To hear clear would be dear 2

I’ve noticed for many years that I’ve had hearing loss. My mom and grandmother had severe hearing loss and had to wear hearing aids from early adulthood. But my insurance doesn’t cover hearing aids, so I thought I’d never be able to get them.

My friend Jennifer found a charity that gives refurbished hearing aids to some low income people, though, so there is hope! Part of the application is a report from an audiologist. So today I went to see the audiologist and ENT doctor to see if I’m a good candidate for hearing aids.

I got checked in and went to sit down to fill out paperwork. When I was done, Brad took my paperwork back up to the desk for me. While he was gone, a couple came to sit down near me and they were starers and whisperers. They were staring at Hestia and whispering about her. I just pretended I couldn’t hear them. They apparently hadn’t seen Brad in his professor of archaeology outfit yet, so when he came over to be near me there was more staring and whispering, but this time about him! So Brad smiled widely at them and said “hi!”. That got them to be quiet LOL!

Eventually it was our turn, and the audiologist called us back. She was super sweet and accommodating. She took two chairs out of the room so that Brad would have plenty of room to maneuver, and she didn’t say a word about Hestia! She also was really happy Brad was taking pictures and helped him set up some good shots.

I went into a sound proof booth and she put some earbud things in my ears and played beeps and talked to me through them. While I was able to guess correctly all the words she said, I didn’t hear a lot of the beeps.

When I was done she told me that I have moderately severe hearing loss, especially in the upper ranges of frequency (the higher notes). This affects clarity and comprehension of words. She said I was an excellent candidate for hearing aids, and was happy to hear about the program Jennifer found.

Next we had to go back out to the waiting room and wait to be called back to see the ENT doctor to make sure there wasn’t something else going on with my hearing. This doctor was not very nice. He kept acting like he knew everything and we knew nothing, even when it came to what benefits I had for my SSI.

He said my hearing loss is in the nerve, so there isn’t any medication or surgery that can help it. The only thing that can help it is hearing aids. He again said I was a great candidate, and that was that.

When we got home, we went to sit in the yard for a while with the pups, and my rheumatologist called. I’ve been trying to start my infusions for my arthritis since July. Apparently the local place they were trying to set me up with was just being awful. Even though they aren’t my doctors, they were questioning which medication my doctor wanted to give me and refusing to give me the one he wanted until I tried 5 others first! They flat out refused to even send in a request to my insurance.

So I will have to have my infusions in Columbia, an hour and 15 minutes away. The doctor was very nice and apologized for it taking so long. He said I should hear back from them in 1–2 weeks about approval from my insurance. If this medication isn’t approved, we talked about his second favorite medication for me, which he knows would be approved, and that would take another 1–2 weeks to approve that. So I should be starting infusions in about 2–4 weeks!

Lots of health news today!

Below are pictures of my audiologist appointment. The ENT doctor’s assistant said their (ENT doctors’) policy was not to allow pictures while they were in the room.

The pictures start in the waiting room, and follow us back to the audiologist’s room. There the audiologist looks in my ears with a variety of instruments and puts earbuds into my ears. Then there are many pictures taken from a darkened room that show the back of the audiologist’s head and me with Hestia through a window in the testing room. One picture shows my audiogram to show the extent of my hearing loss. There are pictures of me sitting on the edge of the raised floor of the sound box in the room, snuggling Hestia who is not amused. Then back to the waiting room where I am looking at my audiogram. A few pictures of Brad are included. He is dressed like an archaeologist going out to dinner in a three piece grey suit with a grey linen shirt and a blue and green ascot with a grey fedora, and a gramophone lapel pin.