Not Smoke Signals

I had a hearing check a few weeks ago and the results showed a severe deterioration in my left ear — my word recognition was only 10%. The audiologist referred me to an ENT specialist. I had to wait awhile for an appointment, but eventually got one.

I had no idea which member of the group I would be seeing after the routine hearing check by a technician, and was very pleasantly surprised when the person who walked into the examination room was someone who I had sung with in a mens’ choir a few years ago! It brought back happy memories.

After a little reminiscing, we got down to business. David peered into my left ear and said that he could fix my problem immediately. He carefully inserted forceps and removed two hearing aid speaker wax shields, which didn’t belong there — followed, of course, by a huge plug of ear wax!

After the ear check was completed, David asked me if I had any questions. I began by saying “On a completely different subject…” followed by a complaint about a dry, scratchy throat. 

David smiled, and said that as soon as I uttered my first words, he had known exactly what I would say next. Apparently I’m not the only one with that problem, which is caused by the very low humidity at this time of the year. The solution for indoors is a humidifier. As you can see, I took his advice. 

The inside humidity was 30% before using the humidifier. A few hours later it was up to the recommended level of 55%, and we could feel the difference.

Well done, David!