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.