August Already? August 1st to 17th 2013

First I have to say I am sorry, as it is now September when I am writing this, thus forgetting things, and then having to write about them out of order. Not that out of order is bad, but because I haven't been good about writing when things happen, a lot of the moment, the emotion, the details are lost. Once I catch up, I will do better, I promise. :)

So as I already mentioned I forgot the death of a friend’s father. On July 24th, while at the BELL program we found out that he had passed away. He was a very well respected person. Although I didn't know him super well, he was an extremely nice man. On July 29th, was his funeral. Hubby took off work, we worked out transportation, dressed up and attended the funeral. The service was a catholic service, then there was a grave side prayer, and then a luncheon afterwards. It was sad, but in the respect that if you look at death in that you will be with God then. He was in his 90's, had lived a wonderful life, was fighting cancer for the 2nd or maybe 3rd time, and now is no longer in pain. I know that many people will say it’s hard to think of it that way, when, they are grieving. I understand they miss the person, its not fair. But we are only on this earth for so long, and when it’s our time, it’s our time.

Anyways, on to more cheerful subjects.

We had a life group right off the bat in August, the 2nd to be exact. On Sunday Joe played in the worship team, and overall it was a weekend.

Tuesday August 6th, I went on my normal shopping trip with my life group lady friend. Later that evening, hubby and a neighbor’s husband had a deacon and elder meeting. So she and I got together for dinner. Her little boy had already gone to bed, and she made a very delicious salad. It was nice to sit around and have a good girl talk night. At around 9 I went home. The deacon and elder meeting started at 7, but hubby wasn't home until at least 11:30pm. Yes those meeting last forever. I can't really complain as hubby isn't out like at bars or anything like that, he is at church serving God. I love him more because he is doing those sorts of things.

On Wednesday, HKNC wanted the lab work to be redone. I had submitted lab work from March, but it wasn't what they had wanted, so I had to go back to the doctor’s office, get them to write another order. I then went and got the lab work actually taken. That was not the big deal, then I had to wait to get the lab results in, get that from the doctors, scan the paperwork so I could email it, and send it off to HKNC. Thank goodness for wonderful neighbors and friends who helped do all of this running around, picking up paperwork, and so on. Finally...Finally... my application was complete on Friday August 9th. So now the waiting game begins...

On Thursday august 9th, I had an appointment with the audiologist. We didn't have a ride for a long long time, and then just that day, someone from church volunteered to help, another blessing. So we left the house at 5:30pm, and went all the way down to Bensalem. We actually arrived a bit late because traffic was so bad. I guess by this point I had had my hearing aids for a month and half. I wanted the audiologist to make some changes to the settings. And also specifically to look into why the FM system does not work. I thought that he was going to test my hearing, which he did not. But he didn't know how to make all the changes I wanted/needed. So the audiologist called the help line for the hearing aids, Oticon. He was on the phone with them for almost an hour. He made quite a few different changes to the aids. The manufacture or the people on the help line, recommended that the audiologist send back my new aids, the FM system, and all of the accessories. What? No way! So we told him that we would go home, and try with the new settings made, and perhaps we could get the FM system to work. Really I didn't want to send in my new aids. In all reality and honesty, I don't think this audiologist knows what he is doing. I would not recommend him to anyone. So after was all said and done, we headed home, I could not tell that anything was different with the programs or settings on the aids. The Audi was on the phone, and they were instructing him to save and get out of the program, not sure if he did it right. Because nothing was different. UGH! How extremely frustrating. It took us only an hour to get home.

Also just a reminder, that after our living room was painted, we did not move the furniture back in. Mainly because we then began thinking about carpet and doing other things with the living room.

On Saturday August 10th, we had a chapter meeting in Philadelphia. It was a fairly normal meeting. I did share with the chapter about my hearing and potential plans of going to HKNC. This was hard for me, for a few different reasons. These are my friends, but these are also people who belong to this organization. An organization that has not had a good past of accepting others with other disabilities. An organization that promotes independence to the extreme. I am very critical about them not accepting those with other disabilities. I have practically belonged to this organization since I was born. Those who are Deafblind have not just the issues of not being able to see, but have issues with communication, traveling independently, employment and more. With all of this to the extreme multiplied by 100. So anyways, it was hard for me to tell these people, they were a lot more accepting than I had expected, and very supportive. Some of them would like to learn how to sign tactually, and I would love to teach them.

