concrete and framing and all sorts of stuff so I was in really fit condition.

Didnt really need the exercise but the therapist were all very nice, all female while I was in the hospital so it was all good.

I'm still friends with a OT (guy) who I had after I got out. Nice guy, moved back to the east coast to marry his childhood sweetheart, good for him.

For anyone that don't know, nurses and therapist rule the day in any hospital. The Doctors are just visitors now and then or sometimes seldom.

[GROTMAN]

[TucsonMTB]

The lesson for the day is if your pondering going fishing or riding your bike and skipping work, by all means do so without hesitation.

Those are wise words to live by . . . and I do.

Thank you, kind sir!

[HDoc]

Drop Rush Limbaugh a line. He has the implants and they restored enough of his hearing to continue his nationally syndicated radio show. What do you have to lose?

ElRushbo@EIBnet.com

Except that Rush lost his cochlea to prescription drug abuse, not exactly Bawanna's forte, unless there's something we don't wanna know

[HDoc]

I'm definitely gonna consider those implants. I've often thought of doing the right ear since it's out of commission already and see if/how it works. Then if the left gets any worse I'll do it too.

Not sure how much my insurance will cover on the implants, probably part of it for sure if not all.

At least get assessed for implant eligibility. Got any military time? The VA will pay. Got any serious noise exposure work experience on the federal, state or
municipal dime? You might qualify for worker's comp, even years after the fact.
Medicare pays for them under certain circumstances.
Find a practice that does A LOT of them. The technology today compared even with ten years ago is like the difference between black powder and smokeless ammo. The younger you get them, the better the outcome will be.