My main goal over the last couple of weeks has been to keep
my self as un-stressed as possible. However, my plan has not been as successful
as I had hoped.
I had returned from a nice long vacation celebrating the Christmas Holiday with my family in St. Louis to find a big ‘ol surprise in the mail…. A Jury Duty Summons! I was expected to appear at the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse at 8:30AM on Wednesday, January 16. Four days before I was leaving for surgery.
Seriously????
The next day, I contacted the jury commissioner. I was secretly hoping that this would be one of those rare situations where I could use my hearing loss to my advantage. If not, I am getting surgery the week after I am expected to report. Now that definitely has to be a valid excuse! Right?
Wrong! This conversation did not go as I had planned. I was told that Wednesday trials typically last 1-3 days and that since I am in the state the day I am expected to report, I needed to be there. I always thought it would be fun and exciting to be part of a jury but the timing could not be worse. It was very stressful for me to imagine that my last week in the office, my last couple of days to tie up loose ends, would be shorten before being out of the office for 2+ weeks. While my employer has been very accommodating in making sure that I do not stress out about my work before surgery, I hold myself to a very high standard and I know that some of my work would be difficult for someone else to pick up if I were not able to finish it. The last thing I wanted was to come back to work with a very long to-do list.
As the New Year approached, I somehow managed to lose my hearing aid. In the 4 years I have had my hearing aids, I have only had one “accident” where the wire became disconnected from the receiver. When this happened, I was without a hearing aid for two weeks and although I have always HATED wearing hearing aids, it was then that I realized how dependent I was on them to function in everyday conversation. From that point on, I vowed to always take very good care of them. And I had…until I received my Esteem Implant.
After I was implanted with the Esteem, I started to care less and less for my hearing aid. When I would take it out, I would leave it in the most random places… Like next to a glass of water on my nightstand or coffee table; carelessly thrown in my purse; on the toilet seat before getting in the shower. And sometimes, if I got really tired (and lazy) waiting for my husband to come to bed, I would just place it on the bed next to me assuming that my husband would find it and put it somewhere safe when he came to bed for the night.
I cannot tell you how many times in the last year I have woken up and had to frantically search and strip my house in an attempt to find my hearing aid because I had “misplaced” it. My husband is constantly telling me that I need to be more careful about where I place my hearing aid, but every time we go through this, it always manages to turn up.
Well… not this time. Of course. So here I was, 3 weeks before surgery, a surgery that would leave me completely deaf in my implanted ear for the next two months, and my hearing aid (i.e., the only ear I have for the next two months) was nowhere to be found. This may not seems like a big deal, but I should mention that I do not have an audiologist in Denver. I bought my hearing aids in St. Louis and would always have my testing and adjustments done when I went home to visit. In the 10 years I have lived in Denver, there has never been a need for me to find a new audiologist in the area. Until now… Seriously? The timing couldn't be worse…
I first contacted my audiologist at home and she gave me some positive news... that my hearing aids were still under warranty through March 2013. She said she could order me an exact copy of my old hearing aid but suggested that I connect with someone in the area to get a new ear mold as the shape of our ears change over time and if I am going to be getting a new hearing aid, I might as well make sure it is completely up to date. Additionally, she also felt that it would be difficult for her to program the hearing aid without me there.
I waited a couple of days to see if it would turn up like it always does. As I waited, I researched audiologist in the area that accept my insurance and work with Phonak hearing aids. When my hearing aid never turned up, I made an appointment with a local audiologist. The audiologist charged $82 to have the ear mold made, $250 for a loss and damage claim, and $40 to expedite the processing and delivery. Although this is MUCH MUCH better than having to buy a brand new hearing aid (~$3,000 cost), this was an extra cost I had not planned for and ultimately, more weight to add to the heavy load I was already carrying. As if I did not already have enough to worry about on top of the normal stresses one faces as they prepare for surgery and traveling.
I stuck it on the credit card and told myself not to think about the costs. I would worry about those later. I had other things to worry about… Like if it would actually arrive before I left for surgery. As you can imagine, I have been driving myself absolutely crazy with anticipation and contemplating the “what-ifs”.
I spent the next week praying endlessly that my juror number would not be called and that my hearing aid would find its way to me in time, preferably before jury duty so that I would actually be able to hear and follow directions and know what the heck was going on. I also worked my little butt off to make sure that all my high priority tasks were completed before I reported to jury duty, in preparation for the worst case scenario (i.e., that I would not be able to work my last 3 days in the office), which was pretty much expected seeing what my luck has been like recently.
Things have started to fall into place this week (the week before surgery). My hearing aid was delivered on Monday morning and I was able to have it fitted that day. Yes... I couldn't believe it either. Before surgery AND before jury duty! On a side note, I am hearing much better with this new hearing aid, which is definitely an extra plus considering this will be my only ear for the next two months. By the end of the day on Tuesday, all of my “important” tasks had been completed at work, which was a relief as the next day I was reporting for jury duty and there was a possibility that I would not be back in the office before I left for surgery. When I woke up Wednesday morning, I checked to see if my number was listed and ultimately, if I would have to report to jury duty. Unfortunately, my number was listed. Things were going way to good, right? BUT during the four hours I was there, the commissioner called 4 sets of jurors and my number was NOT called (happy dance time!). Obviously, it would have been ideal to not have to report at all, but everything went as smoothly as it possibly could have. As you can imagine, I felt SO relieved!
While the last couple of weeks have had their challenges, everything turned out fine in the end. Thank goodness! I feel like so much weight has been lifted off my shoulders and that I can finally take a deep breath, relax, and truly prepare my mind, body, and soul for this surgery so that I am able to have a quick and speedy recovery.
