Today was the day that I was scheduled for my 3rd and final steroid injection into my eardrum. This is part of trying to recover any hearing that might be recoverable and is done in conjunction with a course of high dose oral prednisone. Prior to this morning, I would have said that I have noticed a slight improvement from where my hearing was at its worst. Not enough to make a big difference in my life, but enough that I could tell someone was speaking on my captioning telephone – couldn’t understand it, but could tell there was intermittent sound. I could not hear anything at all at its worst. This morning while I was having coffee with Chet I noticed that my own voice became much softer to me. There was no doubt in my mind that my hearing got quieter.

When I got to the clinic and the doctor asked if I noticed any changes, we decided that this morning’s events were a clear indication that the treatment isn’t working. There was no reason to have the shot today. We decided that the next step is to proceed with the evaluation for cochlear implants. I have been praying that God would make it obvious to me what direction I need to go with this and I believe that this morning was an answer to that prayer. It was pretty easy to see that the next logical step is the implants. I called my insurance company yesterday and found out that they do cover cochlear implants and that they will cover having one for both ears! I was very excited about that! All indications are that I will be an excellent candidate for this and although it is not a cure, the odds are extremely high that I will do well and enjoy some kind of improvement from where I am now with my hearing and function in daily life. I also get to taper off the steroids! Soooo happy about that. This time it’s a quick taper and I should be done with them by next weekend! I’m feeling really good about things right now.

The next step is for me to have the cochlear implant evaluation with the audiology department. My big appointment day is April 17. I have a hearing test at 10am (my hearing has to be at or below a certain level to qualify) and then a meeting with my doctor at 11am. Then I have the implant evaluation with the audiology department at 1pm. I think there is testing involved in that and lots of discussion and other evaluation. The next step after that, if I’m eligible, is to get everything sent off to the insurance company for approval and details about the financial aspect of it. After that all clears, we will schedule surgery. The doctor said that it is typical for it to take 2 or 3 months from this point to reach the scheduling stage, so he would guess surgery would likely fall sometime in June or July. After surgery, there is a 3-4 week period of time for healing of the surgical sites before they can activate the implants and begin fine tuning and training. It takes months after the implants are activated for things to be functioning at maximum benefit. There are many individual adjustments to be made and some have to be done gradually – your brain has to learn how to recognize a different type of input as sound and figure out how to process it. There are training exercises involved in helping you become better at understanding and interpreting what you hear. It’s quite a process, but fascinating, and for someone in my situation there’s really nothing to lose by trying. The odds are great that I will receive some benefit and it’s possible I’ll be hearing better than I have in years!!!!! I’m feeling very thankful and optimistic today! It was a good day.