Earmolds

The earmold I got back in Feb/March.... welllllll it split wide open right at the hole where the tubing goes into the earmold. Oh great. So I made an appointment to have a new earmold impression made, and wore an old earmold that must've been around 5 years old. It was pretty hard too, but I didn't experience feedbacking from the hearing aid with it. Got the earmold impression made...

Week and half later, the audiologist's assistant called and left me a message, saying to call her back. I tried to call back several times with the i711 Relay service, but got a "line is busy" response every time. What?! I was able to get through a couple days later. Yep, earmold is ready, so stop by Friday or Monday and she'll fit it. Of course, I couldn't go last Friday, as my car door wouldn't stay shut. By yesterday though, door was staying shut, my battery had been charged up and I could get my car running again, so I ran over to the audie's office to get the earmold. Yay! This time it's a Westone earmold, not Unitron.

From there, I went to work and switched back to the old earmold, as the new one was already hurting the top of my ear in the crook. I forgot to mention to the assistant to leave the top part off the earmold when the impression was made. But I remembered I had a Dremel tool at home, so when I got home yesterday evening, I used the Dremel and filed the top of the earmold down a bit. Now it fits better in my ear, doesn't hurt. I'm very happy now. I've used nail files in the past to file down the top of the earmold, but the Dremel tool is so much more quicker! I originally got the Dremel tool to use to file down my dog's claws, but he absolutely refuses to let me get near him with the Dremel, so it's been sitting around collecting dust for several months. Was glad to finally get an actual use out of the Dremel.

iCom and telecoil

Got to play with telecoil over the weekend. Works great! And there is far less buzzing/electrical interference with telecoil on while I'm near a computer. I pretty much have to put my ear right next to the computer to even hear the buzzing, so that's a big improvement from the Supero.

Tried out the iCom tonight for the first time. It works well for listening to music on the ipod or computer. But will I actually get one for myself? I have no idea. It's an accessory, Medicaid wouldn't cover it, so I'd have to come up with about $300 for the iCom. I'll keep trying it out, but so far I'm thinking I'll just stick with Telecoil, since I already have the MusicLink, and I also still have my neckloop for backup (for use on the computer, the plug-in jack is different on the neckloop so it won't plug into my ipod).

I have noticed that I do have to turn up the volume on the computer or ipod more with the icom. With tcoil, the volume setting is pretty low and I can hear the music just fine, lower than with the Supero.

Naida/Supero, captions

Had an audiology appointment today at 11:30. Audie fitted the new earmold for my left ear, attached it to my Supero hearing aid, and hey no feedback! Awesome. But it sure feels odd to have a hearing aid in the left ear. It's been so long, it just feels weird. And I can feel the earmold vibrating in my ear too. I had to turn the volume down on the Supero to reduce the earmold vibrating. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be hearing anything with the left ear, but we want to keep the auditory nerve simulated.

Also made a few adjustments to the Naida. Brought up the level on the SoundRelax feature to moderate (was on low before), so will see how that works now. Also put in a program for Speech in Noise, and modified it so the background noise would be reduced so I could hear speech in front of me (I asked about ZoomControl, and she had to call Phonak. Turns out one would need 2 Naida IXs for the ZoomControl feature, but she was able to modify the Speech in Noise so it'd be similar to the ZoomControl). Also had her turn on Telecoil on the hearing aid too, so when I get home I'll experiment with the MusicLink from TecEar and the ipod. She took the EasyPhone programming off, since I don't even use a phone, and put Telecoil in the EasyPhone spot, to see if putting the MusicLink to my ear will cause my hearing aid to switch to the Tcoil automatically. If not, no big deal.

She also loaned me the iCom to try out, as well. I'll definitely be doing some "experimenting" over the next 3 weeks with the Telecoil and iCom functions, and see which works best for me.

I'm quite happy with the Naida IX. Definitely a much better progress this time of adapting to it. No glitches or any of the problems like I experienced the V 2 years ago. I still continue to pick up on more sounds here and there.


