Hearing Vanishing Once Again

During Easter...

I broke up from school on the Thursday just before Easter still having some of my hearing. Unlucky for me my hearing went on the Easter Monday but it did it whilst I was at home thank god!
My mam arranged for me to have emergency testing at my audiology centre again. It was pretty much what I expected. My hearing had gone...
Back on the magic pill (steroids) I go!

It wasn't magic this time!

My audiologist by this point had already put a referral through to a Cochlear Implant centre in Nottingham. I was hoping that the appointment would come through quick!

After Easter...

Luckily for me that my referral came through quickly and that I just attended this week gone. I had pretty mixed feeling yet again, I was unsure how it was going to go. I attended 6th form in the morning explaining the situation to all my teachers, then I headed on the journey down to Nottingham.

Arriving at Nottingham Audiology centre was quite complex, so many roads that went in the different direction to the place I wanted to go. Luckily me and my mam had Sean with us, the Irish accent SAT NAV which she is nuts about. Sorry Mam, it had to be said!
Once I got inside the building it reminded me of a swimming pool, my mam said my voice was echoing and bouncing off the worlds from when I spoke. Therefore that point was proved. Ha-ha.

Once meeting the audiologist I began to felt more relaxed. Up until now, people who were in the medical profession didn't exactly know what to do with me. These guys were specialised! Another hearing test was conducted, it must have been my 8th one in the last two months. There was no surprise, my hearing had remained at the level it was at. Which the audiologist then said the words I have been wanting to hear '...meet the criteria for a Cochlear Implant'. I knew that was the start of a journey to hearing again, but it wouldn't be straight forward. Nothing ever is.

After this appointment I had to talk to a teacher for the deaf since I was still in education. She advised me on what to do, how much more research I should carry out. Questions were flung at me again about my expectations etc. Boring but essential.

From this meeting I was given a information pack which advised me on what I could do and cant do if I have a cochlear implant.
For example I can't do Badminton if I don't wear some form of protection head wear. My initial thought was what the hell!
Another example is I can't do Karate again. Even though I gave it up many years ago, I have been recently thinking about going back to it. Bugger!
The DVD was similar and this has been making the rounds to all the people which are close to me. It has the aim to make them understand what I am going through.  

The next step in this journey is going to a Cochlear Implant Conference provided by the Ear Foundation. This will hopefully resolve and find the solution to problem which has been weighing on my mind. The decision whether to have 1 or 2 Cochlear Implants!