Chapter Thirty-Six
Max, Malee, her mother, and sister sat in the audiologist’s office. Max felt it was important that her family be here for this day—the day Malee’s implants would be turned on, and she would be able to hear for the first time.
Although her father had basically disowned her, Malee’s mother and sister still kept a relationship with her. Max knew it caused tension at the restaurant, but he was happy they stood up to him in this matter and came. Keit stayed behind to help with the restaurant, but her mother and sister insisted on coming, even if it was going to cause the restaurant to be closed for a day. This was too important of a day.
The audiologist was a sweet young woman named Stacy, who was great with her patients. Malee sat near her, and Max sat in a chair a few feet away. Max’s eyes moved over his wife whom he loved so much. She wore a lavender tank that dipped at the neckline to reveal a black tube top underneath, jeans, and flip-flops, her legs crossed at the ankles, one foot bouncing nervously. Her purse sat on the tile floor at her feet. There was a cord attached to her ear from the computer that the audiologist worked at as they mapped out the device.
“Our voices will sound very loud to her, like we’re shouting, so talk softly.” Stacy signed as she talked so that Malee could understand her until the device started working. She spoke very slowly, one word at a time. “Okay. So, Malee, I’m going to turn the volume up and up until you hear my voice.”
She nodded, then jumped and made a face like it was painfully too loud, like a squelch in her ear. “Loud.”
“Hang on. Hang on.” She made some adjustments. “Can you hear me now?”
“Loud squeaking is all I hear.”
“Do you hear me talking?” she said, signing as well.
Malee shook her head, and the audiologist made some adjustments on her computer.
“How about right there?”
“Yeah.”
“You can hear me talking?”
Malee nodded, smiling. She pointed at Stacy, an excited look on her face.
“Can you hear my voice?”
She nodded and laughed.
“You can? Okay.”
Malee’s face scrunched up, and she wiped tears off her cheeks.
The audiologist grabbed a box of tissues off her desk. “Okay. I’m going to pass these around because I think we’re all going to need them.”
Malee, her mother, and sister all took one.
“Okay, Malee. How about right there?”
“Yeah.” Her eyes got big. “I hear myself, too.”
“Great! Does my voice sound really squeaky?”
“Yes,” she replied, nodding and rubbing her leg nervously.
“Do you hear anything else?”
“A sh-sh-sh.” Malee pointed at the ceiling fan and the overhead lighting. “The fan maybe. And the lights make noise. A humming. I didn’t know the lights made noise.”
“Can you hear out of both sides?”
“Yes.”
“How does it sound?”
“It sounds very high.”
Stacy smiled. “It will sound high at first. It won’t always sound that way. Your brain will start to adjust it for you.”
Malee nodded.
“I’m going to say the months of the year. I want you to tell me how the volume is, okay?” Stacy recited all the months and then asked, “Did you understand the words?”
Malee nodded excitedly. “Yes.”
“Okay. So what I was telling Max before was that your right ear had no hearing…and your left just a tiny bit.”
She nodded.
“Now giving you hearing like this is almost like normal hearing, but you’re hearing in an electronic way of hearing.”
“That’s what it feels like.”
“Yeah. So it’s kind of like this machine quality to the sound. It takes a little bit for your brain to adjust to the sounds. Once it does adjust, it will not sound like this. But that’s why it’s going to take some time for your brain to understand what you’re hearing. Okay?”
Malee nodded again.
“So…it may sound loud, but by Monday, when I see you again we’re going to do that same thing we did before where you hear the beep and you raise your hand.”
Malee nodded.
“It’ll be different, so not the perfect map yet, but it will get us there, okay?”
Malee nodded.
“So…does it sound too soft?”
“No.”
“Does it sound like I’m shouting?”
She nodded vigorously. “Yes.”
“Okay…I’m going to have you just listen to me for a few minutes while I talk about this, all right?”
Malee nodded.
“When we finish, you’ll be able to control the loudness with your remote control. But I don’t want it so soft that you can’t hear anything because that defeats the purpose, okay? But I also don’t want it so loud that you’re uncomfortable.”
Malee nodded again, smiling.
Her mother came over, kissed her on the forehead, and said softly, “I’ve been waiting for this day.”
Malee pointed at her mother, looking at Stacy with big eyes.
“Could you hear her?” Stacy asked.
Malee nodded, laughing.
“You said you weren’t gonna cry,” Lawan told her mother.
“Who’s talking?” Malee asked Stacy.
“That’s your sister.” Stacy then looked over at Lawan. “She heard your voice because she turned her head to look for you.”
The audiologist looked at Max. “Do you have pets? Any barking dogs?”
“No we don’t.”
Malee looked at her husband with big eyes. Then looked back at Stacy, smiling.
“Now Max, you say something. I think she heard you.”
“Hi, beautiful. Can you hear me?”
She nodded and started laughing.
He laughed back, his voice a sweet low rumble. “Malee, how does my voice sound?”
“Yours sounds loud.”
“Very low and very deep, I’m guessing,” the audiologist said. “Does he sound different from mine?”
Malee nodded, grinning. “Different.” Then she laughed.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“It’s amazing.”
Then it all overwhelmed her, and she put her face in her hands and burst into tears.
The audiologist patted her leg. “Aw, honey. That’s okay. It’s a big life-changing day today.”
Max squatted before her and pulled her hands away. “Hey, baby. Don’t cry. I’ve wanted to say this to you for a very long time. I love you, Malee.”
She nodded back, letting him know she heard, then said, “I love you, too.”
Tears streamed down her face, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.