Say What?

Growing up, I was plagued with ear problems, as many of you know. It was discovered that I couldn't hear properly when I was VERY young. I wouldn't respond correctly, my "R's" sounded more like "Aww's" instead of R, as I learned to talk. I was even put in special ed classes because of my inability to speak properly. Along about age 5, I began having surgeries. I had just about everything one could have done to there ears from tubes to Mastoidectomy Tympanoplasty (patching and rebuilding of the eardrum), and for the most part, it was successful, all the way up to my Senior year of High School.

In January of 97, my mom rushed me to the hospital from an emergency doctor visit, due to the fact that the whole left side of my head was swollen up like a melon. Dr. Prestridge, my ENT Specialist, who happens to be the best there is, feared that I had developed meningitis which, if not caught in time, can lead to the body's nervous system shutting down and subsequently, death. Needless to say, my mom and I were scared to death! I spent about a week in the hospital's pediatric wing, which we laughed about since I was an "all grown up" 18 years of age. The worst thing was, the procedures Dr. Prestridge performed, I had to be awake to respond to him and very little anesthetics could be used, due to the close proximity to the brain. It was the most painful experience I've ever suffered. He used a syringe, that felt a mile long and the same wide, to go in and clean out the infected area. Along about day two, we were relieved to hear that it was all just a really, REALLY bad inner ear infection. No surprise to me, I've only had one of those for every year of my life! To make a long story short, I lost 60% of my hearing in my left ear. Thankfully, my right ear, which had been completely rebuilt, over-corrected and has nearly 120% hearing. Only thing bad about that is when there's loud noises, they're even louder and when there's background music, we might as well as be at a concert with the background on main stage, cause I can't hear anything else! Kinda stinks when we go out to eat, but I'd rather have that than the alternative.

Two weeks ago, I went to bed hearing "normal" and woke up Monday with no hearing in my right ear. I didn't know what happened, but it really did mess up the next few days of that week, considering I was on vacation. All I could hear was the faint, 40% in the left ear and absolutely nothing but a high pitched ringing in my right ear, which I hear 24/7 no matter what. Wednesday, just before church, my ear opened and I've been able to hear "normal" since. I don't know what it was, I'm just glad that God made it go away!

All of this said, I was selling a pre-need to a lady on Thursday whose daughter is 65% deaf in both ears, wears hearing aids, and reads lips; something I'd be out of luck if I depended on it. I can't read lips to save my life! Anyway, the daughter told me about her experience and how she lost her hearing. She said that about all she can hear is the high pitched squeal that I am ever so familiar with. She then told me of a vitamin that her doctor recommended. It is called Lipo-Flavonoid. She said its expensive, but that it works great for Tinnitus (ringing of the ears), which is caused by a lack of bloodflow to the inner ear, causing a numbing much like when your leg or arm falls asleep. If you could hear through your arm, when it falls asleep, you'd hear the same noise! Ain't that weird? She even said that she can hear a little better because of it, which could just be the ringing subsiding, allowing more sound to cut through. Anyway, I was all excited and thought that if anybody has trouble with Tinnitus that you might want to try it! I know I'm going to!

-approved by Farley Wells, SAD-CMDI whose hearing aid is squealing AGAIN!!!