Also, in the last few weeks, I've emailed the CW station about the lack of captions on their channel on my TV. I wasn't sure if it was the local CW channel doing that, or if it was a problem with the cable or what was going on. After chatting with Bresnan cable, I was able to turn on the Subtitles option on the cable box. But that still didn't do anything. CW channel was still captionless. So I asked some of my friends on Facebook if they got captions or not. One said no, and another said yes. I had the 2nd friend send me pictures of her cable box, to see if it was different. Indeed, she had a different box, the newer Pace box. After relay-calling Bresnan, they sent a tech guy out. I mentioned that my friend had the Pace box and got the captions, and he said he noticed that difference too. The older Motorola box just doesn't pick up the captions for the CW channel for some reason (which is odd, since the captions work fine on most other channels). But he took the old Motorola box out, and hooked up the new Pace box, and now the captions work great! Awesome. Now I should be able to enjoy watching Supernatural and Smallville once again. Of course, I need to get caught up, which I'll do at some point. I'm just happy to finally have captions for the CW channel again.

Naida IX UP

Got the nice new RED Naida IX. so far not bad. Just very basic right now. Have another appointment for Sept. 16. Audie doesn't think Medicaid will cover icom but she'll call Phonak and find out. Will have to try the hearing aid in different situations and figure out what adjustments need to be made. Also new earmold impression made for the left ear, 3/4 shell (half shell wasn't good enough, Supero hearing aid feedbacks like CRAZY). Audie is also going to get a NoahPro set up on her computer so she can adjust the Supero and reduce feedback on it.

Been hearing random things when I got back to my apartment. My dog had 2 tags on his collar (1 for rabies vaccination, the other is ID tag), but I had to take the ID tag off so the tags wouldn't "clink" (I need to get him a new ID tag with updated info anyway). I heard the clinking with the Supero, but it wasn't too bad. But now, whoa buddy he's so NOISY! I'm about ready to take all the squeakers out of his toys too! And I've kept hearing this buzzing going on, I think it was coming from outside. Not sure what it was... maybe traffic? or lawn mowing (although the lawn mowing was done yesterday) or plane? I have no idea. I think it's cars passing by.

MusicLink issues

And already I've got issues with the TecEar NoizFree music link. Great. I think the wiring connection has gotten a bit loose. I have to play with the cord a bit to get the best results for listening to music, but I move in the slightest bit, the connection disappears. Definitely not too happy with this right now. I'll have to speak with my audie on Tuesday and see if there's something else I could use to listen to music on my ipod. I don't want to have to keep buying the Hatis Epic or the TecEar NoizFree every time the old one breaks. Seems like no matter what I do, I'm somehow rough with both device (although the Hatis Epic will last me about a year so I get a longer use out of it).

I have used Phonak's FM unit in the past for listening to music, but I quit using it when the FM transmitter kept breaking so often (I got this transmitter back in Jan. 2001 when I got the Claro hearing aid). It's an older transmitter, one which Phonak doesn't make/sell anymore. And buying a whole new unit would just cost more money that I don't have. Maybe I could try using DAI or something. I don't know, but I'll have to discuss this with the audie and see if we can figure something out. Or maybe the icom? I don't even know.

Word of Hope Deaf School

I haven't had much luck with my Hearing Aids for Africa project. But that's ok, I tried. And I'm still trying. But I also learned that the African Hope Initiative is trying to raise $40,000 by October. That money will be used to purchase hearing aids and provide education for the deaf kids in Burkina Faso. The African Hope Initiative will be flying out to Burkina in November to provide the hearing aids and funds.

You can donate money directly to:
African Hope Initiative
P.O. Box 631324
Littleton, CO 80163-1324

or online at http://africanhopeinitiative.org/contribute/

For more info, check out this blog entry.

Also, here's a video about the Word of Hope Deaf School.

