Medical Exam ?

Greetings, I've been looking around the site for a couple months now. My hats off the Brett and all who help, this site has class! Thank you for all you do. I'm looking to start back trucking here this summer. I have hearing loss in high freq (60)dec, and both ear drums are perforated. Had numerous surgery's over the years to repair but no luck, my ears need to be aerated! Young ear surgeons are eager to to surgery, older, experienced surgeons, say leave them alone and keep them dry. I bet I'll pass the whisper test without my hearing aid(left ear) but am wondering if they will say anything about perforated ear drums. I drove for C.R. England in 1994-95, perforations were much smaller then I'm sure and no hearing aid. I will retire from the Marine Corps after 21 years in August and considering Schneider National as first choice. Thank you again and look forward to your thoughts.

I doubt that your hearing loss will be an issue at all. As long as you can pass the whisper test, with or without your hearing aid. The feds are conducting a study about hearing impaired truck drivers, and they can't hear at all. So I think you'll be fine. As always, be up front with them...Honesty goes a long way. And if one company doesn't want to take you on, then go to #2, if not #3...there is a place for you as a driver. And since you have driven before, you would be an asset to any company. And Welcome to Trucking Truth !!!! Glad to have you here !!!

Thank you Starcar for your reply. I have scratched out a list of things to do in order. Would anyone tell me if this sounds correct? My plans right now are to attend Sage CDL school in Lexington S.C.

1. Have DOT exam completed. 2. Apply and pass CDL permit tests, with the exception of Hazmat. 3. Have fingerprints and background investigation started(for hazmat). 4. Attend and complete CDL school. Pass skills and road test. 5. After you pass road test, ask to complete Hazmat written test.

Tell me again why you aren't getting your HazMat as early as you can ?? Unless the school will pay for it...And talk to the school recruiter about the physical...cuz they usually do their own at or thru the school...may save ya some $$$. And the same may be true for the permit too. Each school is different. so give em a call and ask them what you can do BEFORE you get there, and what they want done AFTER you get there.....GOOD LUCK !!!!!

And get going on The High Road....so when you get to school, you will be wayyyyyy ahead of everyone else....which may get you a little more driving or practice time...nothing wrong with being ahead of the curve.....

Yeah, I don't know what they'll say about your hearing for sure so I would look into that first. Hopefully that won't be a problem. Once your hearing is clear and you can pass the physical, then there's a list of things to begin working on.

1) If you haven't, go through our Trucker's Career Guide. That will walk you through about every topic imaginable that pertains to getting your career started - schooling choices, job choices, lifestyle considerations - all kinds of stuff. Go through every bit of it and follow all the links you find throughout.

2) Begin our High Road Training Program that Starcar mentioned. It has the entire CDL manual built in plus a couple of sections we've built ourselves on the logbook and weight & balance. That training program will teach you everything you'll need to pass the permit test and all of the endorsement exams. It's easy to use, highly effective, and free. Ya can't beat that.

3) At some point you'll want to begin researching companies and getting a dialogue started with recruiters. You'll want to speak with as many companies as possible. Even though you may choose a particular company as your favorite, you don't want to limit your choices or assume you'll land a job there. So open up as many opportunities as possible. I wouldn't start contacting companies until maybe 4-6 weeks before you begin your schooling. Just continue doing your research for now.

That should keep you busy for a while

Thank you. The school (Sage) recommended having DOT exam and CDL permit before starting. The lady at DMV here said you cannot take the Hazmat test until the fingerprinting and background investigation comes back. So once that clears I'll jump down there and test. And I will hit the Highroad training, looking forward to it. Thanks again.