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So I went to the Cancer Clinic surgeon today and the checked my ears and there's no fluid. I thought for sure they were blocked. Across the hall they have a big hearing clinic and they sent me over for a hearing test. Normal from bottom to 1000 hz.
Nosedive to 2000 HZ needing 55 db the whole thing does about a straight line down to 4000 where you need 100 db. They say I need hearing aids in both ears. Tests no cost. Fitting 50 bucks my insurance will pay. Try for 90 days return for the cost of the molds. Bear in Mind this is the Ear Nose Throat and Oral cancer centre so they have no agenda like the private places that make cash off pushing you to buy.
Oh it helped the Audiologist had an MA and looked like a 35 year old Morgan Fairchild with curves. Wow. Anyway she said both ears are the same. I have a copy of the report.
I noticed my Grandson's xylophone was broken last night, and the wife says it works fine. If I put it up to my ear and hit it hard it was loud and fine. Still no teakettle, alarm clock..can't hear them.
So all the stuff that sounds wrong in band in a box,
1. How do I cure that, use a eq (I have fairly good one I'm not using) and pump up the upper end when practicing?
2. Anyone playing horns with hearing aids? They say there are models with mute buttons, I notice 2 guys in my Brass Band take them out before rehearsal.
3. They say this is going to stay this way unless more chemo.
The good news is no sign of cancer but a CT scan with dye next week to check.
I can eat a bit the radiation killed the saliva and some taste.
The chemo got the nerves in my feet and I have terrible pain but got off all medications including narcotics for the last month, the told me today that I need narcotics, probably forever. Nice. They are waiting to see if they do a neck dissection and take out some nerves lymph glands and jugular vein. Good news is there was no cost coming up, the only want 50 bucks which I get back. The wait time of 20 minutes for a hearing test, and then I went back to the surgery team who explained the results and told me to try hearing aids and then back there and got the appointment for Monday. Can't bitch about that. Someone to amputate my right foot would be ok with me if the pain went, it's well, all you can think about at times.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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i have an apb out for tara and one male ccc (crazy cantankerous canuck) along with a 3 loonie reward.
coincidental, but im going to an audiologist next week to have a stubborn wax impaction whittled out. im totally deaf in the interim. they use eardops and i hear perfectly for a few minutes until the mass blocks my ears again so i know its just a temporary mechanical problem. the darned stuff seems bulletproof. meanwhile, biab is getting a well-deserved rest. i can't even hear my phone ring two feet away. not equal to your woes amigo but on the same rink at least.
i've been missing your posts. hope you get to feeling better, i miss swapping insults w'ya.
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Oki Dokey Okey. Seen Annie? Oakley?
Problem is when the pain gets bad you think only u are it.
They say booze might have cause the primary cancer but they can't find it at all. So the bride says no more booze for you.
On the other hand which is better, a shot of rye or a shot of morphine?
Beats me.
I miss being able to eat. And the new wardrobe is coming, I've gone from 240 to 170.
Oh well, I'm on the green side of the grass for now.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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John,
If they will pay for the custom molds, definitely go for that. Alot of times these days, they try to pawn off 'dome tips' which don't really seal all that well in the ear canal.
My company is one of the companies in N.A. that make custom molds. Been doing it for 51 years. The custom molds cost fraction of the cost of the hearing aids themselves; not even 1% of the cost, yet many audiologist offices don't want to bother with them because you have to come back to the office to be fit with them, rather than them shoving you out the door with a dome tip on the first day you arrive and pay them for the instrument (that's what they call the part that has the mics, DSP, and speaker).
That's quite a bit of hearing loss to try to make up for with EQ - 100 dB of gain isn't going to happen with just about any playback system. Of course give it a try. Use some hardware - got an old graphic EQ sitting around? Stick that in series before your speaker amplifier, set it flat, and boost the bands where you have loss. You'll get 12-15 dB of gain that way.
Then pull down all of the other bands and crank the big volume knob on your amp. That will get you 24-30 dB gain. It might be enough for you to notice the difference, but Mac has warned about individual band filters going into resonance - something I hadn't thought of, but is certainly possible.
In all of it, proceed with caution. Don't want to kill the rest of the frequency range that doesn't exhibit loss.
-Scott
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Thanks Rocker.
My system is a vista 64 win 7 to a Bose L1 through their version of 'mixer'. I hear weird stuff, as I said to the audiologist some stuff she was playing to me was a puff of air, and she said it was a tone.
I know little about the whole thing. I did write some crazy serious software for a local company who made a box in which you tested hearing aids and shipped them all over the world. But it was a Unix system that you put in the order and it faxed overnight confirmation, then when your product reached stage 1 sub assembly they got fax 2, then when it was at 1/2 done another fax went out, and when finished again, and when tested again another one, and when shipped again. All customer service. I did the inventory software, the picking program, the tracking faxing stuff, and they were a great company, paid the day you did the work, and treated me great. About 20 people worked there, and they were so impressed with the computers they bought and the programs. Never complained. I might have quit firefighting and done the computer thing full time, but I had too good a pension and too much potential so I kept on the 2 jobs thing until my Doc told me I was too old to work that many hours.
