Let me talk about my father as if he wasn’t reading this… which he most certainly is. At 82, my dad’s totally sharp, but some of his parts are definitely out of warranty.
Botched cataract surgery left him with one working eye. The good eye has cataracts too, but he’s petrified to do anything about it. I can’t blame him.
Over the years his hearing has also begun to fail. If my parents are watching TV, anyone within a few hundred yards knows and when the telephone rings… holy crap, it’s like noontime at a cuckoo clock factory.
Of course the problem with my dad’s hearing loss is he really has no way of knowing what he can’t hear.
He wears a hearing aid in each ear, but why? They do nothing, except squeal when he removes them. It’s been frustrating for everyone involved, my dad included.
When we were visiting a few weeks ago, I asked my folks to check. Maybe there’s a better hearing aid available now, or his could be adjusted? It couldn’t hurt to ask.
They went today.
Yo, Costco. Shout out from Geoff. You rock! My dad can hear again. Let me kiss you on the lips.
My dad and mom went to Costco this afternoon. He met with an audiologist who gave him a hearing test and then adjusted the electronics in his hearing aids. It’s not just volume that gets tweaked. A good hearing aid should compensate differently at different frequencies.
“You don’t need new hearing aids,” the audiologist said. In fact, as it turns out, there’s still plenty of room to adjust them should his hearing continue to change. And did I mention – since he bought them at Costco originally, no charge.
My dad put them in and… oh my God, he can hear clearly. It’s the first time in years.
My mom was so excited she left a message on my cellphone. I could hear her voice bubbling as her voice played back.
When I finally spoke to my dad, I’m certain I could actually hear him grinning. “I can hear the microwave,” he said from the kitchen. “I never did before.”
I started to cry.
Actually, the most telling evidence came when my dad walked out of the bedroom. He complained to my mom the TV was too loud.
Hallelujah!