I woke up deaf. Just got back from the ER- Part ll

[Tucker]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8673911

Leftist Agitator  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Jul-01-10 09:45 PM
Original message
I woke up deaf today continued: I just got back from the ER.
   
I got there around 5:30, and explained my situation to the lady at the admitting desk. She began to respond, in speech, and sat there and asked me the same thing (at least I think it was the same thing) three times before I said, "You know, the reason I'm here is that I can't hear. Whatever you want me to know, you'll have to write down."

What is the first thing that she writes down?

"Do you know sign language?"

"No," I reply, "I haven't been deaf that long, just since this morning."

She's OK with it for a while, but then starts asking me things verbally again. I think her brain couldn't process the fact that someone can speak perfect English and still be deaf. But I digress...

After filling out innumerable forms and waiting for more than an hour, I'm called back.

The doctor asks me what the problem is (in writing... at least he got it) and I tell him. He checks my ear canal visually, and writes, "Well, no wax buildup. Let's get you down for a hearing test."

So I go, and there are so many times that I want to raise my hand, but I can't be sure if I'm actually hearing anything or imagining it. I raise my hand a few times when I'm pretty sure that I hear something.

The results come back: 0% auditory capacity in the left ear, 4% right ear restricted to the range of 250 hz - 1500 hz.

Inner ear pressure was normal, no under or over pressure, and they did some test to check for degradation of the myelin sheath on the auditory nerve that came back negative.

So after all that, the doctor comes back in and hands me a slip of paper with the words that I have been dreading,

"I hate to break it to you, but it looks like this might be permanent."

I look down and close my eyes. When I look up again, he's handing me another one that says, "I want you to come in and speak with one of my colleagues."

I explain to him that I'm uninsured, that I don't have any way to pay for the ER visit let alone a follow-up, and he writes, "I want you to come in anyway. I'm just an audiologist. The doctor that I want you to see is an otolaryngologist who specializes in Meinere's and other progressive inner ear disorders. Don't worry about the money, we're very good friends, I'm sure that he'll do this as a favor to me."

"****ing awesome!" I think to myself. "This is the only good news that I've had all day."

I ask the doctor, "Is there anything I can do in the interim to improve my functioning?" He wrote for a while. The note said "If you have a hearing aid, even a lousy one, use it. And go to disability services and explain your situation. I had a patient last term who was in the exact same situation as you, except her deafness resulted from a car accident. It was a struggle at first, but she has adjusted well. Given time, you will too."

I actually do have a cheap hearing aid that I got from an ad in Parade magazine years ago. I tried it out when I got home. It doesn't work so much. It doesn't work at all, to be honest.

So that was the end of my trip to the ER. I still can't hear anything, and I'm really ****ing bummed out about it. When I got home, I picked up my flute to play a song I learned the other day, and then realized that if I can't hear it, there's really no reason to annoy my neighbors with my playing anymore.

Leftist Agitator  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Jul-01-10 10:16 PM
Response to Reply #3
15. The audiologist asked me to call this oto's receptionist...
   
And tell her that he requested a follow-up for me with the other doctor. It's not so unbelievable, by the way, the oto works in the same hospital, he just wasn't there at 6:30 P.M. on a Thursday. The hospital that I went to is a University hospital that has a world-class staff, so I'm confident that I'm getting the best care that I could given the circumstances.

"I know it's impossible to be hopeful right now. I would imagine you need to grieve. I am so sorry, I am just so sorry."

I feel like I lost an arm or a leg. You don't even think about it until it's not there anymore. And I really want to play music right now (that's what used to help me unwind at night), but what's the ****ing point if I can't hear it? I'd just make mistakes that I wouldn't even know that I was making.

I think instead I am going to get very drunk, say **** school tomorrow, and mourn my ability to hear things.

You're aching for a top ten position.

gateley  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Jul-01-10 10:22 PM
Response to Reply #15
16. I can only imagine that it is just like losing a limb or anything else that, as you
   
put it, is something you don't think about until it's gone.

You should do whatever you need to in order to help yourself through this, and if that means getting drunk, then bottoms up! Don't forget to take aspirin and drink lots of water before you pass out (I speak from experience).

I am hoping for the best for you in the days and weeks to come, but getting through the next few days will be so hard. I'll keep you in my thoughts and in my heart.

tpsbmam  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jul-02-10 01:49 PM
Response to Reply #15
89. Sort of the same but not really.....
   
I've lost my legs. One minute they were working, the next they weren't. I've been diagnosed with MS for 24 years but this is the first time I've had to face the reality of a wheelchair & not being able to use my legs. Upsetting but, for me, adaptable. I would have a far greater time adapting to complete hearing loss. I have partial hearing loss and I've had tinnitus for about 12+ years. I don't think about it much and, as you said, it fades into the background most times. I hadn't consciously experienced it today until you mentioned it -- now I hear it through both ears (and I'm in a quiet environment).

