How my friend lost her hearing

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About a month or two ago, I had a sore throat. It was particularly worse in the morning when I woke up. I self-diagnosed and concluded that I was about to come down with a cold. So I made my concoctions at home and after about two weeks, the pain just stopped and the cold never came. Then one Tuesday the right side of my face was really sensitive to temperatures and touch. I couldn’t put a finger to where the problem was emanating from, but was a little concerned. In the evening that’s when an intense earache started. I would have wept if I hadn’t banned my kids from crying in the house. At midnight the pain worsened and I knew I could not go to bed with it shooting like that, so my husband and I went to ER. As soon as I told the doctor that I had earache, he asked if I had recently suffered from a sore throat or cold. I told him about the sore throat. He examined my ears and said my eardrum was as red as a strawberry, and it wasn’t supposed to be like that. My throat was also found to be just as inflamed. I got my medication and went back home. The earache took very long to heal and the meds made it very difficult for me to function. I didn’t know what was worse – the earache or side effects from the tablets.

A few days after my visit to the doctor, my dear friend told me how she lost her hearing well in her 30s. It just happened overnight. Don’t self-diagnose and self-medicate. I will never ever again. Not anymore. Read her tragic narrative below:

I lost my hearing in 2006 in August while travelling to Mozambique on a chicken bus. I was sitting close to the driver and the bus was making so much noise both from engine and old age. I was also suffering from tonsillitis. I had not sought medical advice before leaving for Mozambique. I overlooked it because I had always suffered from tonsillitis at least once a year in the previous years. So I just took Panado and lozenges. 

Now, looking back I realise it was a huge mistake because in the past I’d go to hospital and they would give me injections of penicillin for at least four days. I also blame the nurses because they don’t explain the nature of drug and why they are administering it.  If I had known then I’d have realised that every time I have an attack, I have to seek medical assistance. Anyway back to how it happened. We travelled all day and finally put up for the night. We slept on the bus, typical cross-border trader style. The next morning when I woke up around 4, it was so quiet on the bus. I just assumed everyone was asleep. I began to get worried when my mother-in-law who was sitting next to me was looking at me strangely. I couldn’t hear a thing! I tried to talk but couldn’t even hear myself either. At first people laughed, thinking it was a prank. I was shocked because I couldn’t understand what was happening to me

For the rest of the day I was deaf. It’s funny how we take hearing for granted. My sister-in-law had to hold my hand to push me out of traffic because I could not hear anything. The second day was much the same. On the third day, on our way back, one ear popped when the driver banged his door. My hearing improved but only to hear noises, not articulate speech. When I got back to Zimbabwe, people were shocked. I got back to my school and didn’t know how I was going to teach. I was traumatised and depressed.  I went to see my GP, who thought I should have my ears cleaned. He thought maybe it was wax blocking my hearing. He cleaned thoroughly and said things would improve. How I hated him at that moment and lost faith in him as a doctor! No amount of wax would do that to a person’s hearing!

I make sure I tell people of my condition but many don’t believe it or choose to ignore it because I find it difficult to hear people even if they are close to me or if they talk facing another direction. Worse when it’s in a crowd. Some shout, thinking it will help, but it’s worse. I have accepted my misfortune and try not to think about it. But it has made me so paranoid that I take my kids to the doctor even if it’s just flu. I don’t want them to go through what I did, even though at times doctors don’t know what they are doing. I bought hearing aids, which cost me and arm and a leg, US$1000, but they were not helpful. They became an expensive white elephant.

The children I teach understand, if we can call it that of these youngsters. You get some who find it funny or get irritated if I ask them to repeat themselves. But I always make sure I make my condition known to everyone that I’m hard of hearing, even my lecturers at university and my colleagues. I’d been lucky till last block when we got a lecturer who was inaudible even to those whose hearing was sharp. I also sit in front and make sure my better ear, the one with 60 percent is on the side where the lecturer is sitting or talking from.

I thank God that it wasn’t my sight that was taken. What would I have done? Of course, I’m partially deaf, but I can hear some, I can still see clearly. One has got to count one’s blessings.