After the chapter meeting, hubby, I, and two other chapter members went to Independence Square, where the Commodore Berry statue faces south to the navy yards. We took our lunches and did some readings of braille. There were a lot of tourists looking around. It wasn't the hottest day we have had, but it was certainly warm. If my memory serves me correctly, later on that evening, we discovered that the A/C wasn't working again. UGH!!! 

On Sunday, I served in the nursery. On this particular day, there was only one baby. After playing for a bit with him, he cuddled up to me and fell right to sleep. Many families are out during the summer, so the large amount of babies in the nursery is reduced. After church we had lunch with BIL and BIL's girlfriend. The rest of Sunday was spent getting ready for our trip to Altoona PA.

You might be asking where in the world is Altoona PA? It’s in the western part of the state, west of Harrisburg, but east of Pittsburg. It’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It’s a 4 hour drive from our area. And secondly you might be asking why did we need to go to Altoona PA? Hubby had a meeting for the advisory committee he is on for the governor.

The really bad and awesome thing was that, there is virtually no public transportation to Altoona. But the awesome thing is that we hired an SSP to drive us out there. Before I go any further an SSP is a person who works with a deafblind person. SSP stands for Special service provider. They are the ears and eyes of a deafblind person, helping with guiding, helping with communication, and driving. Because I knew that hubby would be busy with his board duties, I needed someone to help me.

So we left our area at 5pm, and drove, and drove, and drove. We stopped in the Harrisburg area for dinner at McD's. So the whole way there we listen to every song that Taylor Swift has ever sung or written. I could not hear much to talk, so listening to music kept us busy. We arrived in Altoona around 9:30pm. We got checked into our room and went to bed.

I have to stop and say that it is been hard for me to initially accept the help of an SSP, it’s been in my nature to be a fiercely independent person. But as my hearing continues to get worse, or I get reminded that there are things I just now have a harder time doing. Having an SSp, does help, it is needed, and prevents hubby from doing everything. Yes I know he does want to help, to be my repeater, but he has responsibilities, I can't keep him from those things. SSP’s also help me keep some sort of thought of independence. An SSP is paid to do what they do, its not a friend, although the person can be a friend, but its not like your imposing, or bothering them, they are doing what they have been trained to do.  

So the next morning, we all met up at 8am to have breakfast. The hotel we stayed in had a continental breakfast. There we saw others who were there for the meeting too. We packed up our belongings and went to the meeting location. I think we actually stayed in Duncanville. And the meeting was in Altoona. At the meeting, there were a lot of people. It was in a fairly big meeting room. Unfortunately for a number of reasons I didn't hear a lot of the meeting, other than what my SSP repeated to me. This is exactly where knowing more sign would help me. During the meeting, there was some talk about an SSP program being started, and both I and my SSP spoke about it. The meeting lasted from 10 to 2pm with lunch included. Once the meeting was over, hubby told me that I didn't miss much. With that said it frustrated that if I am in a large room, it’s hard to hear the speaker. So much for these new aids.

Shortly after the meeting was over, I changed my clothes, hubby changed his clothes, and we were off for home. We drove straight through to home. We arrived at home around7pm, to a very very warm home.

Like I mentioned the A/C wasn't working again, UGH! UGH!

I'll step back here a bit, on Monday right before we left for Altoona, I got a call from HKNC. They said they had received all of the paperwork, that the team had reviewed the application, and that I could begin on November 12th. That they did not have a sooner start date, but I could have that spot. They also had some questions about my lab work, and how my blood sugar was high. The doctor didn't tell me to fast, not to eat, so I ate breakfast and then got the blood work done. DUH! People, of course eating breakfast my blood sugar was going to be high. But now they want a letter from another doctor explaining why it was high. Oy Vey!

At the end of the week, Friday August 16th, we had a life group. We provided the snack of Yum Yum donuts. And I taught the lesson. For anyone who does not know, Yum Yum donuts are the best. Way better than Duncan Donuts, better than Crispy Cream. If you’re ever in the area you must have a Yum Yum donut.

I can safely say that this weekend began with being normal. Hubby had a men's breakfast on Saturday morning. The rest of the day was spent catching up on organizational responsibilities. And I will leave it here, I will say that the rest of the weekend gets way more interesting and destructive. So with hat cliff hanger...Until next time!