Anyway, just logged on quickly to say my heart is so with you. I'd frankly take losing my legs over losing hearing or sight. That for me is a more profound loss and one that would take a period of grieving (with all that entails, including anger) adaptation & then patience to learn new ways of experiencing the world.....perhaps fueled by anger & frustration. Those can be powerful motivators. Whatever your motivation, you'll adapt. But it doesn't feel like it now, I'm sure. I, too, would be overwhelmed by losing my hearing.

Hopefully it won't come to adaptation. Music is so important to you -- I truly hope the specialist can help so you can once again hear the sweet sounds of your flute.

Okay, I feel like this is a lumbering post and I've said everything all wrong. Hopefully you'll find my good intent in it and read it as such.

CaliforniaPeggy  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Jul-01-10 09:57 PM
Response to Original message
9. My dear Leftist Agitator...
   
I'm so glad you went to the ER.

I cannot really help you here, but I did the one thing I could do: I got you a star. Now you can make the pesky ads go away, and you can post a poll, and play in certain groups, and like that...

It's what I could do, so I did. I hope you'll enjoy having it as much as I enjoyed giving it...

  CPeg is so ****ed up.

Another big campfire.

[Duke Nukum]

This whole music thing is pissing me the hell off, I can't even read past the "Me so sorry me can't hear flute."

My favorite composer not only went deaf but wrote his greatest compositions after he went deaf.  And he didn't even have SS or Medicare/cade back then.

[jukin]

What recreational drug attacks your sense of hearing?

[Doc]

What recreational drug attacks your sense of hearing?

Long-term continued use of prescription opiates, such as Vicodin, et al, will have that effect........also some anti-depressant drugs (MAOI Inhibitors)will have that side effect, particularly if combined with anti-psychotic meds, however, with the psychoactive meds, the effect is usually transient, and passes with continued use.

doc

[Ballygrl]

OMG! where do I even start?

1st of all, does anyone at the DU have health insurance?

OK and the 2nd thing, I worked in the medical field for 20 years, when an illness comes on suddenly I don't know of anyone who asked about SSDI within a day or 2, they're usually in shock at 1st, and they're trying to get 2nd opinions before they even start talking about things like that.

I'm normally very sympathetic when people have physical and emotional problems, but this doesn't sound right to me at all. Also look at the time stamps, he got to the ER around 5:30PM, 45 minutes after he did his initial post on DU, his last post in that thread was at 5:20Pm, so he got to the ER within 10 minutes? and why wasn't it mentioned that he was going to the ER? than he says he waited about an hour to see the Doctor, that would make it say 6:30PM at least if not later, he has a hearing test and sees a Specialist and makes it home to do his post at 9:45PM. So I'm supposed to believe the Audiologist and Otolaryngologist are all working at that time at the Hospital? no freaking way! if those things were done a consult would've been called in to those people ASAP and it would take time to get to the Hospital, all of that couldn't of taken place within a 2 1/2 hour time frame. Add to that the fact that a CT Scan wasn't even done? that would've been the 1st thing to be done to determine if there was a physical reason that this came about, if anything just to rule out something, and if that was done and it was negative then the patient would've been given a prescription to see the Audiologist and Otolaryngologist to discuss the situation further.

Sorry for the long winded post but things like this tick me off especially when there are people out there who are sick!

[USA4ME]

Leftist Agitator

15. The audiologist asked me to call this oto's receptionist...
  
And tell her that he requested a follow-up for me with the other doctor.

Asked you to call?!?  And how, exactly, could you hear what she said?

.

[Ballygrl]

Correction, it looks like he didn't see an Otolaryngologist but has to call for an appt. It doesn't matter, the 2 1/2 hour time frame doesn't fit. Oh and I thought Doctors were greedy and refused to treat people without insurance? and why the heck do I even care about this?

[USA4ME]

CaliforniaPeggy

I cannot really help you here, but I did the one thing I could do: I got you a star. Now you can make the pesky ads go away, and you can post a poll, and play in certain groups, and like that...

It's what I could do, so I did. I hope you'll enjoy having it as much as I enjoyed giving it...

You could have just done it and written him a PM telling him what you did.  But nooooooooooooo.  You had to advertise your deeds so your fellow primitives could pat you on the back.

You're worthless.

.

[Hawkgirl]

"And go to disability services and explain your situation. I had a patient last term who was in the exact same situation as you, except her deafness resulted from a car accident. It was a struggle at first, but she has adjusted well. Given time, you will too."

