Aug 2011 – Beep…Beep…Beep…

Madison was fitted to have molds made for her hearing aids (HAs) when she was 9 weeks old.  Green foam was inserted into her ear, almost like silly string, which hardens and takes an impression of her inner ear.  Two weeks later we went to Cornell to pick them up.  Our audiologist showed us how the hearing aids work and how to clean them.  Since Madison’s hearing loss is so severe, they don’t expect her to be able to hear sounds of conversation.  There is a chance that she may hear environmental sounds (fire truck, airplane, ferry boat, etc), but she may continue to hear nothing...  At the very least, the HAs will prime the brain for the CIs (pending she has an auditory nerve).  The HAs seem somewhat difficult – first, they seem hard to insert in her ear and second, they make a beeping noise when not sitting in her ear properly.  Hopefully both of these aspects will get easier with practice. 

A few hours after returning home from picking up the HAs, I realize something isn’t right.  “Beep… Beep… Beep…” The noise would not stop from her left HA.  I kept trying to reposition it – but quickly realized the HA was too small and not sitting in her ear properly.  I wish this was realized while we were still at Cornell.  What a headache… back we went the following day.  New impressions were made of both ears.  Since Madison is growing so quickly, this is completely normal.  It seems like she will need to have new impressions/molds made every few weeks for the first couple of months. 

Until this day, Madison’s hearing loss was always in disguise.  Since she will always be wearing HAs during waking hours – not only does it serve as a constant reminder of our situation, but I assume will stir immediate questions from others… friends/family and strangers.  This is something I haven’t quite prepared myself for… but than again, I haven’t quite prepared myself for any of this.  I keep telling myself that things will get better and easier – we just need to take one step at a time.