Hearing Aids in the Wrong Places - Part 1

But of course, we all know there's places to never put a hearing aid. Jennifer Stuessy's The 10 most dangerous places for a hearing aid has a good listing, but probably is missing a few places we never think about.

She mentions never to put it on a nightstand, but inside. Or better yet, never place it out in the open in an area where there's a lot of things being picked up, put down, spilled, sprayed, including the kitchen sink. It's rather easy to sweep the hearing aid on the floor or crushed on a hard surface like a table. And then when it hits the floor and you have a cat that loves to bat things around... Fried and bat-tered hearing aids, anyone? Here at home we've still not found all the balls our cat's hidden.

You do know you can't drink ground hearing aid (from a garbage disposal or coffee grinder) even if you put it into the coffeemaker?

Next - Part 2

Hospitals and the Deaf Patient - Part 2

In Part 1, I mention in the last paragraph:

"In this day of high tech and the Internet, there's no excuse for anyone to claim it's difficult to contact the deaf person when there's also email, texting, and instant messaging besides the relay. A little low tech like keeping paper and pen around goes a long way as well."

When I had home health care, rather than use the relay to play phone tag with each other, we used texting. It's worked so well that I could easily refer back to the texts as a reminder or the physical therapist could easily change a session date and time. I'd also be in contact with the supervisor/office manager when it came to signing paperwork and evaluations.

Also after the third surgery, I got emails from the doctor's office a few times telling me of a change in medication dosage. This allowed me to better acknowledge I got the email and would act on the dosage change.

I've kept copies of my xrays from the knee surgeries and from the three hip surgeries, which also makes it easier for me to pass on what I have to another doctor. The hip surgeon's office has a patient portal which allows me to watch for upcoming bill payments, make a payment, make an appointment online, med refills, and other things.

On a more lighthearted note, the physical therapist and I used "markers" from torn postcards to show how many laps I did in the walking exercises (Surgery and the Hips - Part 5). Now and then one of us will lose track of how many laps I've done.

Humor: It was so cold...

This recent spate of extremely cold weather seems to have broken quite a few temperature records. Means everyone has to dress warm and take care of themselves a bit better. Those with walking issues may not be able to get out very well if at all.

Jamie and I came back the weekend morning just before the cold snap from being out at Target and Walmart. It rained some, and the rain let up just enough when we got home. I used my walker to get from the car to the garage into the house, but I had to move slowly due to possible ice. Fortunately, no ice and I didn't slip. I told Jamie later on that I wasn't going to go out again til the snow and ice on the driveway melted. Had I slipped and fallen, I could have gone down for good, needing medical help.

Post-Surgery Right Knee - Part 5 mentions what happened in 1982 when we had a big snowstorm and it was cold. Post-Surgery Right Knee - Part 4 talks about a big snowfall in Kentucky some time ago, 1994 or 1995, I think, where it was bitter cold and I was trying to shovel the driveway.

One of the funniest stories posted on CNN's site is It's so cold, humor edition.

Quite a few "It was so cold..." comments in the article. Most of the time, comments degrade into flame and/or political wars namecalling, and foul posts, but not here. Some are quite hilarious. I came up with a few...

It was so cold, that when I tried using my phone's speech to text software, the battery got very warm and the display showed "[chatterchatterchatter]." (or "It's warm, Jim.")

It's so cold that you don't need an ice cream maker. Just mix up everything and set it outside.

It's so cold that people can retire their refrigerators and freezers, instead just throwing everything outside.

It's so cold and icy that when I go to work, I don't need to walk. I have an oversize slingshot...

It's so cold, that a bullet/round from a weapon never reaches its destination, instead just freezing a few yards away.

It's so cold, that words come out of your mouth visually, no sign language needed.

It's true when they say laughter is good medicine as it warms the heart. It warms the body, too.

Looking back on 2013

The year 2013 wasn't exactly a great year for me. It marked my graduation at Gallaudet and three surgeries.

While college graduation marks a joyous time for those graduates, it was tempered by my nearly not graduating due to a capstone team member miscommunicating something with the instructor (Teamwork in classes and on the job - Part 1 and Part 2) requiring us to change direction mid-semester right before Spring Break. That plus having to deal with the ever-increasing pain levels due to the degrading left hip joint as I got closer to graduation and surgery date. It did help to inform those I worked with about what was going on with me. My team had a second chance at finishing up our project that summer, but my hip had other ideas, including the team leader also having a health issue, so we were never able.

The left hip had other ideas in a way that required three surgeries within 5 months (June, July, and November). Just 5 weeks after I had the original joint replacement, I had to return to the hospital due to it being infected. The second surgery had the joint be replaced by a wrecking ball of a spacer (Surgery and the Hips - Part 3) which was painful and uncomfortable. I had to have pain pills before physical therapy while in Acute Rehab. Fortunately, that wasn't needed when I moved to the nursing home.

I've been infection-free since the last surgery (Surgery and the Hips - Part 5). I don't need another wrecking ball in me. Physical therapy is going along well. I still have a ways to go before I can walk with and without a cane.

2014 should be a better year. The next surgery on the right hip should be near the end of 2014 also, and should go well.

Review of Sony's Captioning Glasses - Part 2

In the previous blog post Review of Sony's Captioning Glasses, I tried using the Sony Captioning Glasses for the first time. Then flash forward to recently, when I watched Frozen with the glasses.

This time, I found I missed something from the first time I used them. I didn't make an effort to adjust the noserests. Thus, the way the noserests were at the time, no wonder they caused me so much pain. I managed to adjust them just far enough so I wouldn't have the same problem as before, and it worked. I went the entire movie without the glasses hurting me too much, adjusting them here and there.

