Whether most people know it or not, we do take things for granted.  I was one of those people until I had to learn how to cope with a child that had hearing loss.

We noticed one day that our daughter was acting like we were not talking to her, but she was a small 3 year old child.  We thought she was just ignoring us like most children do when they don't want to do what their parents ask them to do. 

We did mention how she was doing to our doctor and he did a small test in his office by ringing a bell right at her ears.  When he did that, she didn't look at the bell, she just sat there like nothing was going on.  At this time, our doctor sent us to a ENT Specialist who performed some minor test.  It turned out that our daughter was having hearing loss.  So at the age of 3 years old we put hearing aids on her to try to get her used to wearing them.  That is not an easy thing to do with a child, but we did. Now our daughter is 18 years old, wears 2 hearing aids and hears very little now.

You know, I am telling you all of this for a reason.  Most of us do take for granted our sight, vision, and even our health.  But you know, something can happen one day to take one of those or even two of those things from us. But just remember you can cope and deal with anything in this world as long as you try and never give up.

Most of us also thought hearing loss was for older people,  like senior citizens.  But it can happen to anyone at any age. Hearing loss can happen from an infection in the body that can affect the hearing, or from being around loud noises such as motors on vehicles or even loud machinery.

I am just bringing this to all of our attention that we all won't take the small things in life for granted.  I know I did also, until I had to learn to cope and deal with hearing loss with my daughter, my husband, and also my step dad.  So you see, you never know when it could happen to you.

If you see warning signs that you think one of your loved ones is experiencing hearing loss, please have a doctor check them as soon as possible to try to correct the problem.  There is surgery for people who do quailify for the surgery and there is hearing aids for ones that surgery won't help.

You do have a life after deafness.  I hope that my sharing this story helps some of you.