Finally a hearing appointment.

Way, way back in January Ellie had her yearly hearing check. She is deaf in one ear and gets the good ear checked to make sure it's still good. It was a good appointment as she was offered a CROS hearing aid. She wouldn't need surgery and wouldn't need to miss much school. We were told that she needed a MRI scan which could be done on the same day that she is fitted for her hearing aids. That didn't happen. They decided they wanted to see the results from the MRI before giving her the hearing aid in case they found something which meant the hearing aid wouldn't work which was fair enough.

We went for the MRI scan a couple of weeks later and it showed that she had a few tiny, old bleeds on her brain. We were shocked to say the least the the doctor was less than helpful, he told us nothing apart that Ellie needed to see a neurosurgeon, he would refer us and refer Ellie to get her hearing aid. He wasn't the nicest man, could hardly string a sentence together, didn't answer any of our questions, reassure us or show us any care. The nurse did most of the talking and tried her best.

Eight months later we were still waiting. We did have an electronic letter saying we're still on a waiting list and will be seen soon, it turns out that wasn't for either of the appointments the doctor referred us for, it was for something else. Thankfully we saw Ellie's cardiologist for a check on her heart in March and he said the bleeds were most likely caused by her heart defect either before or during her open heart surgery. It's apparently quite common and that put our minds at rest a little.

Ellie has a wonderful lady who goes into school a few times a year to check she is getting the support that she needs and she always rings me to let me know she's going to see Ellie and she asked if we had any hearing issues and I mentioned the wait time at the hospital and she said that wasn't right, she would chase it up. She did and said that the ENT department had not referred Ellie back to Audiology so she was sat in limbo. She told me to give them a ring and have words which I did. The lovely receptionist at the hospital was fantastic and could see where we should have been referred back to Audiology and can't understand why we weren't. I have a good idea, that useless doctor. I am all for people working into their 70's or 80's but when they are not doing their job properly it's dangerous. 

I rang on the Friday and we had the appointment on the Wednesday. It went really well in the Audiology department. Ellie had another hearing test and they tested the hearing aid on her which she would be getting and it seems to really help her hear more. She now has an appointment in December to get it and tuned in so it is right for her. A month, that was the waiting time, not eight!!

This is the latest results of Ellie's hearing test. On the right is her good ear with normal hearing and on the left her bad ear with no hearing. Those tests are hard to watch. Ellie has headphones on and presses a button when she hears a beep. When they test just her bad ear with a whooshing sound played into her good ear I can hear the beeps through the headphones, it's loud and Ellie can't hear it. It's sad.

We then saw a new doctor in the Ear, nose and throat department who thought Ellie already had her hearing aid as she should have by now. hahaha I explained everything and It turns out the old doctor hadn't been making referrals to other departments for people that he had been seeing! He wasn't doing his job properly. Thankfully for us it wasn't a matter of life and death but for others I dread to think. I was furious but I think I dealt with it pretty well when I was speaking to the doctor. There was a point where I had to hold my hands together because I was starting to wave them around and it's a good job I had a mask on as for a moment I was stood there with my mouth open in shock when he said the doctor is no longer working at the hospital. 

The waiting list for a neuro appointment is about 6 or so months so I said that's no good, we've been waiting 8 already, it's not our fault that the hospital/doctor messed up. The new doctor said he is going to explain everything to Sheffield hospital and will aim to get us seen early in the new year. He also said we had to go to Sheffield which I wasn't happy about as it is quite a distance and the old doctor said we only had to go as far as Hull so he is going to push for a telephone consultation first. I have a feeling we would get all of the way to Sheffield, they would read Ellie's notes on the day and then say it's nothing to worry about as the bleeds were caused by her heart defect/surgery and tell us to go on our way. Two and a half hours there and then back again is a lot of time, money and effort just for a 10 minute appointment. At least if they read her notes before they phone call they will know Ellie's medical history. The new doctor did say that they might want to redo her MRI scan as they don't always trust things from Scunthorpe hospital. I can see why, I don't trust them!

I asked the doctor if we hadn't of rang and chased the appointments up how long would we have been waiting, he just shrugged his shoulders. I can't knock the new doctor, he is just picking up the pieces that the old doctor left. He was apologetic, I kept having to tell myself it's not his fault, it is the fault of the hospital. In the end it has all came good, Ellie is finally getting sorted and that is all that I have ever wanted.