2 Weeks Post Surgery - Question About Hearing Aids

[Guest guest]

First of all, this is my first post. I've spent a lot of time over the

last 6 weeks learning a great amount from this group. Thank you all

for sharing so much information. I'll post my question first, and then

some background information below that. Thanks for taking the time to

read this.

Question:

Is it unheard of to get fitted for a hearing aid in my " good " ear now,

and then take care of the left ear after the healing has completed? Is

one ear with hearing corrected by a hearing aid better than my current

situation of almost no hearing in the left and mild/moderate hearing

loss in the right?

Since I have no experience with wearing hearing aids I don't know what

to expect. Can the one aid help eliminate the problems I'm having with

background noise (I've also become very sensitive to sound in my right

ear - is that normal?)?

Any thoughts or input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

for all the great information contained in this group. And thank you

for taking the time to read my post.

Background:

I am 2 weeks post-op after surgery to remove a ctoma from my left ear.

Until 6 weeks ago, I had never even heard of a ctoma. I've never used

hearing aids before, and was able to cope pretty well until about 5

weeks ago. While the ENT was trying to poke around to determine if

what he was seeing was a ctoma, he removed some portion of the foreign

matter that had actually been conducting sound and falsely improving

my hearing. I walked into the office w/ mild hearing loss in my left

ear, and left with moderate/severe loss in that ear. That along w/ the

mild/moderate hearing loss in my right ear left me feeling truly hard

of hearing for the first time in my life. It's actually quite a shock

to have my hearing changed so drastically in what amounts to a blink

of an eye.

I realize now more than ever how valuable the hearing I have left is.

I can't believe how much I had taken it for granted before.

Now that my left ear is completely packed from surgery, I of course

can hear almost nothing from that ear. That coupled with the hearing

loss in my right ear has left me struggling with several problems I'm

sure many of you are familiar with: unable to locate where a sound is

coming from, I can't understand you if I can't see your mouth, I'm

unable to hear in any situation where there is others talking or

background noise, etc. It's become pretty overwhelming.

I know that after I have my ear unpacked in two weeks it could take

2-3 months longer for my hearing to normalize in my left ear. I've

been told not to expect to hear any better than pre-surgery because of

the amount of reconstruction that was needed. The original plan was to

wait until my left ear fully healed before looking into hearing aids

for both ears. But, I am having so much difficulty at work, at home

and with my children I can't see waiting for 3 months before trying to

improve things.

Any feedback from those who have experience is appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark Kohm

St. Louis, MO