Today's Appointment

Today I got to meet the new audiologist at the office, since the previous one left to help a relative out for a while. Don't know how long he'll be out, but I was really pleased with the new audie. She's extremely nice, has a husband that wears hearing aids, yeah. She read some of the notes in my file and noticed that I was working on getting a cochlear implant. When she saw that, she got on me for not having a hearing aid on in the left ear for stimulation purposes. She made an earmold impression of the left ear so I can get a mold and start using my analog again later on. We also discussed different power hearing aids, and she's placed an order for a Phonak Naida IX UP, red transparency. Oooo. She tried to hook up my Supero to the computer to make adjustments to it, but alas, she doesn't have the cable cord so the adjustment didn't happen. But overall, I was really pleased with today's appointment! I think I'll be happy with her. Have an appointment for ... I think it was Aug. 24... erm, I have the appointment card at home on my fridge. Since she's the only audie in the whole office, and she's taking on the previous audie's clients, she's rather busy these days, but what else can I do? Last I checked, there weren't any other local audiologists that accept Medicaid.

It seemed like she was familiar enough with how Phonak's newer hearing aids function, and of how to program them... I brought up that I had tried the Naida V a couple years back and that it was so full of problems I wasn't happy then. She said part of it was probably because of the compression feature. Hm!

Noizfree, hearing aid trial

Late last week, I finally broke down and ordered the NoiZfree iNoiZ music and audio t-coil induction earhook/silhouette directly from tecear.com, since the my Hatis Epic silhouette isn't working as well anymore (wiring once again broke or wore out inside the cord). Why I went with NoiZfree instead of Hatis this time? NoiZfree is cheaper. I received it in the mail today and immediately plugged it into my ipod to give it a try. Yes, I do have to play with it a bit more to find the "right" spot behind the ear for the hearing aid to pick up on sounds going through it via t-coil... but hey, it works! I'm happy with it so far. And the cord is coiled on the NoiZfree, which is great. The cord was far too long on the Hatis (if completely unwound, the cord would reach the floor with the silhouette behind my ear). I'm definitely liking the coiled cord on NoiZfree. Actually, at first, I ordered the Music Link from TecEar, but then I found the NoiZfree music one, so I emailed TecEar's customer support and ask them if my original order could be changed to the NoiZfree (they both are the same price). I don't know if there is much difference between NoiZfree and Music Link, I don't even know if MusicLink has a coiled cord like NoiZfree does. Anyway, TecEar were able to change my order, no problem. And the shipping is quite fast too. I could have ordered this from Harris Communications, but they charge an extra $10, and since I'm trying to save my money as much as I can, it made more sense to order directly from TecEar.

The trial with the Sumo has gone well for the most part. Except, whenever I wanted to listen to music, I've used the Supero instead. I really do not like the loud buzzing interference with the Sumo's t-coil setting when near electronics. But other than that, the Sumo isn't a bad hearing aid. It works well. I've even worn it to Walmart to see how it did in noise, but I don't know if there was much difference between the Sumo and Supero... With Supero I could switch to the NoiseAdapt setting and that brought down the background noise... I don't know. But tomorrow I'll start trialing a Naida IX, so we'll see how that goes.

Oticon Sumo: Day 1

Day 1 of the Oticon Sumo DM hearing aid trial. So far, not too bad. Mom thinks I'm doing better with the Sumo, I'm responding more and not asking her to repeat as often as I did with the Supero. Definitely don't care for the telecoil on the Sumo when I'm close to electronics/computers, the buzzing is louder and more noticeable than the Supero's (and even more obnoxious sounding in the car!). Although, having a T+M setting is nice, but surely the Supero could be programmed to have T+M.... But yeah. I think I have been picking up a bit more without having to lipread with the Sumo than I did with the Supero. But sound-quality wise, I'm not really noticing much of a difference. Well, tonight when I was at Mom's house, she was tapping her fingers on the remote (a habit of hers), and I was REALLY hearing it. I've heard the tapping with the Supero too, but I'm not sure if it was louder with the Sumo or not.

