Sound!

I have been working with Vocational Rehab to get a job. They have had me running all over the city having one test after another, one being a hearing test. I grumbled and stewed over the last one. I was, like, "WHY take a hearing test?? Doesn't the fact that I go 'huh?' every time you try to talk to me act as proof that I am deaf??" But, like a fellow deaf friend said when trying to comfort me, some things just need to be on paper. So, I reluctantly agreed to the hearing test. walking to the audioologist center in the rain (blasted car still not working! Gah!). And so I filled out paperwork. Talked to them about getting meningitis when I was 13 and my previous use of hearing aids, etc., before they hooked me up to that...listening thingy to test my ability to hear any sounds. I sat there wearing those earplugs, not really expecting to hear a single thing. (Ever since I was told in 1999 that I'd lost even MORE hearing and would need the strongest over-the-ear hearing aid on the market to even hear a little, I don't have much faith in ever being able to hear ANYTHING anymore, though I DID hear my baby crying with the help of a hearing aid I could only wear for 3 months after she was born -- more on that later.) But...I ended up HEARING some sounds! I REALLY did! I had this BIG smile on my face, thinking, 'Cool!' I only heard the high pitch sounds mostly in my right ear and SOME low pitch sounds. Not a lot, but some. And my right ear has better hearing than my left. It was AWESOME!! But not as awesome as...the audioologist speaking to me through the headset and I could hear THAT, too!!!! OH JOY!!!! I think most of it was also lipreading, because I didn't "hear" as many words when she covered her mouth, but I was still so psyched about hearing ANYTHING again!!!

Now. She said my hearing loss is profound. And that I had two options for hearing ANYTHING again: An over-the-ear hearing aid or a cochlear implant (CI). The meningitis only affected my outer ear, not inner ear. I didn't suffer nerve deafness. My eardrums were functioning JUST FINE so a CI would REALLY help me. Practically restore my hearing at 100%! But she said I would need an inner ear X-ray first to see just how well it could work for me. When I was a teen, I wore an over-the-ear hearing aid for years. When I lost more hearing, I had to get a stronger hearing. For some BIZARRE reason, the ear mold on my hearing aid adversely affected the skin on the inside of my ear. This happened about 3-4 months after my daughter was born. It was VERY PAINFUL and I ended up having an ear discharge because of it. I just stopped wearing the hearing aid, having NO SOUND at all (a hard decision to make). When I finally went to an ear doctor a year or 2 later (after yet again failing to wear the hearing aid), he did an X-ray and, oh my Lord, it looked BAD. There were lumps all inside of my ear and the doctor freaked out. The skin on my ear was VERY RED and the discharge was happening again. He tried a new ear mold and suggested I treat the skin twice daily with Neosporin to get the rash to heal. But even THAT mold made my skin irritation flare up again. :(

Now this new place is going to try one last ear mold to see if it will take. It's made of a different material. Typically, ear molds on hearing aids are hypoallergenic (or so she told me), so I'm only hoping this could work. If not, my only hope is the CI.

And given the technological advances they are making with CIs, I'm now a little more interested in having one. There just MAY be an insurance plan I can get to help me even AFFORD one. So, that is cool.

I am just SO PSYCHED over hearing sounds!! It was AWESOME!!!! Now I definitely hope I can get something that will help me hear even more!