Minor/Major accidents, deaf related welcome!!!
Posted by chillygurlz on January 4, 2008
To those who don’t sign, here is what i said…
For the last 2 days in florida, it was soo cold, about 25 degrees at night. During the day, it was in 40s…. It was soo cold brrr… I enjoyed the cold though cuz it reminded me of my home state of nebraska… In tampa, it did snow alittle bit last Wednesday night, Jan 2nd… Topic today is, major and minor accidents… When I was little, sometimes I lose my hearing aids while playing or helping my mom outside. I did lose my hearing aid few times in a lake. I wanted to know if any of u hearing aids users lose ur hearing aids or just got rid of it cuz u did not like it? How about kids who don’t like them? I known some friends who would actually throw a hearing aid in toliet and flush it away. Also other accidents, when me and friends are signing, chatting, we saw someone who seemed interesting, we would start talking about that person, well what we did not realized, that person knows sign and they would not be thrilled by what we said, oops. So I guess u gotta be careful about what u sign out in public cuz someone might know some signs. About major accidents, when I was 6 years old, I was arriving home with my family in a car, it was a icy winter day, I was excited so I got out of car and ran, not thinking about the ice, and fell on the ice, hurt my head bad, I had to get about 8 stitches on the right side of forehead. I also had an bad side effect from that, I started having problems with seizures, the quiet type where u just stare into space and are not really there, I did that a lot in school too, I had to be on medication for my seizures. I had it until I was 11 years old then it was gone. Other major accident is, I wanted to drive an 3 wheeler, so my dad helped me, he sat behind me and I was up front of 3 wheeler, only problem was, I was too quick, when I pushed the starter to run the 3 wheeler, it flipped back on us and hurt us but not bad. My dad had badly scraped leg, and sore back, I only had a very sore back for a month. I would like to know about ur experiences about accidents, I would like deaf related accidents experience too… I would love to hear about the ones with accidents with hearing aids specially the kids with hearing aids. Funny stories are welcome too…
January 4, 2008 at 5:39 am
First of all ouch! I am glad you and your father was not too seriously injured when you wanted to drive the 3 wheeler.
About hearing aids, my biggest problem was misplacing them. I had three pet peeves: my hearing aids, my comb, and my keys. I always have to look for them. I try to put them all in one place, but if I don’t I usually end up looking for them for 30 minutes or longer, depending on which “crack” they fell through. It’s frustrating for me, because those three items are small items, they can be easily hid under clothing, blankets, under some paperwork. Sigh.
Eventually I stopped wearing my hearing aid, and starting keeping my comb in my back pocket, and clip my keychain on my pants. So if I have to look for these items, all I need to do is remember what I wore today or yesterday! Aha!
I do have one advice for everyone: Motorcycles! I did the most foolish thing I ever did in my life. All my life I never rode on motorcycles, not even a motorscooter. I always have been afraid of riding one. I still am! But one day I went with friends to go to an event. We stopped to pick up a friend.
That friend had a small motorcycle, the kind that doesn’t have very much power in it. I don’t remember what kind of bike it was, but for some reason I wanted to challenge myself in overcoming the fear of riding a motorcycle.
I thought, this bike is perfect! It is small, it doesn’t go really fast but maybe 40 mph at the most, and I was in a safe neighborhood, in a cul-de-sac. I felt like I was in a safe situation to give it a try and ride that motorbike.
I showed off a little and sat on the motorcycle and took off, took it for a ride into the street out of the cul-de-sac, and came back to the driveway, stopped it and parked it. I strutted around proud of myself, because I finally overcame my fear of riding the motorcycle. I felt so gung-ho. Friends said, hey, that was so cool. I nodded, agreeing, and on a second thought, I decided to give the bike a second run.
My mistake here.
What happened next? The motorcycle was parked facing the cul-de-sac, where there were cars parked on the sides. When I got on the bike, I didn’t make sure it was facing into the open street. I was still riding high on my euphoria from overcoming my fear of riding motorcycles with a successful run.
I gripped the handlebar where we turn it to take off, and it suddenly took off heading straight for the parked car. It was going fast! I knew I was going to crash right into the parked car right in front of me..
What did I do to save my life and to avoid a more serious injury?
