Well, I'm making a small step in being less ashamed of my disability by posting some pictures. I figure, if any loved ones see these, they will already know who I am from seeing enough of my posts to make it to this point.
The first picture is after my wife and I successfully had the offer on our first home accepted. I was quite happy here. I had battled chronic illness all throughout grad school, did well in a competitive interview process, and landed the job I wanted. My stressful year was almost over, with the only main obstacles left being closing, finishing my thesis, defending, and moving. My wife (hidden for privacy) also succeeded under difficult circumstances. At the time of this picture, if you would have said the word "hyperacusis," I would have said "what's that?"
The second picture is in month 15 of hyperacusis. I had started steroids a month ago and increased my LDLs from essentially 0 dB to around 20-30 dB. I had to turn the window unit off to play Scribbage with my wife. I'm surprised I look so happy, as that was far from reality. I think maybe I believed that steroids were going to keep improving my LDLs, but they pretty much leveled off right around the time of the picture. My cat is happy as can be. She loves games where she can try to knock the pieces around.
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I'm in need of some serious heat!
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