A hearing test and a different doctor.

Ellie was diagnosed with Auditory Neuropathy when she was about 4 years old and we go to the hospital every year or so to have a hearing test to keep a check on her good ear. Ellie was born nearly deaf in one ear and lost all the hearing in her right ear by the time she was about 7 years old. We were due to go at the beginning of this year but the appointment was cancelled, understandably because of Coronavirus.

Last week, on Monday I was all set to take Ellie to the hospital to have her hearing test but hospital rang mid morning to say the appointment was cancelled because the doctor had phoned in sick, they said they would phone with a new appointment but I didn't expect it to happen so soon. They rang that afternoon with an appointment for Tuesday with a stand in doctor.

Tuesday came and Ellie got to finish school a little earlier than usual so we had chance to get to the appointment at the local hospital. 

Ellie had her usual hearing test which went well but the nurse doing the test was a little confused half way through when it seemed Ellie could hear through her right ear, the bad one. She did the test again playing noise into her good ear and it became clear she had no hearing at all in her bad ear, Ellie just has amazing hearing in her good ear. 

We then went into see the doctor and within 2 minutes of us being in his room he had rubbed me up the wrong way. He asked why we were there, I explained to have Ellie's good ear checked and then said why did we not go to the hospital in Newcastle, err because it's nearly 150 miles away from where we now live. The nurse in the room had to explain we moved here from Northumberland last year and were transferred. He then went on to say measles or a viral infection must have caused Ellie's hearing loss. Again myself and the nurse explained that she was born with a little hearing and then lost it. He then said where is her hearing aid, she doesn't have one. The doctors in Newcastle said one out of the ear would have no effect and a cochlear implant had little chance of working. 

Someone hadn't read Ellie's notes. lol I know her folder is probably the size of a 80 year old's with all the medical issues she's had over the years but come on the least he could have done was skim through it.

The doctor then went on to suggest a MRI scan and I said no and asked what it would achieve? I already knew the answer, he wanted to do some research on her which would make no difference to Ellie and her hearing. He then back tracked and said we won't do a MRI as it probably won't give us any information to help Ellie. It's not my first rodeo, the doctors at Newcastle wanted to do the same, just to aid their research. 

He then started pushing the hearing aid again. Ellie has already said she doesn't want one. She copes well without one and has for her whole life. I think giving her a hearing aid wouldn't benefit her, she has adapted to her hearing loss and it's all she's ever known. If her hearing loss affected her day to day life I would be all for a hearing aid it but it doesn't. The doctor then went on to do further tests and said that she does have amazing hearing in her good ear which makes up for the hearing loss. He said considering she is deaf in one ear you would never guess. Exactly!!

He then went on to say we must do all we can to protect the good ear, Ellie was told that she shouldn't go to nightclubs or pubs where there is loud music or be in noisy environments like factories. Ellie is a girl of few words when she is with people she doesn't know and usually doesn't answer back but this time she looked him dead in the eye and said "I'm 13, I won't be going to nightclubs anytime soon and I am careful about listening to music". He then asked her to take her mask off so he could see her face and he looked a little confused, I am sure he thought she was older than she was! Oops.

Then he went back on about the hearing aid. Grr! I think the nurse saw that I was getting a tad annoyed and said we'll just have them back in a year, OK and that was that.

I don't feel like the doctor really cared or had Ellie's best interests at heart. I trusted the hospital in Newcastle 100% and I felt like we were on the same page. Here I don't feel like that at the moment. We are back in another year and won't be seeing the fill in doctor, hopefully! I am not his biggest fan!