I just might have to do it....

[Dragon Lady]

I was fighting with my dictation/transcription machine all day today. When I was talking with one of my closest friends who is also a vet and married to a vet on disability; she said that I should get checked out at the VA.

I'm really losing the hearing in my left ear. I'm having a harder time making out the lower tones. I have to use the phone on the right side and with my transcription machine I had to put the headphones on backwards because the sound was only coming out of the right side earpiece.

I think all those years on the flightline permanently destroyed my ability to hear the lower tones. I can't even hear the buzzer on the dryer and it sits directly below the living room in the basement. And this house has very little in the way of insulation. Some of the walls are even missing it. But what do you expect for a house built in the 1930 by the homeowner?

So, when I get back from Seattle, I'll attempt to make an appointment at the VA and see about getting this all checked out.

Of course I am fully expecting that they are going to say there is absolutely nothing wrong. After all that is what they said on my exit physical from active service in 1988.

Alright, just so I know what I'm in for...how long does this process "normally" take? I know many of you have been working on this since you left Viet Nam. But I'm just curious. Is it possible that they will only need the one hearing test to make the determination? Or is that just a wonderful little fairy tale that we all tell our kids to keep them from asking any further questions?