Audiologist and Emotional Experience

The first order of business for the day yesterday was to take one of my hearing aids to the local Audiologist in Jackson. I could only find one that was in Jackson, so I was holding my breath about the experience. It turned out to be a very good experience, as the lone Audiologist in Jackson, Eliza Petersen, was exceptionally competent and very nice to work with. She took me right away when she opened at 9 AM and within about 10 minutes had a temporary plug installed on the end of my receiver and had my old, damaged one, packaged and ready to send off to the factory for repairs. Of course, the warranty on the hearing aids had just expired so I purchased new warranties for each hearing aid for a total of $250. I didn't expect to buy them when I arrived  at the office, but they will certainly pay for themselves as the warranty also includes damage and loss for the one year period. It has been about once a year that I've had to have work done on either or both of the hearing aids. It's good to establish this relationship with her here in Jackson, as we plan to make Jackson our summer home for the foreseeable future.

I had a very emotional experience last night at work with one of the passengers on the Caravan bus tour. This little old lady - probably in her 90's - came to the front desk distraught over losing her cell phone and holding her room key in her hand describing how she is unable to unlock the door to get back into her room. I walked with her to her room to check out the lock and to help her get to the parked bus to meet the driver to hunt for her phone. Her name was Florence, and she could barely walk to her room without stopping to catch her breath every few steps. Her door was not hard to open - for a younger, stronger person - but was definitely a challenge for this frail woman. I then walked her to the parked bus where we met the very nice bus driver who took her through the bus and back to her assigned seat where they searched for her phone without success. I again walked with her back to her room, again, very slowly while she was catching her breath, and volunteered to help her search her room for her phone. We looked everywhere in her baggage, on the floors, in the bathroom and every other place in her room while she was nearly in tears over losing her precious phone. I happened to spy a container on the table next to the TV that contained French fries - and her phone. It was like she just discovered gold and she was ecstatic. The phone somehow ended up in this greasy container of French fries and I wiped it off and handed it to her. She was like a child that was handed her first doll. I made sure that she was in her room for the night before leaving her so that she wouldn't have to struggle again with the door lock. I was saddened that she had no one from the tour to assist her and thought that she probably never should have been on the tour in the first place. I hope and pray that she makes it the rest of the way as the bus leaves this morning on its final leg to Salt Lake City.

Today is our Friday, and we have our whitewater rafting trip scheduled for tomorrow AM. We're excited about that and looking forward to trying a different float company this year...