Never Take Hearing for Granted!

A blogreader recently shared this with me:

"A man reached 80 years of age and he had an infection in his ears which made him almost deaf. The doctors informed him that an operation was necessary to cure this disease. He agreed to have the operation done as he couldn’t hear anything apart from the severe pain in the ears.

When the operation was completed successfully, his doctor gave him the bill which covered all the costs.

The old man looked at the bill and started to cry. Upon seeing this, the doctor felt pity on the old man and told him that if the cost was too high then they could make some other arrangements.

The old man said “I am not crying because of the money but I am crying bechttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifause God let me hear for 80 years and He never sent me a bill.”

Moral: There are so many blessings of God which we don’t realize its importance, until it is snatched away from us."

I end this post with a tearful video:



or if it is not showing on your screen, click here.

Syawal is about forgive and forget. Have a blessed and joyful Eid Mubarak. Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri :)

Remarks from Hearing Aid Clients

Throughout my working experience doing trial hearing aids and fitting them, I've heard remarks that really amused (and some, still amuses) me. So now I decided, whenever I hear an interesting statement, I will put it up in this post.

Was trying on different range of hearing aids. As I revealed the price, the client was shocked to hear the figure. Although he admits the benefit, he left the clinic with a remark, "If I lived a different life, I would get the more expensive hearing aid". I always, always, always hate it when cost is the barrier to a better quality of life :(

Client came in, very motivated to wear hearing aid. When he first tried it, he can really feel the benefit that he exclaimed, "I feel like Superman! Fantastic!" Seriously, I've never had that enthusiastic of a client before, so his feedback really made me happy that I was able to help him.

An elderly man came for hearing aid fitting. He has a prosthetic leg made in Denmark. In the clinic, he chose a hearing aid from Denmark as well. Following fitting, I cleverly said to him, "So you're half Danish now" The joke brought laughter from the client and his son. :D Not exactly client's remark, but still, the theme is: amusing! (got the idea from my colleague, hehe)

More remarks to come!

Hearing & Hormones

I haven't gotten the chance to look up on this... so here's a quickie:

Does menopause affects hearing levels???

Please do share if you know anything about this :)

Laugh-A-Minute

Something light for a stressful week.
A man feared his wife wasn't hearing as well as she used to and he thought she might need a hearing aid.

Not quite sure how to approach her, he called the family Doctor to discuss the problem.

The Doctor told him there is a simple informal test the husband could perform to give the doctor a better idea about her hearing loss.

"Here's what you do," said the Doctor, "stand about 15 metres away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 10 metres away, then 7 metres , and so on until you get a response."

That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was in the den. He stood about 15 metres away, and in a normal tone he asks, 'Honey, what's for dinner?"

No response.

So the husband moves closer to the kitchen, about 10 metres away from his wife and repeats, "Honey, what's for dinner?"

Still no response. Next he moves into the dining room where he is about 7 metres from his wife and asks, "Honey, what's for dinner?"

Again he gets no response. So, he walks up to the kitchen door, about 3 metres away.
"Honey, what's for dinner?" He hears nothing.

So he walks right up behind her. "Honey, what's for dinner?"

(Wait for it....)

"Ahmed, for the fifth blooming time, CHICKEN!"

:D

thanks to EBI Lockhat of South African National Halaal Authority

The Meaningful Touch

Being an audiologist can be such a routine job. Everyday you come in to work, see patients, do the hearing tests, write reports, then go back home. There are days when you practically only do hearing screenings!

I'm not complaining. I love my job. But it can be really mundane if you do the same thing everyday.

But then there will be days when motivation comes in by surprise. A sweet surprise, I must say.

Those days will be when patients voice out or even show their appreciation, because of simple, yet meaningful touch from the audiologist, that is moi :)

I've had several patients who really compliments me and put me on high because I really helped them. I mean, when I'm testing my patients, I'm helping every single one of them but not all go to the extent of expressing their gratitude to me.

