Some years ago I was at the hospital to have an operation. I had prepared myself well for the stay by bringing my FM transmitter and my two indispensable hearing aids. At the hospital I told all the staff around me about my hearing problem.
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On my bed table I had put a home-made sign with the words: ‘I am hearing impaired. Please speak slowly and clearly. Thanks’. Everyone was positive and did their best to ensure that my hearing loss wouldn’t cause me any inconvenience.
When I talked with doctors or nurses they themselves suggested that we should talk in more quiet surroundings. If my husband was unable to be by my side, there was always one from the ward to accompany me, so that I could later ask if I was in doubt about something. So far, so good.
Then arrived the day of the operation. I had fastened my paper sign to the head of my bed so that it was visible to everybody.
Then a nurse came with an envelope where it said ‘For dentures’. I told her that I did not wear dentures, but she answered in a cold and decisive tone of voice: ‘The envelope is for your hearing aids’. She told me that she would put the envelope under my pillow so that I could put my hearing aids on when I woke up from the operation.
Not only was I very nervous about the operation, I also had to explain in a loud voice that under no circumstances would I take off my hearing aids until the exact moment when I was anaesthetised. I wanted to be able to speak with those taking me to the operating room. I wanted to be able to answer any questions myself, so as to make sure that we agreed what I was being operated for. I think that’s a human right.
Stupid as the nurse was – I am sorry, but she really was - she said that she had to confer with the other staff members. When she returned she told me that I could keep my hearing aids on.
The people in the operating room were great. They asked me whether I wanted to take off my hearing aids myself or they should do it when I had fallen asleep. They told me that they would put them back on when I was waking up. I chose to let them remove the hearing aids when I was asleep. And they were back in my ears when I was beginning to come to. The only negative detail was that they had turned the hearing aid volume to the maximum level, but that was not done out of bad will but to help me.
