I'd be lost without the internet August 8th 2013.

1 minute read time.

FormerMember

9 Aug 2013

Thursday morning and what is today going to bring me? I wake up to find there is something wrong with my ears. Nothing serious, just one of these temporary minor side effects I have been warned about. But it's annoying. My ears are all bunged up. They feel like they do when you get off a plane. My hearing goes muffled, I yawn and swallow and it clears. For a few minutes, and then it's muffled again. There is a strange echo, and sometimes I can hear ringing noises.

So this is going to be an interesting day. My husband is going to be out working most of the time. I still can not speak so I can't ring anyone for a chat. And now I'm not going to be able to listen to my MP3 player. I try to listen to some audio books and podcasts. But I keep missing important words and lose the thread of what is being said. Normally I enjoy reading but even this is difficult at the moment as my eyes are sore. I am overdue for my eye check and I suspect my glasses need changing.

So I spend the day sleeping, and on the internet. I would be lost without the internet at the moment. I don't know how people manage without it, but plenty do. I have several friends who don't have a computer or a mobile phone. Communication with them is difficult at present, we would normally chat on the phone for hours. So I rediscover the lost art of letter writing.

I have quite a productive day. Email a lot of friends, get tons of internet shopping done, sort out the household budget, pay the car tax, switch our gas and electric supplier, pick up some rare vinyl records at a bargain price, and watch a bit of tennis.

The problem with the ears has intensified the problem with my snoring. I am now permanently in the spare bedroom.

FormerMember over 11 years ago

I know only too well what you are saying. The internet is a boon. I know there is good and bad out there on the internet, but isn't that the way of the world? It's just we only ever learn from the newspapers (especially the more notably shrill screamers of "filth") of the bad or unpleasant side.

Macmillan has been a saviour for me since Laing's diagnosis and onwards. So many of you out there have kept my head above the metaphorical water, either directly or indirectly. Reading your story, I want to hug you right now and tell you not to worry. Just keep doing what you're doing, and that's being one hell of a magnificent human being.

I have tinnitus and sometimes I feel like my ears are blocked up. A drop or two of olive oil and some cotton wool in the ear helps clear the ear somehow. It works better than the Sudafed the G.P. suggested. I don't care if it's an imagined easing of my horrid tinnitus, it works for me right now and saves me from wanting to throttle the next person who treads on my toes on the Tube in the mornings!

Also the writing is better than the talking. You get to put your thoughts down and can edit them into a better form. Your letters to us, your readership, are perfect clarity.

Tim
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FormerMember over 11 years ago

Hello Tim. Thank you so much for your kind words. I wish I could write as well as you, perhaps I might improve a bit with all this practise I'm getting in at the moment, it's certainly keeping my typing speed up! I will give the olive oil a try, excellent idea. You cheered me up more than you realise because you reminded me of the years in my younger days when I commuted to London on the Tube. I remember with a shudder all the hours crammed in with sweaty passengers, and those crushed toes. There are some bits of my current life that I am very grateful for.
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