I still think music sounds better with the Supero, with the telecoil setting. Volume is just right on. With the Sumo, I think the hearing aid was trying to suppress the volume from my ipod, so the music just wasn't as loud (as I normally like it). Even played with the volume setting on both the Sumo and the ipod. I still have a whole week to go to trial the Sumo. The Sumo may use older technology, but it is still a powerful hearing aid.

Next Tuesday, I'll trial Phonak's Naida IX UP. Yes, the Naida, the one I despised a couple years ago when I trialed it then (the V UP). Phonak and audiologist both say the glitches/issues that a batch of the early Naidas have since been resolved (Naida shutting off on its own, etc.). And audiologist has a few clients who are really liking the Naida and the benefits they're getting from the hearing aids. I'm hoping the upcoming trial period will be better. Yes, I'm very sure it'll still take several programming adjusting sessions to get the Naida tweaked just right (I don't think we had the V UP tweaked just right the first time, but with all the other problems I was having with it, I just couldn't be bothered with it after the 3 months of trialing).

Dilemma

After calling EqualityCare to discuss coverage for hearing aids, basically if I wanted to get a new hearing aid nowadays to replace my old one, I should have just requested the Otion Sumo hearing aid instead of Phonak sending back a replacement. So now I'm trying to get in contact with the audiology office again, and see if we can work something out. It wasn't a repair to my old hearing aid, it was fully replaced with a new Supero. Yes, it works, but sometimes I just wonder if another hearing aid might be better. So I'll call the office again in about half an hour or so (when they get done with lunch) and see if something can be worked out. My original Supero was already 6 years old when Telecoil went busted (and apparently Phonak couldn't fix it), so EqualityCare would have covered a new hearing aid to replace the old one (they will cover new hearing aids after the old one has been used for 5 years and the warranty has expired). The replacement Supero is technically a whole new hearing aid, right?


EDIT: called audiology back.. it's still the same old Supero, just has new parts. The way the audiologist said it this morning, I got confused. Mentioned that I would like to at least trial an Oticon hearing aid, yada yada. Yeah. Got that straightened out.

It's back!

I have my Supero hearing aid back! Yahoo! Well, actually, it's a whole new Supero hearing aid. Apparently Phonak couldn't repair my actual hearing aid, so they just replaced it instead. Hum. Wow. Anyway, I'm very glad to have the Supero back. And just in time for my sister's birthday too! Today ought to be a good day!

Phonak vs. Oticon

I've worn Phonak hearing aids since I became deaf at age 2, and have always been happy enough with their products (until I tried out the Naida for 3 months a couple years back, which I didn't much care for). Now I'm just wondering how the Oticon products compare to Phonak. I currently am wearing Phonak's Supero 413AZ, and have been looking at the specs of Oticon's Sumo (Sumo's MPO and gain is just slightly higher than the Supero's). Just wondering if there's much of a difference between Supero and Sumo, such as any difference with feedback control, how the aids work in noisy situations, etc. I've had the Supero since May 2004 (so 6 years). It still works fine, but nowadays it seems I have to take the hearing aid back to the audiologist for more repairs than ever (telecoil setting went busted a couple weeks back and just now has been sent back to audiologist's office after being sent to Phonak for repair; battery cover broke and had to be replaced for the first time ever last month, etc. etc.). I'm just curious about the Sumo.

How does Oticon's FM products compare to Phonak's FM? I've quit using the old Phonak T-Mic FM transmitter since it broke/quit working frequently and have resorted to using the Hatis Epic silhouette earhook for listen to music. How about DAI? I tried DAI with the Phonak "shoe" on the Supero and directly connecting to iPod, etc. and I didn't like the way it sounded (static-y sounding) but perhaps I needed to have the audiologist do some adjustments to the Supero to make DAI work properly. Not sure if I will actually get a new hearing aid anytime soon or not. Just something I like to think about every once in a while. Maybe I just need to trial a Sumo and see if there's any difference; will have to see if something can be worked out.

