© 2007
A Midsummer's Dream
by Rich Diedrichsen
Ah summer weather. The flowers and trees, the birds and bugs, the heat, humidity and rain. I love to be outside. I camp, hike, garden and do yard work and in the process I get pretty wet. Sometimes it is from sweating, and sometimes it is from being caught in the rain. This latter can happen to any of us, even if we go to the mall and come out to a sudden downpour with the car 150 feet away.
As you all know, your private little hearing aids or implant (even the Freedom) do not react well to water -- yours or nature's. I use a Dri-Aid kit and, when I camp or hike, I keep one of those nifty hard-shell waterproof cases (you can get them at water parks or almost any sporting good seller) handy to put my implant in to keep it dry and protect it from damage. But these are a little bulky and awkward for a quick trip around the neighborhood, out to the back yard or trip to the store. The rain demon knows this and loves to surprise you when you least expect it. But I have a way of thwarting the rain demon. I call it my "one-cent solution."
I always keep a Ziploc style baggie in my billfold, briefcase, fanny pack, whatever I am carrying or just in my pocket. I like freezer-grade bags as they are stronger. The cost for one of these is about one cent. If I have to make a dash for the car (and I am not very dashing at 58 years) the implant and/or hearing aid(s) go in the baggie. This serves two positive purposes. First, I do not get stuck with a moisture-damaged unit that will cost over $100 to clean and repair (this makes the payoff for the one-cent baggie 10,000 to 1). And the second payoff -- I am protected from hearing the laughing and jeering of those youngsters who think I run like an old f#@*!
I also use this solution for the times I walk out to the garden thinking I will just see how things are going and then realize it has been longer than I thought since I weeded, or that I need to pick up the branches that blew off the trees in the last wind, and about five minutes later I am sweating like a pig (do pigs sweat differently?).
For added protection I even started to save those nifty little silica packets that come in the package for all electronic things from cell phones to computers and you name it. (I even ask friends and relatives with much more liquid capital and a thirst for the newest gadgets to save them for me.) These little packets are designed to absorb moisture and, if I have some sweat or water on my hands or unit when I put the implant or aid in the baggie, these little packets will suck it up (I can't do that).
I look at this baggie like a spare key to my vehicle (I keep one of those in my billfold too). I may not need it often but the one or two times I do, it is a BIG help. The cost is one cent and it takes up the space of a couple of credit cards and all of us would find room for a few extra credit cards -- right?
Rich Diedrichsen
Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services
Central Region
St. Cloud, MN