Thursday, March 17, 2011

The Sound of ... Not Much

Did you know that when you can only hear through one ear, it's REALLY difficult to figure out where sounds are coming from? Ivan called the other morning while out running errands and it took me forever to figure out where the phone was, because there was no sense of direction from what I could hear. Weird!

Arrived at my appointment today to find out the clinic could not do two of the tests because they don't have the equipment. In fact there's only one place in a city of a million and a half that does have it, and that's the clinic that told us their machine was broken when we called the other day. None of the other places we contacted bothered to mention they could only do part of the tests.

Anyway...they did what they could at the clinic we went to today -- which amounted to me listening to various sounds through several different sets of earphones -- which only confirmed that yes, indeed, I do have a hearing loss problem in one ear.

I do, however, now have an appointment at the place with the broken machine in hopes that it will be fixed by next Tuesday.

Welcome to socialized medicine.
Carlos Paz has a population of around 80,000.
Cordoba, the provincial capital, has a million and a half.
Can you imagine Kalamazoo not having this equipment at all?
Or Philadelphia only having one machine in the entire city?
That's what you have to look forward to folks.

Okay, stepping off my soapbox.

While we were in downtown Cordoba we swung by a used furniture store just to see what new stock they had. You may remember we bought some used dining room chairs last year that are sort of mid-century modern. Well today we found a table base with the same leg style at a very decent price. But being miserly with our money we walked away. I think we might check back next week when we go for my next appointment and if it's still there, we'll see... We're sorta torn because on the one hand, we've been looking for months and months and this is the first time we've found one with the same style legs... but on the other hand we are leaving for furlough in just over six weeks, and have a TON of stuff to do in the meantime so if we do buy it there's no way we could do anything beyond store the base until we get back. 

Speaking of things we have to do in the meantime... the surveyor finally made it out to the lot! So now we know exactly where the property lines are and Ivan's ready to order fence materials. He's not sure which type poles to use, so is asking different contractor friends what their thoughts are on the subject. We're going to go basic and cheap at this point because (1) we have almost no time, and (2) even less money :) But we do want to make it good and sturdy. We will place posts every 5 meters and since the next door neighbor already installed fence on that side, it means we need 17 posts total (including the ones that will form the gate in front). Regardless of whether we choose telephone poles cut-to-length or pre-formed cement posts, we'll be using 1.5 meter chain link topped by three strands of barbed wire between the poles.

Exciting stuff!
Or not.
Depending on how you feel about fencing.
I personally am very fond of it and believe that "Good fences make good neighbors."

We will be meeting with our architect next Thursday or Friday. Before then I need to sort through my many scribblings and floor plans and figure out just what we need to show him so he has an understanding of what we want, without being overwhelmed by too much information. Which I am fully capable of providing :)  Too much information, I mean. Brevity is not my strong suit.

Obviously.

Hopefully I'll be hearing better by then because I don't want to miss any part of that conversation!

Right now my ear is pretty plugged and I just hear a whistling/windy sound through it, but this morning when I first got up and went into the kitchen I realized I could hear the wall clock ticking louder than in previous days. I covered my good ear and was thrilled to hear a bit through the plugged ear! Not much, but a little. So maybe the anti-inflammatory medicine is working! My ear also hurt a bit this morning; again, not much, but a little. Before this I've had no pain at all (just vertigo and nausea), so I'm thinking that as it becomes unplugged I'll experience some discomfort.

Never thought I'd say this about pain, but "Bring it on!"
I'm ready to be over this.

8 comments:

Mari said...

Glad you are getting a little hearing back. My friend who had the ear problem has been sick (We have a big flu epidemic going on) so I haven't been able to ask her.
If I remember right - she had to lay on her right side for 10 minutes, then lay on her back for 10 minutes, then turn to the left for 10 minutes. Sounds crazy but the specialist said something about it equalizing pressure or something like that. Anyway it worked.
Your plans are sounding exciting. I'm a fan of fences too.

The Bug said...

Well hopefully you'll get your hearing back SOON!

Skoots1moM said...

Arrived at my appointment today to find out the clinic could not do two of the tests ...bummer, for sure.

Prayers for next tuesday's visit...and that the machine is healthy, too!

found a table--i say go for it..ya'll always have such trouble finding what you want.

Surveyor finally made it: yeahhhh!
Architect next Thursday or Friday: so exciting! I envision a craft room for you...
I could hear the wall clock: woo hoo good news! Prayers your ear's much better soon and that there is no more vertigo and nausea.

Hubs and daughter are running errands today, more planning for her future apartment next fall...and our cell phone contract has expired so we're going phone shopping, yippee! i'm hoping for a smart phone of somekind...we'll see, may still be too expensive. oh well, as long as i can get bigger text and numbers then i'll be good (i get so tired of having to pull out my reading glasses to send/receive calls...hahahah!)
have a GREAT weekend, JubiSista!

Karen said...

Oh, that must be frustrating. I know I'm frustrated when I have a cold and my ear is plugged up for a couple of days. I would be really sad to have an ongoing problem like this. I hope it gets better soon.

Unknown said...

Mike and I both have sore throats/voice issues right now. He worse than I 'cause he's working in the robotics team pit all day, on his feet, can't rest. Lost his voice the first day, noise so loud, having to talk above it.
Hope you heal sooooooon.
Pastor preached on fences not long ago--for guarding and for keeping out.
Sounds like you have a lot to do and too little time. May you find it works out just right.
Blessings!

Debbie said...

I really hope your hearing continues to improve. My husband has a relatively new hearing loss in one ear and it drives him crazy. Very frustrating and restaurants are the worst.

Lhoyt said...

I can truly say I empathize with you on your hearing problem. I hope it continues getting better.
As for the fencing, after reading my blog you know that is also something I know experientially.
BTW, are you going to be leaving everything in your rented house? If so who will watch it for you?

Jen T said...

Kim I am so sorry that you are having problems with your ear! It's something you don't think about until there's a problem. It must be extremely disorienting and I'm right there with you on socialzed medicine - I try not to be fearful of what's to come but it's hard!

And I wanted to tell you that I'm surprised at what I find exciting as a homeowner..never did I think new garage doors could be exciting but I do now - so I totally get the joy of knowing your fence is going up! I'm praying for your hearing to be fully restored and I hope you & Ivan have a great week. JenT