Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Close Encounters of the Magnetic Kind



The other day, when I got out of the shower, I decided to let my hair air-dry. That meant no CI (cochlear implant). It’s water-resistant, but that doesn’t mean you can take a shower or go swimming with it or anything, and that includes hair that is wet. I even took it off and put it in my pocket when I got caught in the rain. I'm not taking chances. (I even go sans CI and HA-hearing aid-when I work out. I drip sweat behind my ear and the back of my neck. No way do I want a drop of sweat to fall into the HA or CI processor’s microphone. Zap City. Sure, I could drop it in the Dry and Store (a dehumidifier thingy for the CI, though I now throw in the HA, too). I am guilty of sometimes using the HA during my workout sessions-shhh, don't tell my audie. Lately, though, I stay in the house and work out, so I don't really have to worry about listening for traffic and the HA stays off.

So, with my hair combed back, I reach outside the bathroom door for my HA, which is placed on a shelf on the wall just outside of the bathroom. The shelf is used mainly for gloves and hats. I reserved a spot to place my HA and CI. The steam from the shower is not really good for them (more moisture), so I place it on the shelf just outside of the bathroom door. Easy reaching distance.

I pick up my HA and see that the battery door is open. No battery. I could mentally scan my route from the bedroom to the bathroom. Sigh. But 99.9 percent of the time, the battery would be found on the last place I put it or the last place I picked it up from. So odds are, it’s on that shelf or on my night stand (or in the general area of the shelf and/or night stand.) I pick up the CI on the shelf and feel around for the battery. Nope.

I go into my purse to grab another battery.

I go on all fours, my hands feeling all over the floor under the shelf. I look at the shoes under the shelf and shake the shoes lined up thrown helter sketter against the wall under the shelf. I (bravely) stick my hand into the shoes to see if I could feel a half a dime-sized battery. Nope. Sigh. I didn’t want to rummage around the night stand, because Hubby was still sleeping. The stairs were a no-go, too. They were too creaky. I sweep the floors in the dining room. If I can’t find it, the broom will. (I do this a lot because I have a hard time finding things I drop. Out comes the handy broom, my life saver.) With my vision problems, stuff like pens and coins are the quickest for me to find ths way. (You gotta do what you gotta do.) :)

Nope. No battery.

After about an hour or so, my hair (I have thick hair) is dry enough for the CI. I go to the shelf and grab it.

I start laughing.

Clinging to the magnet was the run-away battery!! LOL.

(It must have opened the HA battery door somehow and the rest is history. )

And the day before that, I was cleaning our dog, Onyx’s (our shedding machine), bed-crate. She’s a slob. Her dog food would be all over the area of her dish, around the floor…ugh. Messy eater she is. (But we love her anyway. Mess, dog hair, and all.) I took out the water b0wl, which had about three stray kibbles of dog food that grew three times its size, saturated with water. I fish it out and throw it in the garbage. I rinse out her water bowl, add fresh water to it, and fill up her food bowl, too. I get a rag and clean out the crate. While my head is inside the crate, I suddenly go deaf. I had no stimuli. What the? The magnet decided to cling to the steel crate. I laugh and put it back on my skull behind my ear.

I find myself in more “sticky situations” nowadays.

(This gives a whole new meaning to "CI Moments.")

Labels: ,