I knew a lot of them consider it a scut job and I wanted the nurse to know that no, this was important. It was important to me, and I was glad she was willing to do it. I told her I was going to be at a family reunion starting tomorrow and that I needed to hear as much as I could.

And so, with the obligatory before-and-after check-ins by the doctor, she got to work cleaning out the wax that my ears are forever trying to wash away my hearing aids with: one aid in place as she worked on the other side so we could converse, then dab dry with some tissue and we were going to switch.

But she finished the first and turned to the sink a moment to refill her spritzer thing while I put that side back in and I said in surprise, “I can hear the water running now! I couldn’t before.”

It really made that much of a difference?

It really made that much of a difference.

And the audiologist cleaned out the hearing aids yesterday. I am ready to go.