You are funny. I thought of the time I went to my local free clinic with bronchitis, and the doctor who was volunteering was so elderly that he used my body to hold onto so he could stand up to examine me.
I have had that experience, too, of something external and really bad happening and like you said, it's like there's not enough room left for the depression or not as much of it, anyway.
I hope your psych will spend the money to get a digital hearing aid.