t has been a long journey, this last stint spanning almost four years of appointments, tests, and discovery. However, the story goes back a much longer way — back to my childhood, really. Way back when I was just five years old, I had contracted meningitis. I don’t know what type it was, and only remember complaining about a headache, then the doctor using a special hammer on my knee to check reflexes. Nothing else — and had my mother not mentioned it some years down the line, I would not have known about it at all.
nyway, I digress, but not quite. The meningitis I contracted had passed — quite miraculously, I am told — without any lasting damage. Or so it seemed at the time. When my hearing started to deteriorate in my late teens, we realised that there was, after all, a side effect — but a mild one.
s is the norm for an active teen, I ignored it and just got on with my life. Meeting friends, going for hikes and movies, skipping school and all that. You know, the usual fare for a teen! 🙂
nfortunately, though, as age crept up I started to notice that I was having difficulty understanding people. I would hear them but not make out what they were saying. So, after some hearing tests, we decided on a hearing aid. Sadly, I never quite got used to the hearing aid, as I worked in a noisy atmosphere and had the habit of removing it while at work.
few years further down the line, I decided to upgrade the hearing aid and got the behind-the-ear type, with preset settings to help with the noise at work. For a while these helped, but my hearing was deteriorating at a faster rate now — probably hastened by the noisy atmosphere — and I was still struggling even with the new aids. I had reached a stage where neither hearing aid was helping me, so I stopped using them. A decision that caused some frustration for clients and colleagues, as at times I had to ask them to repeat what they’d said — sometimes more than once.
round 2008, or maybe earlier, we investigated the possibility of a cochlear implant, but as I still had some hearing, they recommended I not go ahead with the intervention yet. Over the past 6 to 8 years, however, my hearing has taken a drastic dip, to the extent that I became entirely reliant on a transcription app on my phone to be able to communicate with people. Life became quite complicated: phone calls were totally impossible, and doorbells, notifications, and announcements were all lost to me, as were music and watching the news or programmes on TV. For entertainment at home, I became reliant on streaming sites such as Netflix, for the subtitle options.
hen, back in 2022, I received my Driving Licence Renewal Notice along with the renewal form. The form contained a medical section which my GP had to complete, and naturally my hard-of-hearing situation was noted. Form duly filled out, medical section completed and signed by my GP — it was posted back with a prayer. A couple of weeks later, my renewal application was sent back by post, with a note saying that an official hearing test, signed by a registered audiologist, was required before they could proceed.
anic stations.
I searched around for a clinic that could provide me with the required test, and also started investigating alternative modes of transport to get to and from work. The hearing test was done soon enough, and it became clear that my condition had deteriorated so much that hearing aids would no longer help. The cochlear implant solution was therefore resurrected.
hat was four years ago now. From my first introduction to the surgeon who would be in charge of my case, to the final operation last Friday, I had multiple appointments in various locations across the island. The last flurry of appointments, however, were all at Mater Dei, specifically at ENT Outpatients. The sudden increase in volume of appointments, all within a relatively short time (up to now I had got used to waiting months between one appointment and the next), was a very clear indication that the operation was imminent.
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