OK, so that everyone will be informed and we won't have to answer everyone's questions individually, here's a note about how Chris lost his hearing and what we're doing about it. Chris has had noise (tinnitus) in his right ear since about 2002, but it stayed about the same for a long time.
He took his job with Williams Natural Gas in 2006, annual hearing tests are done on their employees due to noise exposure. Between his 2008-2009 tests he had a significant progressive loss in both ears, most likely due to noise exposure even though he was using ear plugs and muffs for protection. His co-workers do not have similar losses. Williams began an investigation to determine if this loss was work related, and they decided it was an OSHA recordable incident, and a claim has been filed for him to receive workmans comp for the percentage of the loss they determine is work related.
Then in July Chris had a fever for a couple of days, not extreme enough to go to a doctor. A day or two later he woke up and could not hear out of his remaining good ear--leaving him with only his ear with tinnitus to hear out of. He was put on a round of steroids and antibiotics and tested for any viruses that may have attacked his ear. They did not find anything unusual in his blood tests, and the steroids did nothing to undo the damage.
Just before Thanksgiving Chris felt a change in his ear that left him hearing lots of distortion like he was in a tunnel. It improved, and then came back a couple of times, but was getting worse on Thanksgiving Day. On Friday when we woke up, I rolled over to say something to him in bed, talking into his good ear only an inch or two away with a normal voice and he couldn't hear/understand anything I had said. The tinnitus had completely drowned out and distorted what little he could still hear. We went to an urgent care clinic, and they gave him another round of steroids and antibiotics.
Monday we went to Boise to see a specialist. His losses do not fit any known diagnosis. He has no family history if this. The progressive losses, noise related losses, and sudden losses are not usually experienced this way in such a short amount of time. They ran more blood work to check for autoimmune disease, but his hearing loss is not typical for autoimmune inner ear disease. He is on short term disability from work until he is able to get hearing aids in January. They are ordering him custom high powered aids that will hopefully drown out or diminish the tinnitus so that he can hear over it.
The doctor told me that we will probably just rule out hearing aids as a good solution so that he can fulfill the requirements to be a candidate for cochlear implants. The implant technology is great, and our insurance covers it pretty well, so we are hoping that things will move along quickly so that he can hear again soon. He is missing out on a lot, and it will be VERY difficult for him to not go to work.
So we will be doing lots of projects at home, going out into the woods to find a Christmas tree, decorating, Christmas shopping, etc. We'll try to keep him busy so he doesn't go insane.
He took his job with Williams Natural Gas in 2006, annual hearing tests are done on their employees due to noise exposure. Between his 2008-2009 tests he had a significant progressive loss in both ears, most likely due to noise exposure even though he was using ear plugs and muffs for protection. His co-workers do not have similar losses. Williams began an investigation to determine if this loss was work related, and they decided it was an OSHA recordable incident, and a claim has been filed for him to receive workmans comp for the percentage of the loss they determine is work related.
Then in July Chris had a fever for a couple of days, not extreme enough to go to a doctor. A day or two later he woke up and could not hear out of his remaining good ear--leaving him with only his ear with tinnitus to hear out of. He was put on a round of steroids and antibiotics and tested for any viruses that may have attacked his ear. They did not find anything unusual in his blood tests, and the steroids did nothing to undo the damage.
Just before Thanksgiving Chris felt a change in his ear that left him hearing lots of distortion like he was in a tunnel. It improved, and then came back a couple of times, but was getting worse on Thanksgiving Day. On Friday when we woke up, I rolled over to say something to him in bed, talking into his good ear only an inch or two away with a normal voice and he couldn't hear/understand anything I had said. The tinnitus had completely drowned out and distorted what little he could still hear. We went to an urgent care clinic, and they gave him another round of steroids and antibiotics.
Monday we went to Boise to see a specialist. His losses do not fit any known diagnosis. He has no family history if this. The progressive losses, noise related losses, and sudden losses are not usually experienced this way in such a short amount of time. They ran more blood work to check for autoimmune disease, but his hearing loss is not typical for autoimmune inner ear disease. He is on short term disability from work until he is able to get hearing aids in January. They are ordering him custom high powered aids that will hopefully drown out or diminish the tinnitus so that he can hear over it.
The doctor told me that we will probably just rule out hearing aids as a good solution so that he can fulfill the requirements to be a candidate for cochlear implants. The implant technology is great, and our insurance covers it pretty well, so we are hoping that things will move along quickly so that he can hear again soon. He is missing out on a lot, and it will be VERY difficult for him to not go to work.
So we will be doing lots of projects at home, going out into the woods to find a Christmas tree, decorating, Christmas shopping, etc. We'll try to keep him busy so he doesn't go insane.
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