Also curious as to when people generally replace their hearing aids. 6 years? 10? Do some people wait until the old hearing aids are busted/un-repairable before getting new ones? Just curious. The Supero I've had for 6 years now, the Claro (before I got Supero) 4 years; purple analog Pico forte 8 years, beige analog pico forte (before I got the purple ones) 7 years.



Still trying to get left ear implanted, it just may be a while longer yet. Now Medicaid insists that I score 40% or worse with the word recognition testing of the hearing test at best. I scored around 52% in the right ear the lest time I was tested (last year). It doesn't matter that the left ear is at 0% and it's the left ear I want to implant, Medicaid won't cover the implant with my 52% scoring of the right ear. From I was told, Medicare says person has to score 40% or worse in the ear that is to be implanted, and Medicaid generally follows Medicare's guidelines, but Medicaid will have their own specific guidelines. It's kind of frustrating, but what can I do. My right ear's scoring has been pretty consistent too (last year's testing, and the testing in 2006?, right ear scored 52%).

telecoil is busted

The telecoil on my Supero hearing aid has gone kooky. How that happened, I have absolutely no clue at all whatsoever. One night, I was listening to music on the computer with the Hatis Epic silhouette earhook, everything working great. The next day at work when I try to listen to music on my iPod, I couldn't hear anything! If I maxed out the volume on the iPod, then I could barely hear something. And I found it odd that I didn't hear a buzzing sound when I put my ear close to the computer on the telecoil setting. That was when I knew something was wrong. Even just switching to telecoil has an odd sound now, that wasn't there before. I relay-called Phonak to see if there was anything I could possibly do. They said probably not, that it sounded like the hearing aid would have to be sent in for telecoil to be fixed. Oh great. Called and set up an appointment with local audiologist for ... Wednesday morning I think. Will see what happens then. I'm most definitely not happy to have to go back to the old analog for telecoil function. But what else can I do?

Oh no!

I was getting ready to leave the house to go to work when my hearing aid
beeped at me. Oh great! Took out the old battery, and the battery cover
broke. Crap! I wasn't too happy about that. I put a new battery in, and
the cover is still somewhat useable. But I know it'll break off
completely soon enough. Drove to the audiologist real quick, to see if
the assistant cold replace the cover. This unexpected errand is making
me late for work, but I want to get the battery cover taken cared of.
This is the first time the battery cover broke the whole time I've had
the Supero hearing aid (since May 2004). Wowza.


Audie's assistant doesn't have replacement covers for my hearing aid, she did put in an order for a new one to be sent to her. Hopefully within a couple of days or so the battery cover will be fixed.

So frustrating

A few weeks back, I sent an inquiry to the Wyoming EqualityCare office about their criteria for cochlear implant coverage. Today I've gotten a response. Since I sent in the inquiry, they've removed the "no communicating" bit from their criteria. Great!

But... I have to have scored 40% or worse in order for Medicaid to cover the implant for me. I've scored somewhere a bit over 50% with the right ear (0% for left ear). Ugh! Advanced Bionics insurance reimbursement already knows of this. I'm waiting on a response from Allison Biever to see if there's something else we could do. I am so incredibly frustrated right now. I do know there is still the CNI Cochlear Implant Assistance's program, and I may have to go that route afterall. I want to see what Allison has to say first.

Oh wow. The news of the meningitis outbreak in Oologah, Oklahoma has gotten to me. So far in the past week, 7 kids have contracted meningoccocal meningitis, and 2 of those kids have died. I am hoping that the other 5 victims get over this and get better as quickly as possible, with no lasting after-effects, and that no one else contracts the illness. Just thinking about this is making me sad right now.

