Not a Minute Too Soon

I can hear the ticking of the clock on the wall

I can hear your footsteps as you walk down the hall

I can hear the laughter of the children in their room

The sounds of life came back to me not a minute too soon

My sadness overwhelmed me as my ears began to die

I often asked the Lord, if He could tell me why

But then He showed me there was hope up ahead

And to a hearing miracle my heart and life were led

I sat alone in silence for a period of time

The Lord, He said to me, “There is no reason why

But the lessons you will learn, and the things that you will know

Will settle in your mind and make your heart grow”

So I waited for the Lord to show me the way

I trusted He would take me where my heart was meant to stay

He walked me from the silence and back to the sound

And here I am again, my life is being found

I can hear the ticking of the clock on the wall

I can hear your footsteps as you walk down the hall

I can hear the laughter of the children in their room

The sounds of life came back to me not a minute too soon

Bird Talk

First, an update, my mother is doing well and statistics regarding sudden hearing loss seem to be in her favor. I think she is bothered more by the tinnitus than the loss of hearing as it is probably more noticeable. The tinnitus she is experiencing is intermittent and before I left, she seemed to think it was getting better and that maybe a little of her hearing had come back. She sees her doctor for a recheck in a few days. She also contacted a friend with hearing loss and asked about her experience. It turns out that it is similar to what my mom is going through. I’m glad she has someone to talk to as my hearing loss experience is very different from a sudden loss.

My sister went with me to visit our parents and I picked her up as it was on the way from where I live. In the past, I would have handed her the keys and asked her to drive so we could visit. Before my cochlear implants, I would do that so I could read lips, which is difficult to do when you are keeping your eyes on the road, so I would often ask whomever I was with to drive. After my first cochlear implant, which is on my left side, I would be arranging people so I could hear them easier or using a nifty little remote microphone that I would have pinned to my sister’s clothing and then plugged it into my behind the ear (BTE) piece so I could hear her. Those were adjustments I needed to make before being bilateral. Wow – being bilateral. I drove, we talked, no problems.

I had one other CI moment that was fun. The weather was warming and we had a spring like day, so my sister, my mother and I walked over to a nearby mall. While we were there, we stopped in a pet store to look at the puppies. As I was oohing and aahing over the cute little animals, I could hear birds chirping behind me. I turned around to see a beautiful yellow cockatiel singing to me. I puckered up and gave it a whistle back and he returned his song, so I whistled again. We were going back and forth like that and I was thoroughly enjoying being able to hear him and hear myself whistle back, when I glanced over my shoulder and noticed my mother watching us and smiling. Not too long ago, my mother shared with me that she is still amazed at what my bionic ears do for me. I love that she was able to witness that moment and share the joy.

My mother called...

My mother called this weekend and shared with me that she couldn’t hear the dial tone on the phone as well with her left ear as she could with her right and she was also hearing a funny shwooshing sound in her left ear. She said it had just started a few days ago. Up until this point, she has enjoyed excellent hearing.

I have heard many stories about causes of hearing loss having participated in forums for hearing impaired. I told my mother that she needed to be seen by a doctor right away, first to rule out wax or fluid build up. If those things are ruled out, then they might need to treat her for conditions that need immediate treatment to save the hearing.

My mother is healthy at 73, but not assertive. She did see her doctor today and there was no wax or fluid. The doctor couldn’t see anything. She made an appointment for her to see an ENT in 17 days. When my mother called me back to report, I was upset. I said, “You have to be seen today.” She called her doctor back and they managed to move it up 7 days. In the mean time, I called my doctor’s nurse and told her what was going on. She told me what I knew to be right. My mother needed to be seen right away. As I was preparing to call my mother to get the name of her doctor and nurse, so I could get on the phone with these people, my mother called back with news. The nurse had called her back and made room on the schedule for her, but she had to come in right away.

She had already been there and been tested when we connected on the phone. Unfortunately her test showed a significant drop in the left ear. Her right ear remains normal. This did allow them to see that it was not a slow age related decline and they needed to consider what else might be going on, so next she saw the doctor.

The doctor talked to her about the window of treatment that may reverse the loss. Hopefully they were within the time frame of the window. He talked about it being 48 hours and the information I found on the internet indicated that it may be as long as two weeks. The doctor treated her with a steroid shot in the eardrum and wants to test her again in one week. Now we wait and hope.

At one point she said to me, “I don’t want to lose more of my hearing.” I sensed she had a hard time saying those words to me. I told her I don’t want her to lose any more of her hearing either. I love my cochlear implants, but I don’t want my mother to need them too. However, if it did come to that – Thank God they have been invented.

I will be driving the 400 miles to my parent’s house for a visit tomorrow. I will be trying to make the trip more often this year. They are traveling less and I need to see them more.