Yea, I am gonna call this the D-Day... Back November 2008, I went around my workplace to take photographs of some paralegals and newly hired attorneys for a Class of 2008 Yearbook that I was going to produce. Sometime after 10am, went to an office and was ready to take a photo, then I heard this static and then it went silent in my right ear. My first impression, was that my battery died, or it was going belly up again. After the photo shoot, I hurried back to my office to get a fresh battery before my next photo shoot appointment. Turned it back on and put it in my ear... it sounded it had a lot of static in it. I was frustrated, that the hearing aid went up AGAIN and I knew that I would have to send it back to get it repaired AGAIN. And another $200 out of my pocket.
Sent it back and got a refurbished hearing aid just before Christmas, I got excited, it was like I was getting a new toy, put it on, heard static and then nothing again... I was so disappointed and gave the hearing aid back to my dad and asked him to take it back to get it fixed AGAIN.
Got it back in mid-January. Tried it again, nothing... Sent it back again.
Got it back again in February. Same old results, nothing. So, I decided to get a new hearing test to see if there is something wrong. Made an appointment in March.
March rolls around, I go in the hearing booth and plop my butt on this school style chair and got my big and heavy headphones on my head and a handheld respond button in my hands. The heavy door closed on me, and ready to take the test.
They did my left ear first, which is my bad ear, heard some things, pressed that button and then it was time to switch to my right ear. Heard NOTHING. Maybe just one or two sounds and that was it. I just sat there waited for those beeps and hums to come to me. Nothing, the door opened up, the audiologist takes the headphones off and then put this special headphone, it was weird, it goes behind your ear. I heard or felt a few things for my left ear, and NOTHING for my right ear.
Then the door opened up, saw my mothers face, Dr. Susan's face, it was a disappointment look they had. Right off the bat, I knew. Dr. Susan said that you have a 25db loss in your right ear. I was like really? My mother's face told me everything that I needed to know.
Dr. Susan said that maybe you have an infection in your ear. In the back of my head, I knew that it was not no DAMN infection, this happened in November. She got me an emergency appointment right way with an ENT doctor.
Waited for about half hour for the ENT doctor to see me. He looks in my ears and says they are clean and didn't see any infection in my ear. He said that he wanted to 'TRY' to do a shot in my eardrum with steroids since I can't take oral due to my diabetes. He also told me that there is a chance that I can lose the rest of my hearing in case of this tiny hole doesn't heal up on his own. I immediately asked him, how often is this 'shot' done? His reply was it was still new. Alright, FORGET that!
He looks at my audiograms and compared them to my first one in 2005. Off the bat, he told me that I was a candidate for the Cochlear Implant. My first reaction was nothing, I was at loss for words.
After my appointment with the ENT doctor, I hurried back to Dr. Susan's office to get my right hearing aid to increase the volume so I can hear. It sounded very different, not the same as before.
I tried to get the hearing aids to the way I normally hear it, volume wise adjusted over the weekend.
Went back to work on Tuesday. First thing I did when I got to my office is to check my voice mail with the CapTel phone. I could NOT understand my own voicemail. I knew from there that the CI was my only option. It was still early in the morning, people in my office haven't arrived to work yet. I must have cried at my desk for a while cuz the one thing I did the most in my office was phone calls. That made me more 'hearing'. I was indeed 'DEAF'. From that point, it made me so determined to go forward with the CI process with John Hopkins Hospital.
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