Advice on how to liquidate system


Few weeks ago, I sustained traumatic blast induced hearing loss during a training incident. The level of hearing loss and tinnitus is pretty bad, I’ve had only a minimal level of improvement. midrange and upper frequencies sound like a 1970’s transistor radio. Horrible. The reality of the situation is looking like my audiophile days are pretty much over. Now I’m thinking of what to do with the gear…the thought of dismantling my rig and selling piece by piece is nauseating. Are there any resources that would come in and take it all? At this point I really don’t give a crap about being lowballed, it’s aggravating to look at what Ive put so much time and effort into and not be able to enjoy it. I need to move on.  

 

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Very sad to learn all this, but nice to see all the support and advice here. Everyone's different, but maybe my saga will give you some hope.

Coming back from Prague a few years ago, there was a family with a screaming baby in the next seats; that baby screamed for most of the long flight. Probably, it was screaming because it was in pain. In any case, three days after getting home, I came down with a severe ear ache. Two days later, all hearing was gone in my left ear. I could rub the outer ear and hear nothing. Snapping fingers an inch away were inaudible. 

My regular doctor sent me to an audiologist, who did a battery of tests (including bone conduction), and concluded that the cilia in my ear had been damaged by the infection. He told me this was not repairable by any standard therapy, and that my hearing wasn't coming back: the fact that the bone stimulation showed the same loss as through the ear led him to this dire conclusion. He mentioned an experimental treatment—hyperbaric oxygen, or something. There was a local clinic that did this, but it was very expensive, not covered by insurance, and carried some risk of being consumed by flames (really; one is put in a chamber for an hour at a time with very high concentrations of oxygen—which is extremely flammable!)—so, a hard no. Also said no to cortisone injections directly into the ear.

Well, the prognosis turned out to be wrong, I'm relieved to report. The hearing did come back; slowly after about six months, but almost fully at last. 

So hang in there. Don't sell your kit just yet. In situations like this, I often remember the doctor's opinion on that old TV show "Northern Exposure": "The body is an amazing self-righting machine."

I’m very sorry to hear of your injury!  I too would recommend holding on liquidating your system until at least 6-12 months have elapsed and your new norm is established!  I’m on the ophthalmology end of medicine and care for acute nerve palsies and eye trauma at our local hospital with regularity.  My neurology colleagues and I expect that things may improve to whatever extent they will at a minimum of 6 months.  Medical science knowledge base is doubling every 2 - 2.5 years and who knows what options we’ll have for you in 1-2 doubling periods ?  If you need to box things up to avoid the reminder of what you can’t fully enjoy at this point, you can reassess in 6-12 months.  Never underestimate the power of prayer !  I don’t and have seen some wonderful things in 20+ years of practice. Sometimes the answer is no with prayer and that’s where the advances in medical science can kick in for you down the road potentially.  Never loose hope and thanks for your service! 🙏

I’m really sorry about your situation, I can only imagine how frustrating and difficult it must be. A couple in this thread have recommended waiting a while before making any decisions. My medical background helps me to think this might be good advice right now.  Maybe waiting a while is in order. Take it a day at a time, it might be worth it. 

As I recall, you asked “how” to liquidate the entire system…not “if” you should liquidate the entire system. Skimmed the responses but didn't see a direct answer (may have missed it).  So, here is one:

List it for sale here with a brief explanation of your reason for selling and willingness to be flexible to support a single, simple transaction. As you suggested, you may get low-balled but I suspect you’d get plenty of activity.