Still some room for improvements as I mentioned before. One additional suggestion would be adjustable captions color and font size. I'm wondering if this sort of thing would work with Google Glass with the right adjustments and programming.

Nelson Mandela's funeral interpreter fiasco

Sometimes I wonder about interpreters and their skills. Then we saw the one at Nelson Mandela's funeral. I took a quick look and thought I was seeing some South African sign language, but a second look and a closer watch had me thinking differently. No facial expressions? Just about every sign language, no matter where you go, uses facial expressions. It's an important part of signing.

Next, just one? For an event that went 3-4 hours with multiple speakers? We've seen terps that have difficulty going more than 1-2 hours in an educational setting, even if the instructor doesn't talk fast. With the funeral, at least two terps, more like 3-4, would work well if one can't continue or people have an issue with understanding the signing.

Someone failed majorly out there when they picked this guy. Seriously, a mental illness keeping him from doing clear signs? We've heard this before, and even a person who knows sign with a mental illness can still sign well. Kind of reminds me of an episode of Spin City (Deaf Becomes Her - season 1, episode 20) where they have an terp for the mayor's address. YouTube has a clip. In this case, the guy had no skills, said he was a terp on his resume, and it was a comedy show.

But the lesson is still there. Check out the terps more carefully and have more than one.

Recipe: Emeril's Christmas Bread

Imagine someone who doubled a bread recipe and the results nearly took over the kitchen with a lot of rising bread dough. If anyone's familiar with the classic I Love Lucy show when she was cornered by a huge loaf of bread coming out of the oven, this is kinda like this. The bread went BAM back...

But of course, Jamie and I had a good laugh reading this. We'll have to make it sometime.

Emeril's Christmas Bread: A story of 2 loaves, 3 colors, and 1 frightened baker

The recipe is at the end of the article.

Surgery and the Hips - Part 5

Back in mid-November, I had surgery to remove that wrecking ball of an antibiotic spacer and put in new joint hardware. I was only in the hospital for 3 days, and did well in my physical therapy tests, allowing me to go home sooner. This time, I don't quite remember being in the recovery room, only waking up in my hospital room.

Interestingly enough, it was the same room I had back in July, room 403.

I started again with in-home physical therapy the day after I got home. I'm still using the walker, with a restriction of 10% weightbearing on the left leg. I've been able to do things I wasn't able to do when I had the spacer in me. My house has a wall that separates the living room and foyer from the dining room and kitchen, allowing me to walk around it. I couldn't go more than 4 times around with the spacer. Now I've been able to get 6 times around and was able to get up on the exercise bed and do some exercises I wasn't able to do before. Another is that I'm able to sleep better. Of course, there's still some swelling in the leg and I have to keep them elevated, but the swelling's improved. Sleeping on my side I can do, but not for too long.

I was taking some antibiotics for a few weeks after discharge with pain meds. I've had the staples removed as well. Interestingly enough, the first surgery used Dermabond to close the incision, and the second used stitches. With this third surgery, the surgeon didn't reuse the anterior incisions due to the condition of the skin due to the infection, but used the lateral approach.

Still got a ways to go in terms of going from walker to cane. Next surgery could easily be late 2014.

Surgery and the Hips - Part 4

A week after I was in Acute Rehab, I was moved to a nearby nursing home, where I stayed for 6 weeks. I wasn't able to return home due to the house not quite being set up for my needs.

Enduring 6-7 weeks of IV antibiotics via the PICC line wasn't too bad, but it definitely made things easier with the blood draws.

Physical and occupational therapy in the nursing home helped out in getting me back to being able to do things. It got easier to walk and do other necessary things. At one point, my hearing aid's earhook and tubing decided to go bad. This required me to make quick work in ordering replacements from the audiologist and replacing them on my own. That meant I had a week of not being able to use my hearing aid.

Jamie helped out in bringing clean clothes every week including some other things I needed.

The nursing home had daily activities, but I missed a lot of them due to PT and OT. They had these practice stairs which I couldn't use at first, then finally able to use it. But the spacer prevented me from using them effectively due to the weight limitation. After a bit of research and therapist recommendations, I picked up on a stairlift and had it installed the day after I got home.

Apparently the spacer has other ideas in terms of being able to sleep at times...

Surgery and the Hips - Part 3

Surgery on the right hip will definitely be delayed, possibly til possibly mid-2014.

As it turns out, I returned to my doctor's office to have some discharge from the incision checked out a little over a month after the initial left hip replacement surgery. When the doc took out fluid from my joint and I saw what was aspirated, no one had to tell me it was infected. Fortunately, the doctor's office was within the same hospital I had the surgery, so it was a simple matter of being readmitted.

It was pretty funny when the nurses on the floor said "weren't you just here a few weeks ago?" Yep, and I'm back due to the joint being infected. Even the physical therapist doesn't look worse for wear after my telling and showing her previously how I use the walker on the steps.

After some talking with the surgeon and his fellow, it turns out that the joint definitely was infected. Two days later, I have surgery to replace the infected hardware with an antibiotic spacer. They have to give me painkillers in recovery as I'm in quite a bit of pain. I don't quite remember the trip from recovery to my room.

It was difficult enough getting out of the hospital bed. Their giving me a strap with a loop on the other end for my foot helped out in getting me in and out of bed.

I had a blood drain which creates a vacuum when compressed. I couldn't resist.

"Somewhere out there, a vampire's going to be very happy."

A few days later, I'm told I'm going to be moved upstairs to Acute Rehab, and had to agree to 3 hours worth of therapy daily. I have a PICC line put in for the IV antibiotics and blood draws. Using pain meds helps out in controlling the pain while I go through physical and occupational therapy. They've got this monster of a platform walker that's helped me out in getting back to walking.

When going through physical therapy, remember that they also specialize in wedgies...