Say Whaaaat?

No really...what did you say?  I couldn't hear you!

My name is Erin, I'm 36, and I wear a hearing aid.

So, here's the story for those that don't know, or only partially know.  The week of Thanksgiving I came down with the stomach flu.  All week long.  Then immediately after I contracted some sort of nasty virus.  It was the worst!  Sore throat, really bad cough, I even had laryngitis for 2 weeks!  And, as it turns out, this virus attacked my cochlea and has caused permanent hearing damage.  It's called Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss, and nobody really knows why it happens.

The day after I came home from Florida over Christmas, I woke up and couldn't hear very well out of my right ear.  I figured it was just fluid in my ear from my cold and being on a plane the day before.  Well, it didn't get better so I went to the dr.  She put me on a round of antibiotics and said if those didn't help to make an appointment with the ENT.  They didn't, and I did.  The ENT looked in my ear and told me that there wasn't any fluid in it and tested my hearing.  He then put me on a round of Predisone.  3 weeks later I went back and they rechecked my hearing.  No change, so then they set me up with an audiologist to talk hearing aids.  Yes, hearing aids.

Here are the results of my hearing test.  The graph on the left is of my right ear (the problem ear) and the graph on the right is of my left ear, which is perfectly normal.  I don't know if you can see that line going through the graphs, but anything that falls below that is considered bad.  And to make the situation even more awesome, I guess my type of hearing loss isn't usual.  Usually loss is of the higher frequencies, and mine is of the lower frequencies.  Plus, not only is it an issue of amplification, but my hearing has been distorted as well.  I scored an 80% on a test where he said words into my bad ear and I had to try and repeat them back.   

So here's my new ear accessory!  The audiologist wanted an ear piece (the clear part) that filled up the canal of my ear because of the distortion issue, so I had to have a mold of my 'ear hole' taken.  The other piece goes behind my ear and has tiny speakers on it, and a button with customized settings. 

So what's our lesson learned here?  Go to the doctor as soon as you lose your hearing!  Even if you think it's fluid!  Had I gone in sooner, chances are the Prednisone would've recovered at least some of my hearing.

So now my question is...can Dexter now be registered as an assistance dog??