I had returned from a nice long vacation celebrating the Christmas Holiday with my family in St. Louis to find a big ‘ol surprise in the mail…. A Jury Duty Summons! I was expected to appear at the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse at 8:30AM on Wednesday, January 16. Four days before I was leaving for surgery.
Seriously????
The next day, I contacted the jury commissioner. I was secretly hoping that this would be one of those rare situations where I could use my hearing loss to my advantage. If not, I am getting surgery the week after I am expected to report. Now that definitely has to be a valid excuse! Right?
Wrong! This conversation did not go as I had planned. I was told that Wednesday trials typically last 1-3 days and that since I am in the state the day I am expected to report, I needed to be there. I always thought it would be fun and exciting to be part of a jury but the timing could not be worse. It was very stressful for me to imagine that my last week in the office, my last couple of days to tie up loose ends, would be shorten before being out of the office for 2+ weeks. While my employer has been very accommodating in making sure that I do not stress out about my work before surgery, I hold myself to a very high standard and I know that some of my work would be difficult for someone else to pick up if I were not able to finish it. The last thing I wanted was to come back to work with a very long to-do list.
As the New Year approached, I somehow managed to lose my hearing aid. In the 4 years I have had my hearing aids, I have only had one “accident” where the wire became disconnected from the receiver. When this happened, I was without a hearing aid for two weeks and although I have always HATED wearing hearing aids, it was then that I realized how dependent I was on them to function in everyday conversation. From that point on, I vowed to always take very good care of them. And I had…until I received my Esteem Implant.
After I was implanted with the Esteem, I started to care less and less for my hearing aid. When I would take it out, I would leave it in the most random places… Like next to a glass of water on my nightstand or coffee table; carelessly thrown in my purse; on the toilet seat before getting in the shower. And sometimes, if I got really tired (and lazy) waiting for my husband to come to bed, I would just place it on the bed next to me assuming that my husband would find it and put it somewhere safe when he came to bed for the night.
I cannot tell you how many times in the last year I have woken up and had to frantically search and strip my house in an attempt to find my hearing aid because I had “misplaced” it. My husband is constantly telling me that I need to be more careful about where I place my hearing aid, but every time we go through this, it always manages to turn up.
Well… not this time. Of course. So here I was, 3 weeks before surgery, a surgery that would leave me completely deaf in my implanted ear for the next two months, and my hearing aid (i.e., the only ear I have for the next two months) was nowhere to be found. This may not seems like a big deal, but I should mention that I do not have an audiologist in Denver. I bought my hearing aids in St. Louis and would always have my testing and adjustments done when I went home to visit. In the 10 years I have lived in Denver, there has never been a need for me to find a new audiologist in the area. Until now… Seriously? The timing couldn't be worse…
I first contacted my audiologist at home and she gave me some positive news... that my hearing aids were still under warranty through March 2013. She said she could order me an exact copy of my old hearing aid but suggested that I connect with someone in the area to get a new ear mold as the shape of our ears change over time and if I am going to be getting a new hearing aid, I might as well make sure it is completely up to date. Additionally, she also felt that it would be difficult for her to program the hearing aid without me there.
I waited a couple of days to see if it would turn up like it always does. As I waited, I researched audiologist in the area that accept my insurance and work with Phonak hearing aids. When my hearing aid never turned up, I made an appointment with a local audiologist. The audiologist charged $82 to have the ear mold made, $250 for a loss and damage claim, and $40 to expedite the processing and delivery. Although this is MUCH MUCH better than having to buy a brand new hearing aid (~$3,000 cost), this was an extra cost I had not planned for and ultimately, more weight to add to the heavy load I was already carrying. As if I did not already have enough to worry about on top of the normal stresses one faces as they prepare for surgery and traveling.
I stuck it on the credit card and told myself not to think about the costs. I would worry about those later. I had other things to worry about… Like if it would actually arrive before I left for surgery. As you can imagine, I have been driving myself absolutely crazy with anticipation and contemplating the “what-ifs”.
I spent the next week praying endlessly that my juror number would not be called and that my hearing aid would find its way to me in time, preferably before jury duty so that I would actually be able to hear and follow directions and know what the heck was going on. I also worked my little butt off to make sure that all my high priority tasks were completed before I reported to jury duty, in preparation for the worst case scenario (i.e., that I would not be able to work my last 3 days in the office), which was pretty much expected seeing what my luck has been like recently.
Things have started to fall into place this week (the week before surgery). My hearing aid was delivered on Monday morning and I was able to have it fitted that day. Yes... I couldn't believe it either. Before surgery AND before jury duty! On a side note, I am hearing much better with this new hearing aid, which is definitely an extra plus considering this will be my only ear for the next two months. By the end of the day on Tuesday, all of my “important” tasks had been completed at work, which was a relief as the next day I was reporting for jury duty and there was a possibility that I would not be back in the office before I left for surgery. When I woke up Wednesday morning, I checked to see if my number was listed and ultimately, if I would have to report to jury duty. Unfortunately, my number was listed. Things were going way to good, right? BUT during the four hours I was there, the commissioner called 4 sets of jurors and my number was NOT called (happy dance time!). Obviously, it would have been ideal to not have to report at all, but everything went as smoothly as it possibly could have. As you can imagine, I felt SO relieved!
While the last couple of weeks have had their challenges, everything turned out fine in the end. Thank goodness! I feel like so much weight has been lifted off my shoulders and that I can finally take a deep breath, relax, and truly prepare my mind, body, and soul for this surgery so that I am able to have a quick and speedy recovery.
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