Deaf folks and guns.

[OldLincoln]

Doubt if it was too much beer. Doc who went up my yang-yang and fished it out said Mexicans don't seem to have a problem with stones. Like you I didn't drink much water but I have in the many years since. Sigh, of course with the years comes the prostate thing so I drink a lot of water and tinkle a lot of water.

Getting old is not for wimps!

Had a thing cut out of my forehead yesterday and the doc had to go real deep to get it all. Now I have a large pressure bandage on my forehead and tell folks "I'm damn lucky it was only a 9mm. Anything more might have hurt me."

[TucsonMTB]

I thought the kidney stone thing was a hereditary predilection sort of like rocks in the head . . . not that there is any direct corollary, mind you.

[kahrnut1]

i eat lunch pretty often with a retired teacher who had stones and his dr told him to drink 6 beers in a short period of time. he thinks it helped him pass some. there are not many ailments where the dr gives you what you want

[bigmacque]

Bwanna, we've talked before: you may recall that my son was born deaf.

I think that if your hearing has really deteriorated to the point of non-existant, you will over time gradually develop compensation in other senses that will help put you at ease. Being already familiar with the need for situational awareness is definitely in your favor as wel.

Keep carrying, I'd trust you more than many that carry, regardless of how you feel about your perceived handicap.

[bigmacque]

One other item of note Bwanna: we have a friend that is late-in-life deaf, she lost hearing in both ears. She has added cochlear implants to both ears, and now hears like she did when she was in her 20's (her words).

You could consider that. The advantage is you can turn them off!

[Bawanna]

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.

Had to have a plumber out yesterday so anything that resembled money in my house is gone and a lot of what I make in the future is gone now too. I should have been a plumber.

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

[HalfCocked]

Maybe the technology for implants has changed since I looked into it but I was told that you could not have hearing (not much anyway) in either ear to be a candidate. Also they sever something when they do the implant that makes it so there is no going back. If the implant doesn't work (and they wouldn't guarantee that it would) then you are left completely deaf.
Even though I am deaf in the right year I was told that it wasn't worth the risk to give up my left ear hearing...yet.

[bigmacque]

My son had some hearing in each ear, down to about 5% in the left and 7% in the right, and he just had an implant done and really likes it.

They no longer sever the auditory nerve, which is why in the early stages of cochlear's they were recommending that if you had any hearing at all to not go the implant route.

[HalfCocked]

Bigmacque: good to know. THANKS. Hard to keep up with medical advances these days....

[Bawanna]

It is good to know. I heard those same things. Used to be kind of risky. Also doing only one at a time was recommended.

I've heard before that it creates some sound but not clear enough to actually hear voice.

Also heard like mentioned here earlier that people who couldn't hear for years hear like they are 20 again. Course maybe they didn't hear for beans when they were 20?

Certainly worth investigation. Soon as I get some of these other maladies checked off the all ok list.

[bigmacque]

One ear at first is worth the effort.

Jim was getting tested the day they turned his on, and in the testing he twice raised his hand because he heard something. The first time was a toilet being flushed on the floor above him, the second was some paper rustling down the hall.

He's still getting used to it, but then he's never heard before - he was born deaf. But he's adjusting and starting to hear well now.

[Bawanna]

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.

[bigmacque]

I do get your point, and truly appreciate it.

I'm very proud of my son. He could have wallowed in the deaf culture, collected disability, worked menial jobs and accepted assistance .... and he adamantly refused to do so. He worked hard in school, got good grades, finished a Bachelors at a school that had a lot of resources to support him, then finished a Masters degree in a mainstream program with no resources - no interpretors, no note takers, just him, his fellow students and his teachers. He's fiercly independent and just not going to sit back and let anyone do for him something he can do for himself.

You two would probably get along just fine.

[Bawanna]

I do get your point, and truly appreciate it.

I'm very proud of my son. He could have wallowed in the deaf culture, collected disability, worked menial jobs and accepted assistance .... and he adamantly refused to do so. He worked hard in school, got good grades, finished a Bachelors at a school that had a lot of resources to support him, then finished a Masters degree in a mainstream program with no resources - no interpretors, no note takers, just him, his fellow students and his teachers. He's fiercly independent and just not going to sit back and let anyone do for him something he can do for himself.

You two would probably get along just fine.

Good for him. I do favor a never give up and stay out of my way I'll do it myself attitude. I'm quite certain we would get along just fine. If there was a weak link it would be me for sure.
The bad thing about deafness is it's an invisible handicap. A chair makes it quite obvious that you have a disability. Deaf people I know for a fact get labeled as dumb, rude, even mean. Some of my kids friends still walk very softly around me, co workers, and some of my wifes friends are the same way.
It's actually not a bad thing in that respect and maybe I'm a little on the wacko side but it's certainly exaggerated because I can't hear.

Even a blind person has a white stick, a deaf person is just rude.

Silence! I kill you. Immortal words from Jeff Dunhams terrorist dummy.

[HalfCocked]

For a while I wore a little badge that said "Hearing Impaired" People in "Deaf" community gave me grief because they don't see deafness as any kind of impairment. People in the hearing community just treated me like I was stupid. So frustrating.