Granted, John and I have been friends for 22 years. But still!
Six years ago, I called my audiologist after getting out of the hospital with what had been, up till then, my worst Crohn’s flare. I was having a hard time hearing and was wondering about my hearing aids . John’s reaction, not knowing I’d been ill, was to ask me if I’d lost weight recently; well, yes, thirteen pounds.
He told me, That’s it, then; you lost weight in your ear canals and your earmolds no longer fit properly. They’re not transmitting the sound well enough.
“I lost weight in my EAR CANALS?! How useless is THAT!”
He laughed.
So here I am. I lost twenty-five pounds since Christmas, have managed to get eight back in the last month by working hard at it, and I’d been thinking I was just going to have to wait and simply be deafer till I get back to normal. New earmolds are a SeaSilk two-skeined shawl each, and I knew this was temporary–there’s no chance I’m going to stay this thin.
My deductibles and co-pays are a staggering $8800, besides various hospital incidentals and not-covereds, etc etc. (I know. At least I have insurance. I have no right to complain.) But I felt I just couldn’t afford to go get new earmolds on top of that.
I’ve been spending a lot of time on the phone with my insurance company and with vendors, trying to straighten out how to get ostomy supplies, which are by prescription only and not something you can just go buy off the shelf; but I got the impression the company doesn’t seem to be popular with a lot of vendors. (Yeah, I could tell them a story or two myself… See why I wrote about forgiveness?)
I ‘ve been finding I have to walk with the speakerphone on over to my mom so that she can help me figure out what the person at the other end is saying, and ohplease don’t let them call me back while she’s out on a walk. I kept thinking, what on earth will I do after she flies home?
I got frustrated enough after the last call to phone John’s office. Uncle! I had to get at least one new earmold, even if it’s only for a short term and I never make use of it again. I had to be more functional than this.
John and his office knew what I’d been going through this time and have worried and done their fair share of praying. And John knew why I’d put off coming in.
He told me he was making me new earmolds, and that that was his gift towards my getting better.
What do you do with a friend who makes your eyes leak like that. When could I come in?
How about right now?
And so Mom and I went off to Los Gatos. One ear had too much wax for an impression, the other was clear, so John and I both got our way; one earmold, at least for now, coming up.
Oh, and those ostomy supplies? The vendor promises they’ll be here by Friday.