Contemplate THIS.
May. 11th, 2010 12:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lathrielMy eldest brother Adam is a musician. He plays upright bass, currently for no specific orchestra but a musician nonetheless. His lack of steady employment doesn't dome come from lack of talent, but rather lack of jobs available. Since high school, he has been head of his classes and head of his section of the orchestra. When he went to college, he was principal bassist. In graduate school, he was the principal bassist for all of the various levels of orchestras he eventually played with.
It might interest you to know that he is also deaf in his left ear.
This is just something I've known for a long time, something we've all know, and didn't think much about. It wasn't crippling. He only has a mild and occasional lisp, and he sits to the left whenever possible so that he can hear you. But... have you ever lost hearing in one ear? Try plugging up one ear, really well. Live a day like that. As losing sight in one eye will cause a loss of depth perception, losing hearing in one ear makes you unable to tell what direction a sound is coming from. I can't imagine that.
Granted, if you've never had hearing in both ears, you don't really know what a huge difference that is.
But, I'm excited and happy to say, that as of this weekend, my brother will realize that difference. Tomorrow afternoon he is driving to Virginia for a pre-op physical, and on Thursday he will be going in for surgery. They will be cutting through his sealed ear canal and building him a new ear drum. No micro chips, no wires- nothing but real human tissue, being put in its place, and made to do what it was intended.
Now can you imagine that? What must it be like, at 29 (30 in August) years old, to suddenly have something so basic, that we might all take for granted, given to you for the first time? Instead of losing vitality, as we do when we age, he's being given more. And it is going to change the way he interacts with the world drastically, especially as a musician.
Wow. I'm so happy for my big brother :)
It might interest you to know that he is also deaf in his left ear.
This is just something I've known for a long time, something we've all know, and didn't think much about. It wasn't crippling. He only has a mild and occasional lisp, and he sits to the left whenever possible so that he can hear you. But... have you ever lost hearing in one ear? Try plugging up one ear, really well. Live a day like that. As losing sight in one eye will cause a loss of depth perception, losing hearing in one ear makes you unable to tell what direction a sound is coming from. I can't imagine that.
Granted, if you've never had hearing in both ears, you don't really know what a huge difference that is.
But, I'm excited and happy to say, that as of this weekend, my brother will realize that difference. Tomorrow afternoon he is driving to Virginia for a pre-op physical, and on Thursday he will be going in for surgery. They will be cutting through his sealed ear canal and building him a new ear drum. No micro chips, no wires- nothing but real human tissue, being put in its place, and made to do what it was intended.
Now can you imagine that? What must it be like, at 29 (30 in August) years old, to suddenly have something so basic, that we might all take for granted, given to you for the first time? Instead of losing vitality, as we do when we age, he's being given more. And it is going to change the way he interacts with the world drastically, especially as a musician.
Wow. I'm so happy for my big brother :)
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