English Project
Kuvakäsikirjoitus Teksti
- I'm Kevin Risser and this is my mother and my sister who helped me throughout my journey.
- Alright, it's time to go.
- It'll all be worth it in the end.
- I don't think I was ready to make a decision this big that me and my family would have to commit to. And after all the struggle and time, I thought it would be something that would define who I was forever.
- This is 8-year-old me about an hour before my first reconstruction surgery for my left ear. I was thinking about my decision to even do these surgeries in the first place.
- What's wrong with your ear?
- What happened to your ear?
- Am I allowed to touch it?
- Why is your ear weird?
- Your ear is cool.
- How did your ear get like that?
- It seems you have about 70 percent hearing loss in your left ear...
- What should we do?
- I was born with microtia atresia, a birth defect that affected my hearing and ear shape in my left ear.
- Throughout school, my peers always asked about my ear, so I began to think it was something very important about me.
- Alright, EVERYONE must look for a black hearing aid.
- I took a hearing test around the age of 6 and we learned of significant hearing loss.I agreed to have a surgery for a hearing aid.
- My hearing aid worked by vibrating sounds via a magnet attached to my skull and was very expensive. And looking back, I don't think I was responsible enough to handle wearing something that could fall off easily and was expensive.
- As a result, I often lost it and teachers and student were required to help me look for it.
- Eventually, I used less and less as it had many problems and glitches. So it was put away for good.
- What if it fails or something goes wrong?
- I'll do the surgeries!
- What if it costs too much money?
- Why can't I get this over with?
- Our flight has been delayed 3 times already!
- We heard and talked to a doctor that specialized in the reconstruction of the outer and middle ear. However, there would be many surgeries would have to be done at a specific timing.
- Get me out of here! Bring me food.
- I didn't really know my reasons for wanting to do it, but it might've been an effort to look like everyone else, and I didn't see any long-term downsides.
- I can't do this. This car is too warm!
- Calm down, you aren't going to die from being warm...
- So to the doctor we went.We had a rough start to say the least, but the surgery was successful.
- I wish I knew it would be this hard..
- I woke up pretty grumpy and tired, but I don't blame myself too much. I had lots of bandages over my left ear and two drainage tubes in me that we had to carry around.
- Wake up. We need to do the tubes.
- Life was pretty miserable for that week and as a result I cried and spoke out a lot.My mom and my sister tried to calm me down.
- I had to take steroids and antibiotics that tasted horrible.
- Alright, we are going to put an IV so-
- I'm sure it was even more miserable for my mom who had to drain my tubes every 2 hours, including at night.
- But it's 4 am..
- This continued 4 more times and we as a family had gotten used to traveling.
- My 7th surgery took place in Virginia, where my other specialist was.It was the final step in the process where I would finally be able to hear through my left ear.At this point I was pretty used to surgery.
- Yes. I know.
- All of that for nothing?
- The hearing test results show that you are experiencing a decline in hearing.
- After hearing this, I was convinced that my ear would be something would define my lifestyle forever.
- About 2 years later, my specialist noticed a decline in my hearing and determined the cause was because of earwax buildup.
- So from then on, about every year, we would go to Virginia and my specialist would do a deep clean of my ear.We eventually planned to move to Virginia partially because it was closer.
- Why wouldn't he tell you about it before?
- It might've been due to fear of being judged against.
- But missing an arm is a pretty huge defining factor in a relationship because for example, he can't drive.
- OK. would you have mentioned it on your profile, texts, everywhere?
- One day my mom was talking about her boyfriend's birth defect and how he didn't mention it to her until they met in person.
- I mean, my ear isn't preventing me from driving and doing other important things. But if I lost my ability to hear in general, I would.
- That's not what I mean!
- I mean yeah. I would mention my birth defect because it was a major part of my life.
- Kevin, you can't let something like a birth defect define who you are and your personality.
- And for some reason, that really stuck with me.
- Wow. Not sure how I didn't think of that.
- I fully realized that a birth defect, whether being as small as ear deformation or as large as a missing arm, it shouldn't be a factor that changes anything about you as a person.
- I guess that I assumed that an experience as thrilling as my surgeries would play a role on my personality, but I'm sure that's not true.
Yli 30 miljoonaa kuvakäsikirjoitusta luotu
Ei Latauksia, ei Luottokorttia ja ei Vaadi Kirjautumista Kokeilemiseen!
