Sometimes I hate being hearing impaired

[Izulde]

Got home after a long and tiring Monday as Mondays always are this semester. Took off my shoes and hearing aids and prepared to settle in.

I'd forgotten my phone because I was running late this morning, and I noticed I had a message from my mom.

So I called her and we talked a bit. She said the reason she'd called earlier was because she wanted to let me know that Gator (one of our dogs) died this morning.

Well, I misheard her. I thought she said my dad died. I started freaking out and just losing it. She kept saying "It's okay. It's okay." I kept flipping out. She said, "He was an old dog."

Me: "...Wait... who are you talking about again?"
Mom: "Gator."
Me: *instant relief* "Oh."

One of my roommates called to make sure I was all right and insisted I come out and show my face to make sure I was okay, because she and her boyfriend heard my screams in the kitchen downstairs.

So yeah, still shaken up a bit.

I'll be honest, Gator wasn't my favorite of our dogs. A lot of people didn't like him much because he could be very pushy and overbearing, and he was very much an alpha, but for the most part he was a good dog. Golden Retriever/Great Pyrenees mix.

Last time I saw him was when I left home to come back to Las Vegas. I'll always be thankful for two things:

1) That I was a lot nicer and better to him the last few years than I'd been before that.
2) That I bought the dogs new toys a couple days before I went back to Las Vegas. Even at 12 years old, Gator loved playing with toys and would throw them around, chase after them, and squeak them for hours on end (He *loved* squeaky toys, especially for some strange reason, hedgehogs, elephants, and Sponge Bobs. I got him a squeaky elephant this last time).

He also loved chewing bones and wolfing his food down as fast as he could, the latter of which was an endless source of humor for the family, since our other dog is a fussy and slow eater.

Even though I didn't like him as much as our other dog (Bubba), who I love and who is my dog, and even though I didn't treat him as well as I should have earlier in his life, he never stopped loving me and everybody else in the family, especially my mom, whose dog he ended up being, just like our other dog ended up being mine. He'd always hop around in excitement whenever I came home on breaks, just as happy as Bubba to see me.

Mom and Dad are sad, but these things happen, and we've had lots of dogs through the years. At least he died at home and he went extremely quickly. My mom said in the two minutes between Dad leaving for breakfast (Gator was still alive) and Mom coming out of the bathroom after getting ready for work, he died. So it was very quick and apparently without pain.

And I hope it's a long time before I have to bump the other thread (the one I would have put this in if it wasn't for the hearing confusion), but Bubba, my dog, is 13. So I'm scared, although I think he'll hold up better without Gator than Gator would without Bubba.

Sorry for the novel.

I miss you, Gator. It's going to feel strange coming home and not having you there.

[mauchow]

I have the same issues all the time but I don't believe I've misheard something the way you have. I always remember the funniest story that my friends bring up when we talk about my hearing impairment...I was around 10-12 or so... We were all playing Arch Rivals and my friend said "My white guy sucks..." and I responded, "What, you don't like raviolis?". Yeah, I was a bit off to say the least.

Sorry to hear about your dog.

[Izulde]

Yeah, most of the time, either me not hearing somebody entirely, which usually happens when I'm not looking at them face to face, or mishearing someone, which happens quite a bit as you yourself know, isn't that big a deal. Just this case was ughtastic.

Haha that's a hilarious mishear. I can't remember any of my funny ones offhand, though I know I've had them.

And thanks.

[Izulde]

Wow, this day is definitely one for the books. Dog dies that horrendous mishearing situation, I have to give a pop quiz in my second class because they didn't do the reading, and now I just found out my flight to Washington DC for AWP was canceled.

[Fonzie]

I had a similar experience a few years back. My hearing is OK, but I was speaking with my sister over a cell phone and we didn't have a great connection. I heard my sister say "we just lost mom" when she in fact said "we just left mom's."

It's amazing what your physiology does to you when you: a) get that kind of news, then; b) quickly discern the faultiness of that news. I don't recommend it.

[Izulde]

No kidding.

[Izulde]

1:50 pm standby. Everything was either canceled or booked except to Baltimore and I have neither the money nor the license to make the 45 mile trek from B-more to DC.

So yeah, I don't make the flight, I miss my pedagogy forum time on Thursday at the conference.

The day's giant clusterfuck continues.

At this point, I'm not leaving the house.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Sorry for your loss. Glad it wasn't your dad.

My sister has a hearing loss. Haven't had any stories this bad... just how her old neighbors had finally quieted down over the years when intimate (they hadn't!) & a few times where she looks at you like you're insane for playing with a creaky floorboard or something similar.

[SackAttack]

Being deaf on the right means that frequently one of three things happens.

1) I don't hear somebody properly because they're really fucking quiet.
2) I don't hear somebody properly because they've got their mouth obscured in some way or aren't looking at me head-on.
3) My brain translates the garble about three seconds behind me actually hearing it. So I'll start to ask for a repeat and then before they even get that far, the translation has kicked in. "Oh, you said wakka wakka wakka."

I've had a few WTF moments with #3 where I at first heard one thing and then my brain did its translation act and I realized it was something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

But never had any mistranslations of that magnitude.

[MizzouRah]

Sad news.. but I'm glad it wasn't your dad.. definitely sad though.