Well do you know what H.O.H. stands for???

Good evening one and all! Where is my broom?? The Chicago Cubs swept the San Diego Padres who didn't have a prayer! JK, don't shoot.....So did anyone figure out what HOH stands for??? Well, if you guessed Head of Household.....wrong! That would be my hubby (in my household anyway) or a good contestant on Big Brother..It is not his or her or head over heels...In this case it stands for Hard of Hearing..... Which is what I am or as hubby likes to say deaf especially without my hearing aid. I don't wear your normal in the ear hearing aid, I wear a bone conduction hearing aid built into a headband...I guess you could call it a non-permanent version of the BAHA hearing aid which is surgically implanted into your skull (don't freak,  just the post the aid connects to is implanted) I was offered the option but the healing time I was told is 3 months without my hearing aide and I am a little old at this point for it to be cost effective and no guarantee it will be an improvement over what I currently use. And last time I checked way too much money and not covered by my insurance. For the record most hearing aids are not covered by insurance although an exception may be made for a child. Why isn't there hearing aide insurance? Hmm.
   I have been HOH since I was a youngling. I don't know if it was from birth or caused by chicken pox, etc. When I was a youngling it was not as bad as it is now but it was bad enough that I missed a lot of what was going on around me; basic social skills kind of got lost in translation for me. I went to an ear doctor who didn't believe in aids (or so I was told). Unfortunately, if you aren't going to provide the needed aid for whatever reason survival skills of a sort need to be provided to the youngling to compensate. That didn't happen either. So here I was a gawky, too skinny girl who had to keep asking what to the point other younglings were annoyed and when I explained that I could not hear well was asked "then why don't you have a hearing aid?" See younglings are smart. I had no answer to that especially since I was aware of another youngling who wore an aid and I would have liked one too.
  For whatever reason I was given a hearing aid as a freshman in high school. I heard birds singing and Muzak for the first time. Classes were easier.
   Flash forward to 18 and surgery to remove a cholesteatoma in my left ear that had been giving me headaches and slowly destroying my mastoid bone, et al. More hearing loss.
  Flash forward to my 40's and surgery to remove a cholesteatoma from my right ear after having balance issues for months and slowly destroying the mastoid bone, et al in that ear. Now without my hearing aid I am officially deaf. If I concentrate I can hear muffled sounds. My hearing aid is very powerful (in my opinion) since it does the work of both my ears now; however it can not replace normal hearing.
I can no longer do phone work even with extreme amplification because I can not guarantee I will hear the person on the other end. At home if I use the phone it is on speaker, no TTY yet although I qualify. I use a cell phone in text mode only.
Well this has been realllly long winded but I needed to get it out. Stayed tuned for part 2 of my pet peeves about being HOH and other peoples' pet peeves having to deal with it. And maybe some helpful hints for both....... Remember you are loved. Be kind to whomever you see tonight or tomorrow...You never know when you might be someones last hope or first ray of hope....Love ya! And sorry for the long winded post.Please leave comments, I won't take offense..a gate maybe ;p. Just keep it G rated. See you tomorrow!