Hard to be Heard
I have almost no voice.
You don't realise how important a voice is until you don't really have one.
I had some surgery a few months back that affected my throat, and my voice has never been the same. As my voice is now rough and very quiet, I struggle to be heard some days. And it's hard.
Today was a bad voice day. It happens. I managed to do what I had to do at work, but I've had to repeat myself many times today, both in person and on the phone. And then in person again when I got home, because I'm harder to hear sometimes after a long day at work.
And well-meaning people often ask me if I have a cold and tell me I sound 'terrible'. I understand their concern and their kindness, but it's hard sometimes to be told just how badly you sound.
I don't know if my voice will ever completely come back. (Some days are pretty good, and others are quite bad, so it's hard to know.) And the doctors I've seen about it aren't sure either -- they're doing tests to see if they can help, but we're at the beginning of that process. I'm coping, and most days I'm okay with it, but sometimes...
It's really hard when you can't be heard.
So this is my 'voice'. And on my blog people can 'hear' what I have to say. Even if it's only a few people, writing here gives me a way to say very clearly whatever I want or need to say.
So, to anyone reading this, thanks for 'listening'. :-)
What Did You Say???
I had to do a job this afternoon onsite, so I was out of the office. I haven't been out of the office much recently so I was looking forward to it. However, my voice was quite hoarse today, so I figured I'd just have to be careful how much I spoke, in an effort not to make it worse.
So I get onsite and the guy I was meeting was someone I'd done work for before. But I'd forgotten that he doesn't hear that well. I said a couple of things, and he mentioned to me that he his hearing loss to me. Oh dear. What could I do?
Cue 4 hours of me trying to speak and him trying to read my lips. It was definitely interesting!
We managed but it was a bit of an ordeal for both of us. And we did discuss it several times and just had to laugh about it.
Oh well, at least he was a very good sport about the situation, and we managed to get the job done. So I'll call that a good day. :-)
About Me
Leanne BennettI'm an American living in England, married to a Brit and the mother of three children. I work for the local council, building and maintaining servers and networks for primary schools.
I think my background, my citizenship, my experiences and my location give me a unique take on life. Herein are my musings on such...
