Last Friday I took my left hearing aid to the ENT for servicing. I love that word, servicing, not sure where I heard it from actually but it sounds like a word a Queen would use...LOL...Anyhoo, when I got to the ENT, I explained that the hearing aid had died and showed them another insurance card to add to their files. The receptionist took the information and disappeared somewhere in the back. When she reappeared, she had Ed with her. Ed was the guy who originally fitted me for my hearing aids. I was relieved to see him. Ed gets me to his office and I explain what happened. Ed then goes on to ask about my warranty which I explained had expired in September. It figures; I seem to have that kind of luck at times. I told him no one explained to me that I could get an extended warranty. Now that I think about it, he should’ve been the one to explain all that to me.

After listening to me and seeing the insurance I had, Ed explained that he didn’t think the office worked with my insurance company anymore but he had a course of action which he hoped would work. The plan was that Ed was going to put my hearing aid in some contraption that he called “The Magic Box”. The box would suck out whatever moisture or wax that may have gotten trapped in the hearing aid and hopefully that would be the solution to my problem. The only thing was that the box takes about 6 hours to complete which means I would be without a hearing aid over the weekend. A minor inconvenience or so I thought at the time; I could deal with that.

I guess I spoke too soon. It was completely irritating to say the least. Missing that one hearing aid literally stopped me in my tracks as far as talking on the phone. If I tried to talk on the phone, I had to hold it very close to my ear which left me trying to fight through distortions and feedback just to try to piece together a conversation. In turn, I had to go into my voicemail and change my greeting explaining the circumstances. The only option I could offer anyone calling me was to either leave me a message or if they had text messaging, was to text me. This was definitely becoming a major pain, Ed would be getting a call on Monday.

And just trying to hold a conversation face to face was just as impossible. People have to stand to the right of me and talk loud. For some that seemed to be hard to do - *rolls eyes*. When trying to watch TV, I either turn up the volume or just read the captioning. The captioning really isn’t a bother to me because I use to have that on before I lost my hearing. For example, if I was listening to music but watching tv. But when it comes to the volume, well, certain channels would come across blaring while others I would have to strain to hear. This really sucked.

I called Ed back on Monday. I got no reply or so I thought. I called back on Tuesday. Ed called me back and said he had left a message. And he did, on the house phone which I can’t hear. He went on to explain what I mentioned earlier but also took my insurance info and the physician’s number from the back of my insurance card. He was going to make some calls and see what he could do for me since his office couldn’t help. It is now Wednesday and I have yet to hear back from Ed.

My concerns is the price of the hearing aids. According to Ed if they are more than the $1500 that my insurance is willing to cover then I am pretty much S.O.L. I can’t go back through the Hear Now program because they only help people every 5 years. A friend told me to go through my ASO because they are suppose to have some type of emergency funds through Ryan White thing but I doubt very much that they have over $1500. What am I suppose to do now? Literally be deaf because I can’t afford the hearing aids I need to hear? You would think that insurance would cover the full cost of hearing aids but then I guess there aren’t enough people around that are deaf for them to implement some type of program. *Shakes my head in disgust*...