Hearing loss and me

This isn’t something I expected to write about, or perhaps not in my fifties anyway, but earlier this year I took myself off for a hearing test and came out with a recommendation for hearing aids. It wasn’t a complete shock to me as I’d taken an online test before booking the appointment, and quite honestly I’d known that I was struggling to hear for a while, as I’d regularly ask MOH to repeat what he’d said, and even then I wasn’t sure all of the time.

The catalyst (pun not intended) was at a sewing group meeting when someone shared her sad cat news, and I knew it took that second too long for the news to register and for my face and speech to react. Exactly.

I was about to discover that there’s a whole host of different types of hearing aids. The type recommended for my hearing loss was RIC, or Receiver-in-Canal which has a microphone behind the ear and delivers sound close to the ear drum. Unfortunately my local NHS trust doesn’t offer their services through independent suppliers, so my options were to proceed independently or to seek a GP referral for the NHS route. I chose to proceed independently as once the problem, or my hearing loss had been confirmed I was keen to get a speedy resolution.

Though this meant choosing a colour for my hearing aids, which wasn’t as simple as it seemed.

The samples above were the choices available, and quite quickly both black options and the dark matte grey were ruled out. This left the most commonly ordered metallic grey, and the metallic bronze. After much umming and aching, and a second visit to the shop to make sure, I opted for the bronze which the audiologist wasn’t convinced by, but as I was the one who’d be wearing them I was happy with my choice - and still am.

Though I did end up getting a referral in the end as my hearing loss was asymmetrical but more on that in a moment.

Getting used to wearing my hearing aids

A few days later I was back to collect my hearing aids, have them adjusted for me and to have my first lesson on how to put them in, take them out and to care for them. It was a lot of information, but nothing too tricky. We were off to a concert in Nottingham that evening and the audiologist recommended not wearing them for the first time there, as the whole experience might be overwhelming! I took the advice, but realised it might be the last time I’d ask MOH “what did they say” in the speaking parts - I’m sure he’s not missing that at all!

I’ve been lucky in that I haven’t found wearing them uncomfortable at all, though I did need to check how far into my ear they should go - the advice was, so that the connecting wire isn’t loose, but it’s all been good. Initially my voice felt echo-y when I spoke, but that was explained as me learning what my voice sounded like again, and the echo-yness didn’t last. I’ve got the rechargeable sort so every evening as I take them off they go straight onto the charger ready to use the following day.

I have them paired to my phone, and now I no longer miss a phone call because I don’t hear it. The times I do miss a call is when I don’t have my hearing aids in, and of course those ever increasing spam calls which I purposely miss. I can even answer my phone by tapping my ears, well the hearing aids - who knew?!

There’s other apps that connect directly to them which are also beneficial, though there was a leaning curve and many times I asked MOH “can you hear this” during that period. But hearing the doorbell is great, being able to listen to a podcast surreptitiously - and especially while gardening is also a plus. I’m less keen on Facebook and Instagram blaring reels and stories at me full blast, but I’m using other ways to mute the sounds I don’t want.

The other thing I found useful was asking my opticians to slightly change the fitting of my prescription glasses so that they are more comfortable to wear and don’t hinder my hearing, which they did at my annual check up, but I’m sure would have done on an adhoc basis if I’d thought to have asked them.

I’m still working out the best setting for ‘hearing in noise’ and if it’s best to opt for the noise filter or speech clarity, but that may take a while to get a definitive answer for me as every situation seems different, which makes sense really. We’ve been in restaurants that have been overwhelming by the commotion so the noise filter option works as well as the speech clarity, but we’ve also been in restaurants where the table next to us has been a bit loud and so the speech clarity isn’t ideal - unless of course I’m relaying the conversation to MOH!

There’s much more functionality to them that I haven’t even broached yet, but I recently learnt there’s an airplane setting so I guess I should work out what that does and how to use it soon - and if I can’t I know I can book a follow-up appointment so the audiology team can help me!

