Two words

Hearing Aid!


Geesh.   Mawmaw needs hearing aids.  Horribly.  Took her to have her hearing tested a long time ago because I was sick of having to raise my voice every time I said anything to her.

She flunked the test splendidly, both ears.  I don't know how far off those boxes on the test result papers are, but the closest she came to 'normal' was four boxes away for mid range hearing.  Low and high range were at least six away, both ears.

They explained it all to her, practically yelling across the desk at her, of course, but they were VERY nice.  They explained it's just part of the aging process (she never worked a job with loud noises) and that it was nothing she did.  They told her that it had happened slowly over time and since she was living alone for a few years, there was no one to tell her they were noticing it until we moved her in with us.  (Side note, she used to complain about her next door neighbor in the apartments banging on the wall 'for no reason.'  Want to bet it was because her TV was BLARING???)

They put some sample hearing aids in her ears after they'd calibrated them to her loss.  Then they explained it all over again.  They asked her if she could hear them OK, talking in a normal voice.

Then they asked me to talk to her in a normal voice.  Then they told her they were going to have me talk to them in the voice I have to use to get her to hear me at home.

I did.

She jumped.

I explained that all of us have to practically SHOUT at her to get her attention and then she still mis-understands what we say a lot of the time and that the hearing aids would help her be safer and hear better, but also help us because we can talk normally.  Plus, she hears one or two words and fills in the rest with what she *THINKS* you said, or what she *WANTS* you to have said and some conversations are a mess.  The kids sometimes give up completely.

She wouldn't agree to them.  Told the lady she didn't think her hearing was that bad, that basically she didn't care if we had to yell, she wasn't wearing them.  It was not a money issue, they have a great 0% interest payment plan for one year that made it VERY affordable for her, because she's saving money each month by living here instead of having her rent payment and own utility bills plus she no longer does the random crap shopping she'd go do when she got bored.

Can't make her get them, can't make her wear them.  The elderly can be mighty selfish, let me tell you.  I could tell you stories to make your hair curl.

But, we love her.  So, we continue to yell at her.  lol

This morning she went in the kids' bedroom (I have no idea why) and comes out holding a pull-up.  Youngest wears a pull-up at night.  We've explained over and over to her that if it's not wet, he wears them more than once.  It's clean, he puts it on after his bath, all he does is sleep in it and they are expensive.

She comes to ask me if it's still good as she found it on the dresser top.  I told her it's fine, it's still dry, he'll wear it tonight again, just put it back on the dresser.

Oh, OK.

I just walked into the kitchen and found it in the trash, where she dumped her coffee grounds all over it.

*Sigh*