Chapter 16 - My hearing begins to return
Once the unidentified medication exposure stopped, symptoms improved.
Not instantly.
Not perfectly.
Doctors monitored me.
The ringing decreased first.
Then dizziness.
Then auditory clarity improved.
Several weeks later, my hearing tests were significantly better.
Would there be permanent effects?
Doctors could not promise immediately.
Eventually:
Minimal residual tinnitus.
No major lasting functional hearing loss.
I had spent months wondering whether I was becoming deaf.
That experience changed me.
It did not make me understand Lily’s life completely.
I had experienced temporary impairment.
She was born deaf.
Different.
But it made me appreciate how quickly hearing people treat hearing loss as synonymous with:
Confusion.
Incompetence.
May you like
Dependence.
Vanessa had counted on exactly that prejudice.