The NHS referral

Remember I said that my hearing loss was asymmetrical, well that meant that the audiologist needed to inform my GP. A follow up call was arranged where my GP tried to ascertain if there was an obvious cause for this - could it have been down to my job, unlikely as I worked in an office, could it be excessive headphone use - also unlikely as I rarely wear headphones and then the most “country” question I’ve ever been asked, and which in London could likely have an entirely different meaning - did I shoot for a hobby?! I don’t, but I can see why it was asked where I live now and how it would be unlikely to be asked had I still been living in London!

But anyway, as there was no obvious explanation as to why my hearing loss was greater in my right ear, a referral was made. Recently I’ve had the outcome of that, following an NHS hearing test. But as ever life threw a complication in its path. I was once again at a sewing group and found myself unable to hear the group chat as we sat there hand sewing, so much so that I warned the group to nudge me if I didn’t respond.

It hadn’t improved after a few days, and after changing the filters so I went back to see the audiologist. They took a look at my good ear, and then at my troublesome one which again was the right ear and told me I’d now got fluid in the ear, which is relatively common and home remedies such as swallowing as you do when your ears pop on a plane usually helps. They confirmed it also wasn’t there a few months before which was good to know as my consultant appointment was fast approaching. Thankfully after another week or so that eased and my hearing improved, and I was less likely to be seen holding my nose and blowing to clear my ears. This was great news as after regaining my hearing, and realising what I was missing I wasn’t about to let it go again.

At the NHS hearing test they told me I had a retracted eardrum, and the consultant would explain fully at my next appointment a few days later, googling that left me none the wiser so I waited as patiently as I could for the next appointment. That’s where I learnt I have a “text book” case of Otosclerosis, which is basically where the “stirrup” bone in my ear has fused so it no longer moves, or amplifies sound vibrations. My consultant doesn’t recommend surgery, and agreed that hearing aids are the way to proceed - she also told me to consider the NHS route when I need to update my hearing aids, as the GP will be able to do a referral especially with this diagnosis. We’ll see when I get to that point, but it’s reassuring to know it’s an option.

And remember this pouch?

Well, it was made with my hearing aids in mind and that’s why I was so keen to finish it before our holiday back in May. It’s worked out perfectly for what I wanted, and there’s even space for my glasses too which means keeping everything handily together.

Reclaiming my hearing through wearing hearing aids has meant more than I ever realised, I’m not sure I knew before just how much I was missing - and I guess the best bit is that if there’s stuff I actually want to miss, then it’s easy to just switch off, or take them out!

In fact many people don’t even realise I’m wearing hearing aids, they’re that discreet - though since I’ve been wearing mine I’ve noticed many more people, of all ages, also wearing hearing aids which given that almost six out of ten people in the UK live with hearing loss isn’t surprising. It’s also one of those health things that people are more likely to ignore - often leaving it between seven and ten years before seeking help, which is crazy when you think of it as none of us would leave it that long before getting say an eye test. There’s research too that hearing loss impacts our lives more than we think, and the longer it’s left then clearly that impact is greater, which isn’t great for anyone.

Given my experience, which has been wholly positive, if you’re concerned about your hearing then I’d recommend getting it checked out - there’s discreet ways of doing this, with many independent providers offering online tests and free no-commitment appointments, I mean what have you got to lose?

The approach to Chateau d'Angers

For today’s post we’re heading back to Angers, briefly. We visited the city for the first time this summer, and as with any city exploration we went on foot without too much of a route planned. We’d started the day in the Jardin des Plantes on the other side of town and meandered our way towards the river, and the castle which frankly is too big a landmark to miss!

I like the meandering as your wish takes you approach to seeing a city, as much like exploring a garden, sometimes there’s things that just pull you that way and sometimes you don’t know why, but often you end up seeing things you never knew existed, and wouldn’t perhaps have known about if you’d stayed on the more usual routes.

But anyway, we found ourselves down by the river and ahead of us we were intrigued by what we could see, it looked like a tunnel of plants which looked intriguing.

