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In a hospitalHearing Aids and being hard of hearing in a HospitalAt the end of June, just in time for final exams, Reid told us he thought he was getting his wisdom teeth. The dentist said he had many kids from school with bruxilism (sp?) or pain caused by grinding the teeth from stress, and he would see these kids again after exams were over, should the pain continue. As an aside, perhaps exam time should not be this stressful for everyone. We only get two sets of teeth, and high school seems a little young to be wearing out teeth from stress. Next we went to a walk-in clinic because our GP was not available, and acquired a diagnosis of infected sinus, prescription for pain killers, and antibiotics. Two days later, Reid saw the GP who sent him to Emergency, and he was admitted on "the million dollar" IV. A day after he was transferred to a major urban hospital, and the third antibiotic finally worked. Both hospitals had a notice saying the hospital was not responsible for hearing aids. At the second hospital, the nurse was insistent Reid wear his hearing aid so she could talk to him. Admirable, but I had a vision of $3500 hitting the opposite wall and sliding to the ground, so we forgot the hearing aid at home. The ENT did not send Reid for audiology after being on these drugs, or make a recommendation that he go back to his audiologist. So, now Reid is famous for having the worst sinus infection any of these doctors had seen. As either Ross or I was with Reid at either hospital all the time, it was possible for us to run interference with every person who had to talk to him. Several times new people coming in for the first time would go up to his deaf ear to talk to him, because most of the nursing is done from his deaf side. We were able to get along when people were aware of his hearing problem, and to interfere when people were not aware. It was a very tough time, and I'm glad we made it through. Reid says writing exams is better than being sick enough for a medical exemption.
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