I found out the other day that 3 companies are still using thousands of lines of code I wrote, one told me that their stuff is still running on my stuff I did in 85. I should have asked for an annual royalty!
I remember one of the markets for the hearing aid tester was Australia and they had 200 units there. The testimonial I read about the customer service via the faxes was the reason they bought 10 more, and I got a $500 unasked for bonus for the letter. But it was the owners, the staff and the employees who told me this was a good idea, but too hard to do and still run the place, so the automation was, in the end, a lot of fun.
I remain of the opinion that the sky is the limit with a Linux Unix system, you have so much creative control.
Oh well, off to bed!
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Well, I don't want to be religiously offensive as I know that stuff fires you up John, but I am just grateful to God that you're still with us after your treatment ordeal, or at least, I hope the worst of it. Don't be riled now, I'm not giving you the sky pilot routine. I just enjoy your posts and outlook on life and thank the big guy it looks like there will be more to come. All the best.
John
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.
Well, John, I don't know what to say to any of this, except I am very happy to hear that the cancer is no longer in evidence.
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Thanks all.
I did say to the pray-ers, if you show me a church where people live past the average age, don't suffer, and the kids don't die of leukemia or die after car accidents I'm joining. Not to ruffle anyone's feathers. My Mother believes God healed me. She's 83 and she has no bone in part of her back and it has the nerves messed up so she can't walk. Been like that 10 years now. 4 to 5 steps to a wheelchair. Narcotics. Dementia. And her 400 member prayer chain Baptist Church can't get her out on Sunday though she'd love to go she just can't take it. So I go as sit with her while my Dad goes.
Don't get too shocked but I believe in God, but that's it. Not some book, or some guy with a radio show, just plain old vanilla Supreme Being.
The platinum chemo 3 times they pushed and dam spoilt my hearing,
The same poison ran my veins and dam spoilt my dancing,
The radiation cooked my neck and throat and damn spoilt my singing.
I have a version of a song I plagiarised from the 1700's I need to finish but it's downstairs and the walk is too painful to contemplate.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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john,
the booze theory doesn't correlate or every irishman and scot i know would have cancer. my dad was a heavy smoker and drinker yet lived to 86 and died from kidney damage from a fall in a nursing home. i seriously doubt that they have found the true cause yet. why can two people, one 'clean' living get it while his 'dirty' living twin brother escapes it? do countries with highest alcohol consumption have a correspondingly high cancer rate? i think not.
going back to my spoiling and pampering, 8 student aide trainees this weekend. 'scuse me.
to be continued...
btw, they booked a piano player/singer here on wednesdays who'll knock and rock your socks off. plays a combo of floyd cramer/jerry lee lewis. gets these old flatulents movin' i'll tell ya. problem is keeping him sober. he's a 'no show jones' half the time.
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Kewl Don.
Having the best day of the last 3 weeks. Only limping a bit and had a nice filet mignon for lunch with mushroom hunter sauce to wash it down, baked potatoe with sour cream and little pepper squash with bacon and Oka cheese/butter.
To bad I eat so slow and like a bird. The wife gave in and bought me 6 beers for supper last night, well it took until 2 am. to down 3, so I'm not setting any records.
I am uploading a video to youtube of my fall adventure up north with a band in a box version of Maple Sugar an old time Canuck Fiddle tune.
Stay tuned, that's some slow upload der eh Jaques wif da bad touque?
John Conley
Musica est vita
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hey john, you ccc (crazy cantankerous canuck), i'm ordering one of these: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Olympus-2GB-Digital-Voice-Recorder-With-USB-Direct-Silver/11084258and when i get it i'll record this bloke and email it to you, ok? his name is duane lewis and he is quite talented on piano while his vox is hohum and repetitious at best although he is very entertaining and animated in his delivery of 50's rock tunes. wudja like that? lemme know
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I have me one of those, use it to record Brass Band Rehersal so we can play along at home. Works OK. Check out the low end video cameras now out, you might have a hoot with one of those. I see them for not much more money. The Olympus takes some pulling power to get the cover off to plug the usb thingmajig into your mainframe.
The idea is good.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Hi John. Glad you're still with us. The pain in your feet sounds a great deal like periferal nueropathy. I have that all over my limbs. Almost kills me when I kneel. Feels like my knees caught on fire sometimes. Other times not.
God bless you and your family John.
Russ Anyday above ground is a good day Computer is Hp Pavillion Vision 6 Ghz quad core AMD processor 8 Gig memory 1 TB hard drive 6 GB hard drive Windows 7 Premium Loose nut behind the keyboard 
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