Can You Hear Me Now?

Today I had a first.

Hubby had an audiology appointment at the V.A. and being his chauffeur and helpmate I accompanied him into his appointment. We were ushered into a small very gray room with odd looking doors. As we walked down the hall I mentioned that the rooms looked like they may have been vaults at one time. The closer I got to the door I viewed it was a thick door with another thick door attached to it. Peculiar looking in deed with long pull handles instead of knobs. Dr. Audiology took the wheel chair and lifted it over a raise in the floor. I surveyed the raise and it was a small gap in the floor. It actually felt like we were going into an elevator or vault. Then Dr Audiology closed the door, with some umph to do so! Now at this point, had I been claustrophobic I may have been screaming to be let out! Then the quiet set in. And I mean quiet. We were in a sound proof room. How cool was that?!
Dr Audiology,... I'm just going to  call him Ear Dr because spell check keeps alerting me to my improper spelling of audiology :/ My fingers are going to fast and mixing up my letters.

Ear Dr. took some time to visit with Hubby about his hearing and ask Hubby what he thought about the problem. I thought that was very nice of him. Ear Dr explained the types of testing he would do, sounds and word recognition. He fitted Hubby with the earphone equipment and while he did that I asked Ear Dr if he noticed Hubby's Lewy Body diagnosis. He said yes so of course my next question is,,,Are you familiar with Lewy Body?
Ear Dr was not as confident with his knowledge and admitted he was only vaguely familiar with it. We discussed Hubby's hearing issue as a possibility of  less hearing loss and more lack of understanding but since it's impossible to tell where the lewy protein deposits are taking up residence in Hubby's brain we will just see where we are and go from there. I liked Ear Dr for being so honest about his Lewy knowledge.

All fitted for his testing, Ear Dr left the room through the big doors and the outside noise swept into the room. Very interesting experience for me, then the silence again as he closed the door. There was a fairly decent sized window in the room, at first I thought it was one way glass but I think it was just hazed over, maybe on purpose. It was butted up against what looked like another hazy window and I caught a shadow of a person sitting down. I surmised this was Ear Dr.

I sat quietly in my chair I was offered and looked over the room. Not much to see or rather nothing interesting to go and explore or so I told myself since I could be seen through the glass and heard as I realized when I saw a microphone protruding from the wall next to Hubby. I remembered my grandmother telling me to mind my Ps and Qs. Hmm come to think of it, I use that phrase myself but I have no idea what Ps and Qs are. So I minded them and stayed quietly seated.

Hubby sat in his wheelchair waiting for the test to start when all of a sudden he shot up in his seat and he looked around the room. I will only guess that the test started and the sudden noise scared my easily startled Hubby. His eyes got HUGE and I broke out in laughter but quickly contained it in the form of the Muttley the Dog laugh! You know that cartoon dog that does that odd laugh?
Hubby could hear Ear Dr but I couldn't and occasionally Hubby would say "yes" or say a random word. This went on for a little while but I kept recalling the surprised look on Hubby's face and had to keep the Muttley laugh in check. Let me tell you, that is not easy to do in a soundproof room and you're the one making the noise! I kept turning my head hoping to see something to concentrate on and divert my thoughts. Finally I had to tell myself "Get a grip" and I did until I suppose another sudden sound startled Hubby and he jumped and looked around again. I think I snorted a little :/
I'll be honest, as I sit here and write this I'm still smiling.

The shadow of the person in the other room got up, In a moment Ear Dr came back into the room and fitted Hubby with another devise. This one wasn't directly on the ear itself but sat just above the ear towards Hubby's temple area. This was interesting enough to me to keep me occupied. Ear Dr apologized to Hubby for startling him, Hubby said he just wasn't expecting it.

Ear Dr left the room and in a moment I saw the shadowy figure take a seat. So at this point I'm pretty much thinking I'm right in believing it's Ear Dr.

This time I hear a beep noise, I look around, Hubby says nothing. It stops. I hear it again, Hubby says nothing, so I ask, "Can you hear that?" Hubby says "yes" Then I hear the voice of Ear Dr coming from Hubby's head. I sit quietly and concentrate on the beeps that Hubby isn't acknowledging and the ones he is.

Ear Dr. returns to the room, disconnects Hubby and says that it appears that Hubby has lost some hearing but they were going to fit him for hearing aids. He said that it wouldn't restore Hubby's ears back to his youth but it might help remove some of the stress Hubby may be experiencing trying to hear and providing him with less stress and some comfort was what they wanted to do.

I sure did like Ear Dr.

So our Audiology appointment went quite well. Hubby should have new hearing aids in a few weeks. Lets pray that Hubby does get some relief with them.