I have always had problems with the hearing in my left ear. When I was very young in elementary school I was told that I didn’t hear as well out of that ear, but that it wasn’t a drastic hearing loss.

I lived with the slight loss of hearing until the summer before my senior year. I went on a mission trip with my best friend and spent the entire month saying “What did you say?”, “Huh?” She was so frustrated with me. We fought the entire month. I would ask her to repeat herself and she would say “No, you’re just not making the effort to listen to what I have to say.” I was heartbroken. I couldn’t understand what was happening.

When I got home I cried on my mother’s shoulder. She suggested that we get my hearing checked again – it had been a long time since I had a hearing test. We went to an ENT who did some hearing test and CAT scans. His explanation was basically that as my body grew, my ear canal did not. It was very small and the CAT scan was showing that the bones in my middle ear were also not shaped correctly.

So I had the first of several surgeries to correct that situation. I had a radical mastoidectomy and a procedure to take some skin from under my arm to use to make me a new ear canal. In a follow up surgery it was determined that the bones in my middle ear were misshapen, but could provide enough conduction for me to hear properly.

That surgery worked for a little while, but about 10 years and 3 children later my hearing started getting really bad again. It was very disconcerting to me as I was having a hard time hearing my own children when they were in a different room from me.

I went to another ENT, had some more tests. We decided to try to reconstruct the bones in my middle ear – there had been some significant erosion of the bones since my high school days. We would try a prosthesis piece in with the bones to try to restore the conduction for me to hear better.

That surgery seemed to be successful, but just a few months later during a coughing fit from bronchitis the prosthesis dislodged and over the next few weeks gradually pushed it’s way out through my ear drum. We decided to try again with another surgery just a few months later. The same thing happened after that surgery. Obviously, my body did not want to deal with the prosthesis bones.

So I resigned myself to wearing a hearing aid. When I first got it I was thrilled just to be able to hear in my left ear again. The world was in stereo again!

But very soon after starting to wear the hearing aid I got an ear infection which prevented me from wearing the hearing aid. I spent the next year having ear infection after ear infection – unable to wear my hearing aid most of the time.

During that time I moved to another state, and I started to see a new ENT. I wanted answers to why the prosthesis bones wouldn’t take. He couldn’t give them to me. But he did have a sincere desire to help me hear better again.

I remember sitting in his office and he said “Pam, I want you to think outside the box in regards to finding a solution for your hearing problem.” OK – I’m all for thinking outside the box. He proceeded to talk to me about the BAHA. All I could hear was “A screw in your head.” I left his office thinking “I don’t know what box he started in – but I’m not thinking outside of THAT box.”

But Dr. Mann gave me some literature and encouraged me to do my own research.

I came back for a follow up visit and he talked to me some more about the procedure. He said the best part about it was that I could try it without doing the actual surgery. I could take a headband home to try in all different situations. So what could that hurt? I got the headband with the BAHA on it and got in my car for the 20 minute drive home. When I got home and got out of my car I told my family “Looks like I’m getting a screw in my head!” I couldn’t believe the difference the BAHA made in what I could hear just on my drive home. I wore the headband as much as I could over the next week. It was wonderful and I couldn’t wait to schedule the surgery.

We scheduled the surgery for December 23, 2004. But before I could have the surgery I had to convince my insurance company that the procedure was medically necessary. It was a challenge and I had to avail myself of all the avenues available to me. I had 2 appeals within the insurance company before I requested an external review. The external council agreed with the doctors that because this was an implantable device it could not be considered a traditional hearing aid, and because of my repeated infections due to conventional hearing aids, this procedure was medically necessary.

The surgery went wonderfully and I had almost no pain as a result of it. It was a rough Christmas as I had several other procedures done at the same time as the screw implant, but the recovery was quick. The three month wait for the post to heal and bond with the skull felt like forever, but that day that I went back to the ENT and got my BAHA was a day I will never forget.

It’s now been almost a year since having the surgery and I never regret it. I love having my BAHA and the new life that it has given me. This Christmas is much different than last Christmas. I can hear my children on the other side of the house and that sound is the best gift of all.

Pamela L. DeVries