But there are those who did.

I do hearing screenings and of course these people who underwent the screening will need to come back again because it's a package for several years. I've seen some of my patients who came back and it's really touching that they remember me. But one particular sir said it out loud, "Oh I remember you from last year, because you're very nice and pleasant." That sentence just made me smile all over :)

Then I get e-mails from patients who commented that they are so sure that I'm very passionate and dedicated to my job, just from how I manage them. How cool is that?

The best part when a patient appreciates you would be when you get stuff from them! I will mark this date as historical when I first got a box of chocolates from my patient. It was 8th November 2011, and I received this:


It was an appreciation from my patient because he was really impressed with my professionalism and knowledge (my colleague got it too but heck, this blog is about me anyway :P)

Recently, a postcard was sent to me through my department, with the words "Thank You" and nothing else. A simple act, yes, but the effort taken by the person to post it to me - priceless! (this sounds like a Mastercard advert :P)

These appreciation be it verbal or material really pushes me to being a good Audiologist. And it really beats the routine blues. So dear fellow colleagues, do remember, every patient deserves the best from you, and always give them the meaningful touch :)

Audiologist Gives Back to Family

How does an audiologist gives back to family?

By doing a hearing test on them.

Have I ever? Nope.

Well, I did test my parents... when they were subjects for my thesis! Hrmm... I'm sounding like I manipulated them. But anyhow, their hearing levels were within normal limits, which is awesome! I honestly think that both my parents have good genetic for hearing, hehe. Reason being, for every of their siblings that I tested, all of them qualified to be my subjects! Bravo to Abdul Rahims/Ibrahims family :)

(Suddenly I remembered a joke by my friend. He works with Widex. A friend of ours were saying something that she did well with a patient, and he commented saying "Bravo from Widex". I thought he was saying that, as in representing Widex. Apparently, he meant that it must be due to Bravo Widex that helped the patient. LOL!)

Besides my parents and my uncles and aunties, I also tested my niece. She complained of tinnitus when she was 7! And at that time, I was still unexperienced to deal with tinnitus cases... especially with pediatrics! That was and still is the first time I hear of that case actually. But now she's okay, she said she's just hearing it occasionally now. Last time she used to hear it all the time. I guess she's grown used to it. Don't worry peeps, I'm monitoring her!

Of course, I tested my hubby as well. He too has tinnitus! But I think it's most likely because of his sinus, and not the hearing, because the hearing is fine. He's now under follow up with the ENT Specialist.

Nobody else apart from the people above. And I have 11 siblings! None of which I tested. Plus 2 sister-in-laws, 2 nephews, 1 other niece, and now in addition to that - parents-in-laws, 2 brother-in-laws, 3 sister-in-laws and 1 nephew. Whoa. That's 25 people to test! And of course, I'll still need to check my parents' hearing again for monitoring purpose, since they're well over 40!

I suddenly felt guilty the other day when I was advocating for hearing tests from newborn itself, when I don't even do that to my own family. So I actually plan to start with the babies. I'm gonna make an appointment and make sure they come!

Let's hope I won't have to deliver any bad news to them!

A Bad Start to a Good End :)

Seriously, I initially thought I was going to have the worst day of my life. On my final research presentation day at that. Huh.

I woke up late, with my script for my presentation still unfinished. I actually woke up to a dream of me being asked regarding Spatial Release of Masking (SRM, a term in audiology). I had no idea what it was in the dream! I woke up distressed. Thank God it was only a dream. With my red pen still in hand, I straight-away continued writing my script.

Which made me being more late to get ready to go to college. Good thing I ironed my outfit the night before, my lovely turquoise batik. Had a somewhat-scrambled egg (Sorry Mak, you were not at your best ;p) hurriedly only to be greeted with rain outside. Mak sent me to the car, but then we went back in to get my cute umbrella (Fit gave me, made in Japan baby!) only to find out it's with my brother's girlfriend. Got back into the car, it was low on petrol, putting me on the edge of my nerves. As I reversed my car, it almost hit 1. my mom's Mazda; 2. the brick wall. I tried to move up, but with the rain, the tyres were slippery, and were just squealing instead of moving. I literally screamed inside the car, and cried. A little. Tearfully I tried reversing and made it without a scratch.

