A NORTHSIDE man has told how a routine hearing test uncovered a cancerous lump behind his ear.
James Heatley (80), a retired civil servant from Artane, noticed his hearing began deteriorating around five years ago.
He regularly has his hearing tested and it was at one of these routine examinations with his audiologist, Barry Douglas of the Artane Hidden Hearing Branch, that the cancerous lump was found.
“I came in before Christmas and told Barry that I had a pimple behind my ear,” said James.
“I thought that it was just an irritation from wearing the hearing aid. Barry thought it was strange because he had never had that complaint. He looked at it and he asked me if I had been to the doctor and I said no.
“I tried putting a plaster on it but it didn’t work. He told me to go straight to the doctor who immediately sent me to the Mater Hospital for tests. Then I got word that it was cancer.”
The pimple immediately worried Barry who knew it was more than just an irritation from an old and worn out hearing aid.
“The pimple or sore didn’t look good,” said Barry. “It was weeping, it was healing and weeping again. The re-occurring healing had me worried and as with any patient with a worrying symptom, I told him (James) to go to his doctor.”
Although the cancer was caught in time, it had a devastating impact on James’s everyday life as he struggled to hear without his hearing device.
“I couldn’t hear anyone because I hadn’t the hearing aids in,” said James.
“The cancer was affecting a nerve, I couldn’t sleep at night and they gave me tablets. Eventually through treatment, I got rid of it.”
On James’ 80th birthday he got the call from Hidden Hearing to say he would receive a complimentary new state-of-the-art hearing aid.
“It was the best birthday present I got,” said James.
“My wife was thrilled because she has been shouting at me over the TV being turned up too loud for the last couple of months.
“The help I’ve gotten from everyone at Hidden Hearing has been amazing. The new hearing aid will give me more confidence to go about me life and be more sociable.
“I was always full of confidence but since my hearing went I lost that a bit.”
Meanwhile, Barry has nominated James for the company’s ‘Give Back’ programme.
The nationwide scheme sees the company giving many top of the range hearing devices to those who their audiologists feel need them the most.
Barry said one of the major effects of untreated hearing loss that he sees is frustration.
“What I most commonly see is frustration and annoyance on both the person with the hearing loss’s part but possibly I have seen more of this with the people that share their world,” said Barry.
“Isolation is also a huge factor on hearing loss as people withdraw from social inclusion.”
Barry, who has been working as an audiologist at Hidden Hearing for 11 years, believes hearing tests should be done as routinely as a blood test.
“One in five people suffer from hearing loss and we need to change this,” said Barry.
“Hearing loss is stigmatised culturally. It’s heavily stigmatised and it’s not seen as routine test.
“It’s a test that’s really only done when your older typically.
“It needs to be done routinely as you would have your blood pressure checked or your eyesight tested.”
Anita Redmond, Audiological Assistant for Hidden Hearing Artane, also nominated James for the ‘Give Back’ programme.
“Since I started in Hidden Hearing in 2014 I have experienced, along with our patients, their journey from a silent world to a world full of hearing,” said Ms Redmond.
More information is available on www.hiddenhearing.ie or www.campaignforbetterhearing.ie.