has her hearing aids!

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

You might remember me from about a month ago when I had all of my

questions and concerns. If you don't, here's a brief summary.

is my 5-year-old girl who was just recently diagnosed with

a mild/moderate hearing loss in the right ear and a moderate/severe

loss in the left. We were in shock when she was diagnosed because

although we thought she had some hearing problem, we never suspected

that it was that much.

On Wednesday, we went with to pick up her hearing aids.

Unfortunately, I had to head out of town Wednesday afternoon so that

left my wife Barb to handle everything after the morning. It was

very interesting to see the machines that the audiologist uses to set

the aids. We waited and watched while he calibrated them and tested

her ear canal and set the length on the connecting tubes. Then the

first aid went in and was turned on. Almost right away,

started exploring all the new sounds. She was slapping Barb and I on

our shoulders, shaking Barb's purse or her keys, and jumping on the

different surfaces - carpet, plastic, etc. I could feel the tears in

my eyes as it was made even clearer to me all of the sounds that she

had been missing. It took awhile for the left aid to be calibrated

and then it went in and was set. It was at that point that

I had to leave for the airport.

When I phoned Barb Wednesday night, she was slightly discouraged. As

she put it, " I was sure that these aids were going to fix her! " She

was worried about the microphone maybe not working and the aids not

working and everything that a first-time parent probably worries

about. For me, the encouraging part was that had kept the

aids in from 11am to 2pm and then from 4pm to bedtime. Over the past

few days, she's been very good about keeping them in but when she

tells us they hurt, we let her take them out.

Fast forward to Friday evening when I arrived home. I immediately

noticed that was talking much quieter than she normally

did. And that she could hear conversations between Barb and I that

normally she wouldn't have. When we're in the kitchen and she's in

the dining room, she can now hear when we're talking about her where

I'm sure she couldn't before. When she took them off, her speaking

level jumped and that too (in a strange way) was comforting. Those

aids are working!

So all of those fears that I initially had are resolved and I'm

looking forward to watching as she relearns how the world

sounds. Thank you to those of you who answered our questions and

reassured us.

Thanks,

Jean Duteau