Totally Alive
Les had normal hearing for the first 40 years of his life but gradually lost it over a period of 10 years. There was no known cause and no effective treatment. He became a social recluse until he had a cochlear implant
This is his story.
Les Thompson May 2009
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For the first 40 years of my life I had good normal hearing and never thought anything more about it. But then, in 1997 I noticed I was missing things and saying "pardon" a lot more than usual. I attended a doctor and had a number of hearing tests. The results were that I had a hearing loss, but why and what the future held was inconclusive.
A year later, when I had moved to Brisbane, I visited another hearing specialist and was told the condition I had would steadily worsen until I was totally deaf. Since nothing could be done this specialist suggested I return in about 10 years by which time the loss would be bad enough to consider a Cochlear implant. He also recommended I keep up private health cover so I would be covered for an implant.
I turned into a social recluse.
For a few years, I had a hearing aid which helped. I changed to more powerful ones several times, putting up with a lot of the drawbacks with any hearing aid. Eventually my hearing became so bad it was unable to be effectively corrected. I had not used a phone for over a year and had not been able to watch (hear) TV for a couple of years. Whenever anyone spoke to me I would scuttle over to stand uncomfortably close to them. Eva (my long suffering wife) had to deal with any business in shops or offices and at work I had to be tapped on the shoulder to gain my attention before people spoke directly to me. It was quite a pain, not only for me but for everyone around me and I started turning into a social recluse.
I returned to the specialist. It was 9 years since I had last seen him. I had lots more tests and meetings before it was decided to go ahead with a Cochlear implant. I had the actual implant operation in January 2008.
Physical recovery from the operation took about 36 hours with another 10 days off work "to be sure". At switch on of the processor I was amazed to hear various sounds directly inside my head. Within an hour I was conversing quite well with people, although at first they sounded a bit "robotic". That night I was hearing bits of the TV.
The processor was adjusted next day and re-adjusted every week for a month and further re-adjusted at monthly intervals. Every adjustment, a very simple process, brought improvement. After only weeks I was feeling "back as part of society" and had people remarking how much better I was at communicating. Within months I felt a lot more "normal", while now, a year later, I feel very confident in almost all situations.
Without my implant I am almost totally deaf, but with it totally alive.
I watch and enjoy TV and use the phone regularly. I hold conversations with everyone and now go out of my way to talk to others. At work, as elsewhere, I am now used to people talking to me from 4 - 5 metres away.
My friends and family are amazed and I am astounded. Without the implant I am almost totally deaf, but with it totally alive.