Having Some Issues

Author: Tony Trott
For those who don’t know this, I got a cochlear implant (CI) back in 2010 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. Very basically, getting a CI is kind of like having a small computer implanted in your head, and when sounds are picked up through the external microphone they are translated to digital signals by the external processor and sent to the electrode array (the implant) through the external headpiece. The implant translates the digital information and directly stimulates the auditory nerve which sends impulses to the brain resulting in sound. So basically, it makes me a cyborg; which is a positive for this sci-fi geek!

Recently, the magnet that holds the headpiece to my head by connecting to the similar magnet on the implant part, fell off. It doesn’t mean that the CI was completely broken, just that I was unable to use it because I couldn’t connect the headpiece to the implant. I looked all over and even had Sheri’s attendant crawling on the floor looking for a tiny circular magnet. I was ticked off that I lost it and couldn’t find it because I had seen it fall. But after looking for about 45 minutes and being frustrated, I decided to contact the company and deal with it. It was easy to replace, and I wasn’t even charged. That led me to think about the small annoyances in my life versus big problems.

My life, as I’m sure most of you feel about your life, is not perfect. We all have challenges and obstacles. And many of the issues are just smaller things that I would tend to put in the category of “annoying aspects of life” rather than the “terrible problems that I have in my life;” truth be told, I really don’t have either of those lists in my life! But now that I think about it, maybe having an “annoying aspects of life” list is a good idea.

Such a list would allow me to keep track of minor problems that I am experiencing on a regular basis and hopefully that would give me the impetus to come up with a solution. It might also keep me from focusing on really, big problems I have. I’m not suggesting that I should not ever think about big problems, but rather, not focus on them.

For example, I have been diagnosed with B-Cell lymphoma, but I cannot focus on that every day. Yes, I need to be aware of it, but focusing on it consistently is not very conducive to living an enjoyable, happy, and fulfilling life. My disability is degenerative, and therefore my function will decline over time, and it already has, but I can focus on what I can do to make my shower take less time rather than worry about when I will no longer be able to take a shower on my own. And transferring from my manual wheelchair to my scooter results in some falls every once in a while, and even though I utter some bad words, it’s not the end of the world. It fits in the “annoying aspects of life” list.

I could go on, but you get the point. I’ll focus on the annoying, try to move through it and deal with the big things when I have to. For me, it’s a better way to live. I hope you can find a way to make that annoying list and let things pass instead of keeping them right in front of you every moment. Trust me, it isn’t easy, but it makes life a heck of a lot better.