Hearing Aid, Good Book, and Motivation to Blog

Yes, yes, it's been a very long time since I've posted anything to my lonely little blog.  The reasons are all good, though: it's simply that I've been mostly healthy and very busy with a new job, the kids, and just living life.  It has made me very grateful for this time of relief as this disease has made me realize our health can be taken from us at any time.  Knowing this firsthand makes me appreciate the good times and prioritize what I want to do and accomplish during them.  It's a good life lesson.

I will try to write in more detail on another thread about my decision to finally get a hearing aid, but ultimately I did finally come to the conclusion that I shouldn't put it off any longer.  My hearing loss became really exhausting to live with and I could see it was frustrating everyone around me, too.  I hated to spend the money, not because I'm not worth it, but because my family has had other medical expenses this year and I just kept thinking if I could just pay those off first, it would be better to go that route.  Oh, well, it's been a good decision and I am happy overall with the result of the hearing aid.

Finally, my motivation to try to write more consistently has come from reading this book:

Finding Balance, by Sue Hickey

Wow.  I am only half way through it, but I find I can relate so much to the author's experience in finding a diagnosis for, and living with, her vestibular disorder.  Her condition (at least what I know so far) is different from mine, and it only took me a few weeks (not two years!) to have a name for what I have, but nevertheless she has had to journey through dealing with the general lack of knowledge about vestibular conditions by most medical professionals, understanding and accepting her limitations, and finding a way to live with and accept this beast of a disease.  I can't recommend it enough to anyone with a vesitublar disorder, if only to commiserate with another person who understands the strange ups and downs of it all.

So here's to trying to put fingers to keyboard again!