Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Barking dogs

Which of my senses is most easily overwhelmed? My brain and eyes get exhausted by motion and color in my visual field. I hate to be touched, except by cats. I eat bland food and struggle with the "big flavors" in feeding therapy. I gag at smells that other people hardly notice. But the winner, the one that takes the cake, is my auditory sensitivity.

I hate loud noises, but I also hate constant noise. Both at the same time is torture for my brain. And what happens at work? Dogs. They bark. They're both loud and constant. For 6 hours, I can hear barking dogs. Sometimes they're right next to me as I clean their cages, and other times they're far off in the distance, but they're forever barking.

Barking dogs make for a very, very overwhelmed Lydia. They startle me when they start so suddenly, and they make me freeze. I stop dead. It's kind of like when I step out into freezing cold weather and I can't breathe in for a second or two.

I'm so edgy and trying so hard to hold it all in (no melt downs at 1am, please; my parents are sleeping) that it's almost impossible to write. I've been squeaking this post out a phrase at a time. Can you feel the effort behind every word?

All because of the barking dogs.

3 comments:

  1. thanks for making the effort - hope you feel better now. How about wearing your earphones? people would see them easily and know to get your attention another way because they're obvious and hopefully it would keep the barking down to a tollerable dull roar - just a thought.

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  2. That would drive me crazy, working with barking dogs already. I saw a tv commercial for a device that makes them not bark. Wonder if it works.

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  3. Amanda, no one else wears earplugs (they provide them) so I feel stupid wearing anything. They're bright green with a purple string, so everyone would notice if I wore the earplugs, but I don't want to look different.

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