reply to Faith Walker: There are many times when I cannot even listen to music, due to the recruitment provided by the "Meniere's Monster." Any loud, sharp sound just tears through my head, creates pain. I've replaced playing music with other creative pursuits; my job is graphic design, primarily of books and publications, so that's a pretty satisfying creative outlet. During the years of the initial big problems with this dreadful disease (when I lost hearing/balance in my right ear), I managed a small publishing company. In spite of frequent crises, I never missed a deadline during those four years. When the publisher's kids got old enough, they began to work for the company, always in supervisory roles, so my job ended. I started my own design/marketing business, specializing in the sport fishing industry, and still have clients and work at 78. I just started a huge book project that will probably take around five years to complete; right now, I'm slmply editing all the copy. Photo work and placement will take a long time, as each photo must be in exactly the right spot for it.

Over the decades, I've also sat on many advisory committees for fish and the environment and have managed to overcome the challenge of understanding the conversation, in spite of, first, age-related loss in my "good" left ear, and, more recently, an invasion of the Meniere's monster when I went bilateral. For a year, I was nearly totally deaf, but got on a good program of hormone replacement last May...and the level of hearing I had had in my "good" ear returned within two weeks. Because the hormones also ended much of the recruitment problem, I'm going to try using an aid in my long-useless right ear sometime soon...difficult to get an appt. with Covid. Although I have some slight residual hearing in that ear, it has been considered impossible to aid due to recruitment, just as it was impossible for me to wear the aid in my "good" left ear when it also had recruitment. I have considered a CI for my right ear, but am hesitant to do anything that's not reversible. If an aid works for that ear, I'll be excited to hear more normally for the first time in 40 years!

With all the advances in aids and accessories, plus CIs, there no reason for anyone to not have a normal life, normal job in spite of hearing loss.

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