Well, pay attention to this: I kept both hands on the handlebars but I let my body lift up without sitting on the motorcycle. I basically FLEW on the motorcycle, if you get the picture in your mind!
Then, I let the motorcycle crash to the ground, while I flew over it and landed on top of the motorcycle.
When I landed on top of the motorcycle, I thought I broke my ribs! My friends took me home, then I drove myself to the hospital.
I got x-rays taken, and the result was no broken ribs, just bruised ribs. I had a hard time breathing especially right after the accident, so I was kind of freaked out, thinking I had seriously injured myself. It was one of those things when you think you have passed out and woke up in heaven.
I thank God I did all the right things in avoiding a more serious injury. If I did anything else or in a different way, I could have broken some bones, maybe become paralyzed, or I could have died in the accident. But I escaped with the most minor injury I could get.
And I am so amazed! And I made a promise to myself I would NEVER ride a motorcycle again.
Overcoming fear on riding motorcycles? Not if it means my health or my life! I don’t consider it fear. I consider it an instinct which tells me motorcycles are not for me. If I make a mistake, what can we do, just fly off the motorcycle and be lucky each time? I just thank God for protecting me. No more motorcycles for me, I don’t if someone buys me a nice motorcycle, I’d just sell it and give that money back. Or trade for a car.
I just rather ride a mountain bike straight on a paved road or a biking trail. Period. As long I am safe and in control of my safety, that is what I rather be doing.
And I don’t need to show off. The guys actually laughed at me when I fell on the motorcycle, almost crashing it to the parked car. It wasn’t worth it. I didn’t prove anything. All I proved was that God is able to save me.
January 4, 2008 at 10:23 am
John, that was so well written that I found myself wincing and feeling your pain. I loved your wry humor and hope to see your writings again in the future!
Chillygurlz, thanks for the query on hearing aids (and accidents.) Ambivalent as most of us are about hearing aids, there are dozens of funny stories about what happens to these devices intended to make us more like hearing people…the best I heard was one about a hearing aid tossed into a trashcan at an airport. You can guess the result. The feedback from the aid caused a scare. Security blocked off the area and kept people out until someone recognized the sound for what it was and fished it out of the trash. Back to business!
January 5, 2008 at 3:43 am
As kids, my sisters and I were fooling around in the backyard of our home, ended up playing softball. I was batting (and I was damn good at knocking off one past third base and into a neighbor’s window, oops!) and my older sister was pitching a mean fastball. Wouldn’tcha know it, the fastball ended up smacking right into my hearing aid which was a body aid at the time. It just fell to pieces. Needless to say, I got one helluva lecture from my parents. They had to scrape up the money to buy me another one.
January 5, 2008 at 7:19 am
Rita,
I just realized I had another embarrassing hearing aid incident. It was a scary incident. I was only about 6 or 7 years old. I wore two hearing aids but they always gave off feedback whistling loudly. I visited my uncle with my parents who had a German Shepherd dog.
The dog heard my hearing aid whistling, emitting feedback sounds. That made the German Shepherd upset. The dog growled at me, and I didn’t understand why and then the dog bit my ear. Luckily the dog didn’t chomp it off.
My father had to kick the dog pretty hard because it was such a big dog with strong teeth qnd I was a very small boy. My ear bled but I was amazed that my ear wasn’t bitten off. I was very lucky. Wow. My parents were shocked that even though the dog bit me hard, it wasn’t bitten off. I only ended up with bite marks, some bleeding, and lacerations on the ear.
After that, whenever I was around dogs, I always made sure to turn my hearing aid off. Or, take it off! I never forgot that. I always felt leery of big, mean dogs who hate feedback sounds from hearing aids. I only have two ears in a life time!
By the way, I keep hearing aids on, if I am wearing them, when I am around smaller dogs. But big dogs, forget it!
January 6, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Wow John, good story about ur motorcycle, My hearing aid is always on one spot so i know where it is. whoa Diane, someone threw a hearing aid in trash at the airport and cause a scare. how sad lol… Jason, it is quite well known that alot of ppl have hitted into a pole of any kind with a bike, even it happened to me… Yikes Ann, i have lost my hearing aid in a dirt ground too. John, wow a hearing aid upset the dog, how sad…
May 31, 2008 at 2:50 am
Hi I am particularly interested in what type of seizure did you have? If you can remember?? I am so glad you outgrew of that!