Off to the hospital again today to meet yet another type of medical professional in my cancer journey. This time the Audiologist. A very nice young man who determines hearing loss. I've never had my hearing tested before and I was curious to know how it was going to be done. Pretty simple really. He put headphones on me, pushed my chair round so I couldn't see the computer screen, and then proceeded to play a variety of sounds at various volumes. All I had to do was press a button when I heard something. Then it advanced to me hearing hissing noises with beeps and I had to press the button for the beeps. This got very difficult as he kept making the hissing noises louder.
I have struggled all through my cancer with having to try to understand all the medical and biological things that you have never needed to know about before. Today's subject was the ears and hearing loss, made worse for me because I was struggling to hear everything that was said. However I think I got there in the end. People who have permanent hearing loss usually get it through nerve damage after an accident or by the gradual process of ageing. There are little tiny hairs in the ear that deteriorate as you get older. He says that my nerves are not damaged and my little hairs are fine.
I do have to be aware that there is a very small possibility of radiotherapy causing permanent hearing loss by damaging bones in the ears. However we are going to proceed on the assumption that I have glue ear which means there is fluid instead of air in my middle ear and it hopefully sorts itself out within 13 weeks. If not there will be a very minor operation, he said it's the second most common operation carried out as most children get this, and they will make a tiny hole in the eardrum and insert something called a Gromit. (I know I have spelt this wrong as he said it's like Wallace and Gromit but spelt differently. However I am very tired from the journey and can't be bothered to look it up!)
I then had some plasticine stuff shoved in my ears and I had to sit there while it hardened. These are the mould for my temporary hearing aids. Now comes the bad bit. Long delays for NHS hearing aids to be made. I could have gone privately and got them done in less than a week, but when you consider that these are only temporary aids and they would cost a minimum of £500 per ear, I felt that NHS was the only option. So at least 4 weeks wait for my hearing aids, in which time my hearing might have returned anyway.
It was worth the trip though just for the reassurance that there is no nerve damage and that there is no problem yet with the little hairs in my ears. The Audiologist said I may well lose some hearing in later life as my dad is partially deaf and these things can run in families. But hopefully this is still many years off. Just as well as I will need plenty of time to save up for nice modern hearing aids like my Dad has got!
