I read somewhere that the Baby boomers are comfortable with technology and know how to profit from their parents’ screw-ups in aging. I beg to differ about technology. I approach every new task online with angst and ague.
“How soon before the worst that could happen happens?” “How soon before the ‘fatal error’ message flashes?” “Where’s a three year old when I need her to get me back on track?” “Does everyone feel as inept here as I do?”
But learning from my parents’ errors (in aging,) is a different matter. My father started to lose his hearing in both ears around age sixty. He lived to be ninety-four. Which means my two grown sisters, my brother and I had to endure thirty four years of ‘yell and spell’ communication. Sure he had a hearing aid. But refused to wear it. Didn’t need it.
So, as karma would have it, I began to go deaf in one ear around the age of fifty. I ran to the closest hearing center to get fitted for a hearing aid. It didn’t seem to help much but at least I was ‘doing something’ about the problem. Doesn’t that count for a few points?
I wasn’t going to do that pretend-I’m-not-deaf -so-I-don’t-have-to-do-something-about-it routine. Over the years, I consulted doctors, health practitioners, voodoo priests, whatever, to improve my hearing.
Eventually an ear, nose and throat specialist introduced me to a hearing device that transmits what my deaf ear should hear to my ‘good’ ear via wi-fi. The result? No one seems to notice I have a hearing loss. Or do they?