BS!  Doctors don't advise patients to stand in line for DISABILITY.....what a bufoon!  Back to my regular assertion...fool doesn't want to work.

[Hawkgirl]

You could have just done it and written him a PM telling him what you did.  But nooooooooooooo.  You had to advertise your deeds so your fellow primitives could pat you on the back.

You're worthless.

.

People who give freely are givers...people who give for recognition are not.

[Ballygrl]

"And go to disability services and explain your situation. I had a patient last term who was in the exact same situation as you, except her deafness resulted from a car accident. It was a struggle at first, but she has adjusted well. Given time, you will too."

BS!  Doctors don't advise patients to stand in line for DISABILITY.....what a bufoon!  Back to my regular assertion...fool doesn't want to work.

Also a Doctor would never give a prognosis like this without talking to the Specialist which he/she hasn't seen yet.

[Carl]

Also a Doctor would never give a prognosis like this without talking to the Specialist which he/she hasn't seen yet.

Yeah it seemed that it was kind of a quick diagnosis to pronounce it permanent short of some obvious physical catastrophe to both ears.

[Tucker]

People who give freely are givers...people who give for recognition are not.

And people who give junk thinking it's gold are nothing more than lame poet wanna be's.

A star. She gives him a cheap ass ****in star. I would tell her to kiss my ass even if I got TS'd.

[Ballygrl]

Yeah it seemed that it was kind of a quick diagnosis to pronounce it permanent short of some obvious physical catastrophe to both ears.

Yes, which is why I wondered why a CT Scan wasn't done to start ruling things out. Welcome to Obamacare where you make a diagnosis with nothing to back it up.

[formerlurker]

I hate to break it to you, but it looks like this might be permanent."

I look down and close my eyes. When I look up again, he's handing me another one that says, "I want you to come in and speak with one of my colleagues."

I explain to him that I'm uninsured, that I don't have any way to pay for the ER visit let alone a follow-up, and he writes, "I want you to come in anyway. I'm just an audiologist. The doctor that I want you to see is an otolaryngologist who specializes in Meinere's and other progressive inner ear disorders. Don't worry about the money, we're very good friends, I'm sure that he'll do this as a favor to me

I hate to break it to you????.........   don;t worry about the money, he'll do this as a favor? 

they don't even try anymore to write good fiction do they?

[Hawkgirl]

DUmmmies LIE.

[Revolution]

Don't know why I decided to reply to this except for the fact that the following quote really irritates me.CaliforniaPeggy  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Jul-01-10 09:57 PM
Response to Original message

CaliforniaPeggy  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Jul-01-10 09:57 PM
Response to Original message
9. My dear Leftist Agitator...
   
I'm so glad you went to the ER.

I cannot really help you here, but I did the one thing I could do: I got you a star. Now you can make the pesky ads go away, and you can post a poll, and play in certain groups, and like that...

It's what I could do, so I did. I hope you'll enjoy having it as much as I enjoyed giving it.

My dear CaliforniaPeggy: Do us a favor and just stop. Quit touting falsely what a nice, and decent person you are. Just keep floating on that cloud made of purple haze, and keep providing the good folks over here with laughs. They say laughter is excellent exercise, so you're at least doing some people a favor with your existence.

As for you, Leftist Agitator, quit lying, and shut the **** up.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAVoQfoU0dQ[/youtube]

[franksolich]

DUmmmies LIE.

Yeah, it appears the more the execrable primitive tells us, the more the tale becomes less credible.

So I hope he keeps telling us.

[Tucker]

Yeah, it appears the more the execrable primitive tells us, the more the tale becomes less credible.

So I hope he keeps telling us.

If the whole thing turns into one big bouncing ball, he got a free star for his efforts.

[BlueStateSaint]

Yeah it seemed that it was kind of a quick diagnosis to pronounce it permanent short of some obvious physical catastrophe to both ears.

I think I could hazard a diagnosis here--it's some sort of catastrophe between both ears.

Oh, how's it goin', neighbor?

[PatriotGame]

What recreational drug attacks your sense of hearing?

It is NOT a recreational drug!!!111

It is the walls of its rectum covering its ears.

[Texacon]

It is NOT a recreational drug!!!111

It is the walls of its rectum covering its ears.

^5

LOL

KC

[BlueStateSaint]

It is NOT a recreational drug!!!111

It is the walls of its rectum covering its ears.

Sympathetic Cranial Rectalitis.  'Course, that also means he loves the view (the "sympathetic" part).

[Randy]

Sympathetic Cranial Rectalitis.  'Course, that also means he loves the view (the "sympathetic" part).

He's a Dem, they all have a shitty outlook. 

[Revolution]

Don't forget "pessimistic."