As I squealed off towards the highway, I calmed myself down, reciting some Quran verses. And then I entered into the slow traffic. Great. I haven't even finished my script! I kept on reciting under my breath, to sooth myself. Yet, the butterflies in my stomach wouldn't go away.

When I reached there, I waited anxiously for my turn. The presenter before me had a lot of negative comments, making me extra nervous. When it was my turn to present, the shiver in my words was hard not to be missed. I was pretty uncomfortable, not liking how the microphone and mouse were placed. Nevertheless, I had my script, and after a while I grew more confident, I think.



When I finished, the speech sciences lecturer said she enjoyed my presentation and my supervisor commented and acknowledged my effort. It put me on high. The best part was, during the Q&A session for the presenter after me, another speech sciences lecturer praised my presentation and said sorry for not telling me earlier. How cool was that?

My friends congratulated me and even said my outfit was gorgeous. I was in eternal bliss :) Momentarily, before tiredness crawled into me after lunch. I could barely open my eyes for the afternoon session!

Much appreciation and compliments to Mak for letting me use her working space for the weekend, my parents for praying for me, Dr. Siti for replying my texts!, Suriya for always being on YM when I needed her, Faiz for your patience, support, KFC treat (:P) and helping me out with the presentation animation and Mas, Fit for the wishes. You guys rock :)

Thesis Progress Presentation

If I need to describe it in one word: SUCCESS! :) (in the tone of that cartoon character, Dexter, hihi)
To quote my head of department, 'Well done, Nadirah.'
The Dynamic Duo of EduLink excelled once again, hehe.
Okay, enough of the bragging. Although I was praised, there were feedbacks as well from the lecturers.
Apparently, some of my lecturers are within the age range of 50 - 60 years old, which is my target population, which I sometimes refer as the elderly. They didn't like it. They didn't like to be referred as the elderly. Touchy much, hehe. So I need to always just say 'older adults' instead.
I need to review back the literature i used to support my thesis. I need to consider the age range of those studies. 50 - 60 year old is not the same as a 70 - 80 year old. Quoting Prof Kosta, 'In the Europe, 50 is the new 30, and 60 is the new 40'. Erm, yeah.
I need to refine my reference writing skills, apparently there's much to learn on the conventional way of referring journals.
My co-supervisor was concerned whether I have any problems in getting subjects. Proudly I explained on how my family members are very much involved so yeah, it's all good.
Basically nothing much, now need to focus on other presentations and clinical exams! Am freaking out here, people!

Appreciating the Elderly

Being in the audiology field clinically since my 3rd year has exposed me to various types of patients from different backgrounds. However, one aspect common to all, in particular to the geriatric population is that there are families who do not take care of their fragile and old parents. Initially I was surprised and appreciative of independent patients who came in by themselves with their equally old spouses for hearing assessments.
In cases where they need to wear hearing aids, it saddened me when they claimed that they have quite a few children and none seemed to actually want to buy the aids for them. I mean, I know those things are quite expensive, but if there are let say, 5 of them and all are working, surely they could pool in money to at least buy for one side. There are hundreds of applications for hearing aids funding and not all are confirmed to get it. If working-children are able to buy the aids for their own parents, think of how many others who simply are not financially-able, will then deservedly get the funding.
And then there was a case, where his old man accidentally fell off his bike on road and consequently is wheelchair-bound, and has hearing loss. His son actually had the guts to say out loud ‘it’s so difficult to take care of this old man; he is deaf and complains too much’. I was shocked, but my supervisor at that time quickly retorted ‘He took care of you since you were born; now it’s your turn lah’. That got the guy to shut up.
Despite that, there are cases of those who really take good care of their elderly. I had the opportunity to observe a patient who has hearing loss and was accompanied not only by his spouse, but also his son and grandson. Talk about family love! But seriously, people should not take their parents for granted. They’re the ones who brought you into this world in the first place; the least you could do is take care of them.
Here’s a poem complimentary of my bestie, Mas, (a nursing student) which was actually her assignment to interpret, of which I still kept, glued in my clinical notebook. Very touching, and really motivates me to be a better person.