---

In other news... I ordered the documentary "From Silence to Sound" from Amazon.com, and it arrived today (along with Seasons 2, 3 and 4 of ER). It's about 45 minutes long, about this deaf man from Oklahoma named Justin. He's been deaf all his life, and was the first person in the state of Oklahoma to get bilateral cochlear implants in March 2006. Was a very interesting DVD to watch, so I'm glad I bought it. The documentary is basically of Justin sharing his story of what his childhood was like, and of his experience getting the implants.

Medicaid's Criteria

Advanced Bionic's insurance reimbursement just caught this contradiction with Medicaid's cochlear implant for adults coverage criteria.
The first criteria states: "patient must have post lingual deafness" so patient need to have developed speech before becoming deaf.
But then later on, it states "patient must have no means of communicating." Contradicting, isn't it?

Hopefully Advanced Bionics will be able to get a hold of someone at the Medicaid office and let them know of this "error" and that they get it fixed. I'm surprised I didn't catch this sooner. Wow.

new earmold, finally!

FINALLY! Yesterday my new earmold arrived at my audiologist's office. But I didn't pick it up yesterday, since I was too kooky in the head. Today, before going to work (running late oops), I did go get it. Unitron made the earmold this time. Didn't even realize Unitron made molds too. Huh. Anyway, it's a half-shell mold, clear non-allergenic. Also got my Supero hearing aid back too, finally! Audie's assistant told me the hearing aid has been completely cleaned and everything, so good! Fitted the earmold, put Supero hearing aid on and WHOA loud feedbacking ahh! It still feedbacks a bit when it's behind the ear... but if I turn down the volume, that helps. Will have to get the hearing aid adjusted so I don't have to turn down the volume every time I turn the HA on. Yep. I'm glad to have the Supero back, I surely did miss it.

Now... the new earmold cost me $75 today. Wait a minute! Last earmold cost me $68, and before then, $60, $55ish... I swear, these people just increase the price on earmolds every other year. And this is the cost for just one earmold. ONE. I'd expect that kind of price for a pair, but not for a single. Definitely not too happy with being charged more for the earmold. Oy!

Hearing Aids for Africa/African Hope Initiative

I have some friends that are part of the African Hope Initiative, helping the deaf kids in Africa (they actually went out to Africa in November to see how the construction of the deaf school was coming along, meet the kids, and speak with their parents). I think it's great they're part of this, and I want to be involved as well. So my project for the Initiative is to collect used hearing aids which will be donated to the deaf kids in Africa. I got a PO Box so people can send their used hearing aids, and I'll give them to my friend and she'll make sure they're fixed and working properly before donating them to the deaf African kids.

If any of you here have used hearing aids, or know of anyone who has some laying around and have no clue what to do with them, and don't mind giving them up... send them my way!

Hearing Aids for Africa
PO Box 50761
Casper, WY 82605


the PO Box isn't that big (about the size of a 3-inch 3-ring binder that's full? something like that).

If you want more info about the African Hope Initiative, they have a website and a facebook page.
http://www.africanhopeinitiative.org
http://www.facebook.com/pages/African-Hope-Initiative/212448954922

Difficulties

So, I guess Wyoming EqualityCare is being difficult with the appeal case. The person at Advanced Bionics working on my appeal case is resubmitting everything. She's requesting for copies of my medical records and another letter from Rocky Mountain Ear Center so she can send that in. I've already resent the copy of the denial letter so she could use it as well. So frustrating! Hopefully this time we actually get somewhere with the appeal, and actually get an answer!

fun with hearing aids

Today, before getting to work, I decided I'd play around with the different hearing aids I had with the Hatis Epic stilouette. With the Claro hearing aid, the volume is far too quiet. I even maxed out the volume on the iPod and had to resort to turning up the volume on the hearing aid as well, and it was still too quiet. Then I gave the loaner Unitron a try, and whoa the music sounded different, unusual. Then I dug out my purple Phonak Pico-Forte's. They still work! With the stilouette, the music sounded better (though a bit different), and the volume is better too. It's just a matter of making sure the microphone is next to the stilouette to get a better sound, and it's tricky to get them both sitting behind my ear just right. Hm... Already I miss my Supero!

