The magnolia flowers are my first clue that Spring has sprung here in Massachusetts. Those gorgeous trees spring to life suddenly, without warning, and as soon as they have arrived they are making their exit as the blooms fall to the grass below. I relate to the magnolia trees as their natural habits are akin to my entrance and exit at social gatherings. I tend to burst into the door, make my presence known, and just as my fellow revelers are settling in with my company, I vanish with little warning. I prefer to leave the people wanting more, much like those majestic, magenta blossoms.
The second clue is the inevitable utterance from someone with typical hearing lamenting that birdsong has woken them up in the early morning hours. I am no longer able to hear birds with my hearing aids due to the plummeting of high frequency sounds. (And they are certainly not waking me up in the morning). I sometimes feel a little downtrodden that this is another experience that I am missing due to my hearing loss, but a few extra minutes of sleep is worth the omission of caws, tweets, and twiddles.
And then the final confirmation that Spring has pulled up a rocking chair on the porch and settled in with some lemonade – The Pollinating. I often think that a permanent replacement of “Spring” with “The Pollinating” should be made as it truly captures the sheer misery of this season for myself and fellow allergy sufferers. The scratchy throat, watery eyes, and constant runny nose is an unwelcome companion for anyone whose biological systems flare at the mere sight of a gladiola or freshly mowed lawn.
Unfortunately, for those of us whose ears are plugged up and plagued by the necessity of wearing hearing aids, no amount of Zyrtec and Flonase can relieve the miserable, physical symptoms inside of our ears.
Brad wrote a fantastic medical explanation of what is happening inside of our ears and you can read all about it here: (Brad’s Spring Fling Blog) so I will skip the biological analysis and stick with describing my own personal ailments.
There are several disgusting things happening inside my ears as a hearing aid wearer during The Pollinating.
In order of discomfort from least to greatest:
-The squishies – there is moisture and gunk and fluids coating the inside of my ears both in the ear cavity and on the surface of the skin upon which my hearing aid molds rest. Each time I reach up to readjust my hearing aid molds there is a slight sound that I can “feel” as I manipulate the molds which feels like pressing your finger gently on a wet sponge. It’s gross.
-The liquid stream – there is clear liquid sloshing around in the ear canals and running out of my ears when I take my hearing aids out. Granted, sloshing is a very strong word and it isn’t technically a “running stream”, either, but there is enough moisture and clear fluids that I can feel following a particularly brutal allergy day. It is clear and odorless, but ever present. It is also gross.
-The Impossible Itch – Don Quixote had the Impossible Dream. We have the Impossible Itch. An itch so deep and nearly impossible to access, to the point that you are driven to near insanity with the desire to scratch and rub and rage in the pursuit of relief. Deep in the ear canal where no Q-tip can ever reach, lies the center of the itch. It is ever present and always inaccessible. I have tried it all – pinky fingers; short Q-tip swabs with fluffy ends; long handled Q-tip swabs with a small puff of cotton; and in desperation I have considered inserting freshly sharpened pencils in my ear canals. What is the worst that can happen? Hearing loss!? It is beyond agitating and is a special form of torture reserved for those of us with hearing aids.
Fortunately, the season is short and the symptoms are temporary – but then comes the advent of Summer which brings a whole other set of complications, which will be covered in a future blog post.
On a lighter note, as I was writing about Spring, I suddenly remembered a favorite piece of music, “Spring” from the Peer Gynt Suite. It is a beautiful, lively and light listening experience made more special by it being the first classical piece I learned how to play on the piano. I would open my well-loved and worn copy of “Rolf’s Very First Book of Classic Themes” – complete with Rolf the piano playing muppet on the cover – and settle in at the keys to pound out what I am sure is an insult to classical musicians everywhere, but to me it was music to my ears.
Here is an image of my anthology of classics and a link to hear Edvard Grieg’s “Peer Gynt Suite (Morning Mood) (Spring)”
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