When we got closer that’s exactly what it was - we were too late to see the wisteria in flower (sadly).

But the scent of jasmine and roses filled the space, which also did a great job of screening the traffic from the busy road running alongside the river - beauty and function working well together!

The only thing is that we knew we’d need to climb the hill, as for good reasons castles generally aren’t built at low level are they?

It was understandably quite a way up, and a great lookout spot. But if we hadn’t meandered this way we’d have missed walking through the scent filled ‘tunnel’ and missed seeing this magnolia with it’s rickety fence.

I wasn’t expecting to see such formal gardens in the former moat of the castle, it was just what we needed to spur us on - as not only did we have to walk up, we also needed to walk around the boundary of the castle. The more usual route would have been far less steps, but I’m glad we didn’t opt for that.

We didn’t find a way to get down into this part of the castle gardens, and it may not have been possible - but having seen them as we approached the castle we didn’t mind so much.

And before I finish, let’s take a moment to admire the slate edged wall - that’s equally as impressive. We made our way to the castle entrance and enjoyed more gardens inside the castle’s walls, I’ll share some of those photos in the next post I share from our French trip, but until then I’m off to figuratively get my breath back.

My garden in August

It’s been a tough month for the garden with more heatwaves arriving in what seemed to be more often than the buses. I jest we get buses once an hour most of the day here, but it seems that the heatwaves have been never ending doesn’t it?

There has been a steady stream of ripening tomatoes through the month which has been tasty, some have been an odd shape but that hasn’t detracted from their taste. I suspect the yields are lower than perhaps they might have been other years, but we’ve had plenty to keep us going, and I’ve appreciated the slow drip approach rather than having a glut.

We have tiny olives on the new olive tree in the big pot, and we’ve even got our new garden furniture out and sat in it - it’s comfy, but thankfully we’d put it away before the big rain later in the month.

There’s some plant woes this month despite the regular watering. The alstromeria in flower below had a wobble but recovered enough after some time in a trug of water. I lost the agastache that I bought earlier in the summer, which was a shame but was one of those things.

The daisies were doing well until they weren’t, despite watering and the rhubarb has only a single stem on it now. I’m less fussed by these though as I’m hoping these will be back in earnest next year, and I know that the daisies will benefit from getting out of that pot - actually most of our plants will.

I didn’t have much joy with my salad growing either. The second batch germinated but then we were away for a few days and they looked a bit crispy on our return, and if you look at the photo above you’ll see that something had taken a liking to one half of the seed tray. Well, at least I helped out a hungry creature or two while I was trying! I’m hopeful that next year I’ll manage to get growing more consistently again, fingers crossed.

The cosmos - in pots too - have done consistently well over the summer and are still in flower today. I’ll be collecting some of their seeds as they seem happy here, and I’d be happy to have more of them - let’s hope that doesn’t come back to bite me!

My other success of the summer is this lagerstroemia, which against the odds - it looked like a dead stick much earlier in the year - has developed into this. It’s probably as surprised as I am I’m sure.

In warm summers we move this indoor plant outside as it loves the heat. And it’s really loved this summer, in the warmer weather it develops the red edging to its leaves which is just joyful, and when I looked more closely it’s also throwing up some more stems. When the weather cools I’ll give it a quick once over - and a dust - and bring it back inside to it’s more regular spot on the windowsill for the winter.

A lot of this post is about the heat, but as the month went on the heatwaves lessened and rain in the middle of the month must have felt like a milestone - as I took this picture. Now looking back it doesn’t seem that much, but it was probably the most significant rainfall we’d had in quite a while.

This second rain picture was just ten days later, and that was quite a bit more! So much more that our outside sofa had puddles on it, but it was much needed and I don’t think I’ve heard so few people moan about the rain! Though it added a new job to my list, and that was to make sure these two saucers were emptied when the rain had stopped, I could manage that though!

My garden still has plenty of gardening left for me to do, and I’m grateful that the days are now cooler so I can get out and tackle this, though clearly that’s better on dry days - and days where we have free time. The joys of gardening, hey?