Our lockdown audiology appointment

It's been a while since my grandson Oliver has been able to see an audiologist, due to lockdown.

When his hearing aid packed up last summer, his Teacher of the Deaf took it and got it sorted for him, his batteries were delivered in the post and we were finding anything sharp to clean it out. So when he was invited to see the audiologist recently, it was a welcome piece of news but we were a little bit apprehensive.

All the questions we had were asked: Who can go to the hospital? Can someone go in the room with him? Will he be able to understand/lip-read if the audiologist is wearing a face covering? What is the COVID-19 procedure in that hospital?

We need not have worried because all the information we needed was included in the letter they sent us – what to do, what to wear, when to arrive, who to report to. The instructions were all very easy to follow.

The day arrived and Oliver went with his mum. Parking is always busy and costly at the hospital (we must have spent a fortune on car parking over the years) so I dropped them off and waited to be called back to collect them. I'm Nanny’s taxi service...!

Oliver didn’t need to wear a face covering but Jess, his mum, did. They arrived five minutes before his appointment, so they didn’t need to wait too long, and there was no one else in the waiting room.

Oliver went in on time and his assessment began. It was rather unfortunate that none of the staff were wearing see through masks or visors but Jess made sure Oliver could understand what they were saying.

They found Oliver’s hearing had deteriorated even more, he has severe hearing loss now so he had to have his hearing aids adjusted. Because he's growing, every time he goes he has to have new moulds which he was pleased with as he could choose a new picture – obviously he picked Star Wars! Bonus, he gets to keep the left over mould which he turns into a bouncy ball!

Oliver was also given a fitting for new Phonak Marvel hearing aids. These new hearing aids use new technology which will allow him to hear his iPad and radio aid straight through to his hearing aids. We're excited there will be no more wires to deal with!

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, they haven’t been delivered yet but hopefully he will get these in the next couple months. His new moulds have arrived though and he was so excited to have Star Wars character Anakin Skywalker on his ears – the only problem is he thinks he’s Anakin now and runs around the house with his lightsaber fighting the rebels – roll on school starting again!