Am considering making a new website for myself, in relation to my hearing loss and meningitis. I do have a webpage about my meningitis, except it doesn't mention much of my meningitis story. So, why not just make a whole new website and combine both meningitis and deaf stories and just have fun with it? Yep.

Meningitis Angels, hearing aids

Last Thursday, I flew to Houston, TX for a Meningitis Angels conference. Overall, it was an interesting experience. I've read of what meningitis can do to people, of the damage meningitis causes. But I've only met very few individuals locally that were deafened as a result of meningitis, that's it. But meeting people who lost limbs, suffered from traumatic brain injury, etc., wow. That really opened my eyes. But I'm glad I went. It was nice to meet others who had meningitis and to see how they are doing these days after having had meningitis recently or years ago. I am definitely going to do better at keeping in touch with the Meningitis Angels folks, just communicating with them and such.


Got my new earmold made today (ok yesterday, since it's after midnight and it's now actually Thursday). I requested for the earmold to be made of non-allergenic material, in hopes that'll reduce the ear irritation problems I've been having. While the earmold was setting in my ear, he got another hearing aid and proceeded to hook it up to the computer, then put it on my ear. Oh, he wants to keep my Supero hearing aid so he could try to get the feedbacking problems fixed. So for now I've got a loaner hearing aid, a Unitron. Eh, everything sounds too weird with the Unitron, so I found my Phonak Claro hearing aid and am currently wearing that one until I get the Supero hearing aid back. With the Claro, things sound a bit more normal to me (more similar to the Supero). Quieter, but more normal. I tried to turn up the volume on the Claro and that just resulted in feedbacking, ahh!

He also tried to encourage me to consider getting a new hearing aid, since he knows I've had issues with the Supero since I first got it in May 2004. I told him I wasn't too worried about getting a new hearing aid at this time, that I'm more focused on getting my left ear implanted first. He's pretty happy to hear I'm still proceeding with the implant process. Now if only Medicaid would approve of it.


Still waiting to hear on the status of the cochlear implant appeal process. While at work yesterday (ok, Monday), I made a relay call to Advanced Bionic's insurance reimbursement department to find out the status, and I was told she'd leave a message with the person handling my case to get back to me. No emails yet, but hopefully soon I'll hear something. Otherwise, I'll just try relay-calling back.

Oy!

Turns out Medicaid didn't get the stuff Advanced Bionics insurance reimbursement sent to them, so AB is having to resend the stuff. They're sending it via Fed-Ex and someone at Medicaid will have to actually sign to receive it. Oy!

Internet relay called the local audie's office and made an appoinment for next Wednesday to get a new earmold made. And I asked if they knew Medicaid covered this sort of thing, and nope they don't. I figured as much, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. No big deal.

Also bought a Dry & Store unit off someone on eBay.. I figured it was about time I had one. Maybe if I used it for my hearing aid, and it cleaned my hearing aid and earmold, I wouldn't have as many ear irritation issues. Wyoming is pretty dry, so moisture in the hearing aid isn't much of a problem.. but it couldn't hurt to have a Dry & Store as I do occasionally get moisture in the earmold tubing just from wearing the hearing aid all day, etc. And it'll be useful for whenever I get the implant too.

Earmolds, BAH!

I am so anti-earmolds right now. My ear's all irritated and slightly sore, which has been happening far too frequently. I'm sick of it! No matter what I do, my ear only stays better for a day or 2 before it starts getting irritated again. Grumble grumble grumble! I did email the local audie about it, mentioning I want to get a new mold made. Haven't gotten a response back from him yet. I just may go the whole weekend with the hearing aid off! I haven't even bothered to put it on today either. I stuck the hearing aid in my pocket and went to work. No one needed to talk to me so great!


Still no word about the implant appeal yet. Did email the AB Insurance Reimbursement person and got a quick response from her, saying she'd look into it. Haven't heard back from her in a couple of days now.