Have your vote heard!

Most of you know that I had hearing aids prior to my diagnosis and that when I woke up from my first surgery, I could suddenly hear. You may remember the story of the crazy conversations and noise all around me when I awoke and how that may have been both the funniest and the worst part of the entire ordeal. I mean, who doesn't want to hear some random guy throwing up? Or some really dumb lady talking about mashed potatoes and oatmeal?

Several months later I went back to the clinic where I originally had my hearing test and where I purchased hearing aids. My original audiologist was no longer there, but the man who did my follow up test was (at first) telling me how amazing it was that I was performing so much better than before. Then, at the end of the test, he tells me that I have not improved at all. I was pretty sure he was wrong. I felt like a crazy person. How could I be functioning so much better and why did everyone around me insist that I was able to hear so much better? I even argued with him a little and he just kept insisting that he was right and I was just wrong. Now, keep in mind that I'd told him the history, about how I'd had a tumor removed, and how I could now hear without using the aids. He insisted that nothing had changed with my hearing. Lois has insisted for almost a year that I go to Texas Tech Health Sciences Center for a test just to see if they had a different opinion. I kept putting it off because, you know, I now have the equivalent of two full time jobs. I'm happy to report that I finally went today. Lois had given her audiologist the heads up that I was coming, so they were interested in my case from the start because their clinic is a faculty led training program. The student put me through two hours of extensive testing with close supervision of the faculty member. Knowing my history, the faculty member had the student perform testing of much more than just structure and hearing, she tested bones behind the ear, ear canal issues, ear drum issues, and some neurological indicators. I felt like it was a very thorough exam. I was pretty sure I did well, but I've learned from teaching that confidence often doesn't correlate with performance.

I guess in my case I was right because both women came into the booth and the audiologist said that I have hearing in both ears within normal range. So this begs a few questions. First, given my age and unilateral hearing loss, should the first audiologist at the clinic have investigated further? I've been told by others that, with those two conditions, most audiologists insist on a release from an ENT doctor before fitting for hearing aids. Probably the first audiologist was more incompetent than fraudulent. Second, what the hell was the second audiologist doing? I mean, he admitted that I was doing better and then changed his tune by the end of the test. I doubt that's incompetence. The results he handed me just happened to look exactly like the prior test. Coincidence? I think not! Was he just covering because he was afraid I'd sue? Was he lying because he wanted me to remain a consumer of their hearing aids? Was he worried I'd tell people they didn't catch a serious problem that maybe they should have followed up on? Was he scared of social media because he knew I was a marketing professor?

I was already pretty certain that this guy was lying to me, but leaving the appointment today, with definitive proof, left me with questions. What should I do? I don't want anything from this clinic. This is a fairly large organization with branches throughout Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. I'm sure people around here can guess which clinic it is. Let's just say it's locally owned. If my age and unilateral hearing loss had rang any alarm bells or had been followed up on as is typically protocol, I may have been diagnosed a year or two earlier than I actually was. The fact that I was lied to at the follow up appointment, when all I was seeking was validation, is just flat out unethical and borderline fraud. 

So, I come to my voting base to ask your opinions. Although I personally don't want anything, I think that there are issues here that should be addressed. At the very least, this issue needs to be brought to the attention of the clinic administration so that if another patient comes in with my issues, it won't be missed. Further, lying or covering up should never be tolerated. Changing results on a test in order to keep a customer or avoid problems is fraud. I've decided that there are a few options for protecting other consumers with hearing loss.

I welcome other ideas or votes on some of these options:

1. A letter and/or meeting with the owner or administrator of the clinic(s).

2. A letter of complaint to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (they license not only audiologists, but also clinics dispersing medical hearing devices).   

3. Outing the clinic by name on the internet. Ok, you win. It's Livingston Hearing Aid Center.

4. Ask for something for someone else like a donation to a charity of my choice.

5. Insist on policy change and additional training of their people.

6. Insist to the state examiners that they investigate this incident.

7. Insist on a full refund for my insurance company.

8. Report this to my insurance company and let them investigate insurance fraud.

9. Do nothing, it is highly unlikely that another patient would have this happen to them.

YOU CAN VOTE IN YOUR COMMENT BELOW!

Like most things in this journey, there was a shining light in my experience today as well. In Buddhism, this would be experiencing the Buddha nature. In Christianity (and the Blues Brothers), it would be called a "Message from God." In atheism, this would be called coincidence. So here is what happened:

When I went in and started the initial testing, the audiologist said, "So your cancer is relatively stable at this time. Right?" My response was, "Well, as stable as glioblastoma can be, I guess." Her response was, "Yes, I know a lot about glioblastoma." That's when I knew that this was a woman who had been touched by GBM in some way, but I didn't ask any questions. At the end of the testing, when she came in with the student, she confided that a close family member had died of GBM several years ago. This knowledge of how GBM works and grows allowed her to have a better understanding of how the GBM may have affected my hearing. She said I'm unlikely to ever need hearing aids because any problems that may arise from a brain tumor would be out of an audiologist's realm and beyond what hearing aids could help. She also said following up with hearing tests every six months will serve as another check for tumor progression (in addition to scans and neuropsych evaluations).

Further, when I told her that I believe my ketogenic diet is the tool keeping my disease most in check, she said she is familiar with the ketogenic diet and its use in child epilepsy. She did not know it was being used for treating GBM. What are the odds that she would be so educated on all three topics (audiology, GBM, and ketosis)? We had a nice, short, informed talk. In the end she said that she had decided beforehand that she would not tell me about her experience with GBM, but had changed her mind at some point while I was testing. We ended our conversation by agreeing that when you are affected by GBM, it becomes such a part of who you are, that these connections manifest themselves. Tapping into the Buddha was perhaps even better than the confirmation that I don't need hearing aids ever again.

Ok, now that you've heard the entire story, place your votes below.