My GP at Lake Munmorah had his staff hunt for someone who would assist me with the deafness. Dr Johnston Craig at Gosford (Erina St) added me to the end of his day last Tuesday and ADDSI had one of their community support staff take me in and back. Dr Craig was excellent. He made me feel I was in good hands and took no more than a moment to look into my ear. He used set of steel tools and scraped and cut for a while and my hearing was freed of the obstruction. The procedure was pretty painful but not unbearable and I was able to leave under my own steam. I have to appreciate that he added me to an already busy day and I do thank him for that.
Some people will note that I did not die despite having set the scene so completely for the possibility. It is almost inevitable that, with these injuries and chronic illnesses I will face that choice but the direction of effort is about surviving. Having recognized that the choice of dying is one option the idea is to eliminate the need. With the help of some very professional and compassionate people we did that again. Once again the possibility that I will be overwhelmed by disability or illness moves back and takes a place among the background noise of my life. The overwhelming number of things that impact on my health made a simple partial hearing loss into a possible factor in overwhelming disability. I cannot begin to calculate a level for my relief but my hands shake and the creepy feeling of the ever-present possibility seems to cement itself into my belly.