I should probably preface this post by pointing out that I'm not the gentlest person when it comes to my hearing aids. I killed my old pair in two ways - I took the left one out to put my stethoscope in (back in the days when my hearing loss was milder) and it pinged across the floor and got stepped on. The other one, I put the battery in the wrong way round, didn't notice, tried to force it closed anyway, and ended up having to prise it open with the post of an earring every time I needed to change the battery. I think my audiologist despairs of me, just a little bit, although I think secretly he may enjoy the challenge...
Anyway, this time, I've snapped the earmoulds. Both of them. The left one is only partially cracked - it's still in one piece, it just pinches a little. The other is cracked through, and I can't seem to get both bits in my ear properly, so I'm whistling; it doesn't bother me much, although I suspect that the sounds I'm picking up aren't quite as clear; it's more of an annoyance to the people around me, really.
I was rapidly getting fed up with this, so I thought that rather than waiting until I'm back at uni, I'd contact a branch closer to home, so I phoned a more local office, where the same audiologist as I normally see, works. I looked up their contact details: phone number only. No email, no fax, no Minicom, and it's a service for deaf people. Hey ho, thought I, they'll just have to put up with me asking for endless repetitions.
I muddled through the first few minutes of the conversation, until she took my date of birth. "We don't treat people under 40." I asked her what deaf under-40s were meant to do, and she said they didn't have any on their books, and hung up on me: it's no wonder there aren't any on their books, if that's how they talk to us! Besides, this is the same audiologist as I've been seeing for the last three years, just at a different office, and I know he sees us young'uns.
I think a written complaint is in order, and I think I'll wait until I get back to uni to get those new earmoulds...
Monday, 7 September 2009
An Introduction
OK, so the title of the blog is a bit of a misnomer, I'm in fact not Dr yet. I'm still Miss, a fifth year medical student, but hey, I'm ambitious. Dr Death was also my nickname in the band I used to play in, and despite all my efforts to the contrary many people still seem to define my medical abilities by my audiogram, so Doctor Deaf seemed particularly apt.
I'm not one of these medical students who knows, and has always known, exactly what they want to do. I'm currently thinking about either general practice (a little bit of everything, and no ward rounds, woohoo) or palliative care (which I did my elective in, and loved every minute.) Anything except surgery, and I've threatened to jump off the top of the hospital if MTAS places me in obstetrics and gynaecology for F1 - admittedly the hospital I do most of my training in is only two storeys, but I reckon I'd still get a decent leg break that'd get me out of doing that rotation!
For the audiologically-minded, I probably ought to introduce my deafness, as well as myself. I have a bilateral profound hearing loss of 90-110dB, and although my audiograms look the same on both sides, I feel as though my right ear is the better one. Possibly I just need my left hearing aid looking at. If anyone's interested, I could at some point dig out an audiogram. I probably qualify for a cochlear implant, but I haven't plucked up the courage to ask about one yet - I'm managing without one, and so far as I'm concerned, if I'm managing without surgery, that's a pretty good reason for me not to have any. I just don't like pain.
When I'm not trying to keep my head above water in med school, I'm playing with my pet rat Dorian, taking photographs, or reading (anything I can get my hands on. The back of cereal packets, if there's nowt else.) Or catching up with friends, and drinking real ale in one of the lovely pubs around uni; I'm sure I live in the best city for ale in the whole country.
I can't think that there's much else to introduce - there probably is, of course, but my brain's gone sticky. Caffeine deficiency, possibly, or too many audit statistics gumming up my synapses. Either way, I'm sure I'll be back.
I'm not one of these medical students who knows, and has always known, exactly what they want to do. I'm currently thinking about either general practice (a little bit of everything, and no ward rounds, woohoo) or palliative care (which I did my elective in, and loved every minute.) Anything except surgery, and I've threatened to jump off the top of the hospital if MTAS places me in obstetrics and gynaecology for F1 - admittedly the hospital I do most of my training in is only two storeys, but I reckon I'd still get a decent leg break that'd get me out of doing that rotation!
For the audiologically-minded, I probably ought to introduce my deafness, as well as myself. I have a bilateral profound hearing loss of 90-110dB, and although my audiograms look the same on both sides, I feel as though my right ear is the better one. Possibly I just need my left hearing aid looking at. If anyone's interested, I could at some point dig out an audiogram. I probably qualify for a cochlear implant, but I haven't plucked up the courage to ask about one yet - I'm managing without one, and so far as I'm concerned, if I'm managing without surgery, that's a pretty good reason for me not to have any. I just don't like pain.
When I'm not trying to keep my head above water in med school, I'm playing with my pet rat Dorian, taking photographs, or reading (anything I can get my hands on. The back of cereal packets, if there's nowt else.) Or catching up with friends, and drinking real ale in one of the lovely pubs around uni; I'm sure I live in the best city for ale in the whole country.
I can't think that there's much else to introduce - there probably is, of course, but my brain's gone sticky. Caffeine deficiency, possibly, or too many audit statistics gumming up my synapses. Either way, I'm sure I'll be back.
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