“Crabbit Old Woman”

What do you see, what do you see?
Are you thinking, when you look at me –
A crabbit old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, with far-away eyes,
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply,
When you say in a loud voice,
I do wish you’d try.
Who seems not to notice the things that you do
And forever is losing a stocking or shoe.
Who, unresisting or not; lets you do as you will
With bathing and feeding the long day is filled.
Is that what you’re thinking,
Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes,
Nurse, you’re looking at me.
I’ll tell you who I am as I sit here so still!
As I rise to your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of 10 with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters, who loved one another –
A young girl of 16 with wings on her feet,
Dreaming that soon now a lover she’ll meet,
A bride soon at 20 – my heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.
At 25 now I have young of my own
Who needs me to build a secure happy home;
A woman of 30, my young now grows fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last;
At 40, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my man’s beside me to see I don’t mourn;
At 50 once more babies play around my knee,
Again we know children, my loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead,
I look at the future, I shudder with dread,
For my young are all rearing young of their own,
And I think of the years and the love that I’ve known;
I’m an old woman now and nature is cruel –
Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body is crumbled, grace and vigor depart,
But inside this old carcass, a young girl still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells,
I remember the joy, I remember the pain,
And I’m loving and living life over again.
I think of the years all too few – gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last –
So open your eyes, nurse, open and see,
Not a crabbit old woman, look closer –
See Me.

My Final Year Thesis

Recently I have just gotten the title for my thesis. It is very unfortunate that I got the title because I was the last one to get to my department. Sob sob much. But then, I kinda expected it anyways so I am pretty much stuck with it and life still goes on. As always.
So without making anyone holding their breath to know what the title is, it's : Benefits of unilateral and bilateral Edulink fitting on speech perception in noise in older adults.
Quite a mouthful? not unless you're in this field, hehe.
Actually even if it was the last thesis title available just for moi, I was actually thankful I got this title. Because the other titles did not interest me anyway. And honestly, I think I work well with older adults. I just hope that they can hear me well, because a lot of people keep saying I am soft-spoken. Which is a good thing I know, but not so good if I need to talk to deaf people, right?
Anyway, thankful I was, but just for a short while until I started to really think about it. That is when I started to feel stressed out. I was going, Edulink is actually designed primarily for kids, where am I going to find published journals of it on adults? Where am I going to find the adults who wear Edulink? What is actually the age range for older adults? Which population is needed? How many subjects do I have to find? How am I going to do test the subjects? and on and on the questions just kept popping out.
For anyone's interest, my coursemate is actually doing the same thing, except that she's testing it on younger adults. Another fact that I'm thankful about. At least I'm not doing this alone.
Based on the thesis assignment, we are suppose to present the proposal in the 2nd week of the new semester. Which currently is 10 weeks away. Seems like I have plenty of time on my side, but then I'm heading up to Kubang Kerian for my industrial training, and I don't think I'll be spending much time googling about my title, or anything for that matter.
So my friend and I made an appointment with our supervisors. I actually anticipated the meeting, because, well yeah, I'm sure my supervisors are gonna set things straight for us. Alas, they cancelled the appointment. I was devastated. NOT. Hehe, but a bit frustrated because I'm not going to see them at all until I get back from Kelantan, as they are superbusy.
But the good thing is, my brilliant friend found our senior's thesis which was the SAME thing except that she tested the school-age children population. So basically, some of our problems are solved with that and I just can't wait to start on my thesis. Later, that is. Or sooner, who knows? ;P