:: Time No Hear
No, this isn't an April Fool's joke, I am truly sitting in the truck typing letters of the alphabet in hopes of creating a words, to make sentences, to divide into paragraphs, all aiming at post. In the truck... heading to Edmonton. I am having trouble sitting still. Reality has landed. Finally after years of waiting, many trips to the city and a new hole in my head, I will be fitted with a hearing aid tomorrow. What a birthday present!
Earlier this year I had the surgery to implant a titanium post just behind my ear. This was deemed the best option; utilising bone conduction over other surgical options. Okay. Can’t tell you what the process was like. I was looking at a group of friendly smiling people and nothing. (So disappointed, I wasn’t asked to count backwards from ten, or anything!)
I have been without hearing aids since 2020. Both of them died mid Covid shutdown. Stuck in a town with no audiologist; moved to an area where near all of the audiologists seemed to have left town. Three years of waiting for appointments, then for referrals. Nope, no patience provided or learnt. When I finally obtained an appointment with an ENT (1) November 2016. Yes, I am a good candidate for bone implant hearing aid and it may take a year to get an appointment with the appropriate hospital department. Thud, instant discouragement. It was also my first trip without Steve in decades... almost left my backpack behind when I had to switch busses coming home. Good thing they don't let me out very often!
Settling in for the long term with – it will never happen vibes, aka, depression! This was my state of mind when I answered the phone some time later and was told my next appointment was six days before Christmas. This appointment was with the same surgeon at the hospital; they simply placed a bone conduction amplifier behind my ear. Yup, you’re are a great candidate. That is it -- cost of bus, taxies, hotel and a nightmare bus ride home with -34C temperatures and winds gusting over 40km/h. Thankfully Steve didn’t try to drive me to Edmonton this time.
I settled in for another long wait of possibly a year. January: "Can you come for surgery next week? We have a cancellation.' Yikes. Flurry of doctor appointments, lab work, zoom call, phone calls; all during the week I other appointments! Okay ... long drive, much traffic, GPS taking a route with every traffic light in the city; Too, too much, very, very overwhelming! (snicker) Hotel near the hospital has dog friendly rooms on the ground floor with no carpet! We even braved the West Edmonton Mall for the book store.
Best part of this – the waiting for a hearing aid is nearly over and there is no place like home.
Next trip was to check the healing around the implant. We had to postpone – another dump of snow and fierce prairie winds kept us at home. But the subsequent visit revealed the implant is healing fine Still can’t believe the lack of pain and blood, I mean drilling into your skull… aren’t head wounds reputed to bleed???
This will be our last trip down to the city in the winter months. From now on we can schedule appointments in the snow free parts of the year. Which brings me to now, sitting in the truck, bouncing and racketing around on a secondary road south. My new hearing aid is at the other end of this road trip! Still not learning patience. ;-)
Wishing you all the patience I don't seem to have,
Zuzia
1- Ear Nose Throat specialist: turns out he was a student of the doctor who did my ear surgeries approximately 45 years ago. They still have my patient records from that time!
Stay Calm, Be Brave, Be Patient! With love,
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jgs / |`= the Little Brown Bird