Questions

I'm part of an Esteem patients group on Facebook.  Before my surgery, it was really helpful to hear other stories. Lately, though, it's been flooded with complainers and skeptics.  In the last few weeks, a few questions have come up that I'd like to address here.

1) What was the "breaking point" that made you willing to invest thousands of dollars and risk your residual hearing on a procedure that has no guarantees?

First off, NO medical procedure is without risk.  Of course it's risky to break apart the tiny, fragile bones in the middle ear and drill into the skull.  It's not pleasant, either.  I knew that going into it.  Second, the Esteem is a middle ear implant, not a cochlear implant.  In surgery, the hair cell nerves are NOT removed like in cochlear implantation.  Instead, the incus and stapes are separated.  If the Esteem doesn't work for some reason, the ossicular chain (incus, stapes and malleus) can be reattached with ah prosthesis.  Hearing doesn't return to pre-implant levels, but there is still some hearing.  With cochlear implantation, the hair cell nerves are removed, which destroys all residual hearing.  It's a big difference.  That was one of the questions I had before surgery.

I think what bothered me about this question is the implication that all of us implantees were sitting around refusing to live life while we anxiously waited for some miraculous discovery.  That's not the case.  I was determined to not let my hearing loss run my life (which is the other BIG issue I have with deaf community, btw).  I never reached a "breaking point."  I never knew what I was missing.  When I heard about the Esteem, it was kind of like, "Hey, that sounds cool!  Wait a second...do I want to know what hearing is like???"  I'm SO glad I did it but it wasn't because I had some nervous breakdown or couldn't cope.  I did the best I could with hearing aids and when something better came along, I jumped at the chance.  It's that simple.  I also had nothing to lose in my left ear.  The hearing was so bad that a hearing aid just gave me a little bit of balance and orientation.  That's why that ear was implanted first.  As for the thousands of dollars, my insurance did cover it, but this procedure is worth 100 times the cost!!!!  How can you put a price on this?!?!


2) Your hearing wasn't that bad.  Why would you risk surgery?  You aren't getting great gains anyway.  You would be fine with a high powered hearing aid.

This question was in regards to my right ear, the one that was just implanted and is still healing.  It will take months before the fluid finally drains and we can see the real gains I get in this ear.  The person who posed the question apparently can't read because I wrote that...but anyway, my issue here is that the Esteem gives more than volume.  My right ear did OK with hearing aids in a soundproof booth and sound going straight into my hearing aid.  In real life?  Not so much.  Of course, I didn't know what normal hearing was like, so I thought it was great.  After having the left one implanted, though, I realized what a difference in quality the Esteem was compared to hearing aids.  After having one, I definitely wanted the other.  Even if hearing aids offered decent quality (which they don't), they don't help if the smoke detector goes off at night or in water or while running.  The Esteem is a whole new lifestyle...and one I like a lot!