Audiology moves on a small step

Besides enjoying travelling around Lesotho with our friends and family, we have still been busy at work (well, Matt perhaps more so than me) so I thought I’d give a little update on the audiology front.  As of 3 weeks ago (and thanks to a generous donation) we were able to purchase the equipment to take impressions of patient’s ears who require hearing aids. Although seemingly a small thing this will save patient’s one journey to South Africa. It is surprising what you take for granted as the most basic of requirements having worked in the NHS.

In terms of how the service is developing within the ENT department, I was pleased to return to work after mum and dad’s trip to find that my two colleagues had taken great efforts to sort the audiology room out and carry on the service. This is the ultimate aim as the service needs to continue after I leave and so far it looks promising. Having arrived to a demotivated team they seem to be a little bit more hopeful in what the service can offer. It is actually not a bad thing that over the next few months I will be taking some leave as it means I will slowly be stepping back from the work and letting the team take over.  There are still things that need to happen and I am anxious that we are running out of time.

The patients I am seeing are as varied as ever and I am still enjoying the challenge.  Over the last few weeks I have seen a 78 year old village chief, a 2 year old orphan who was being adopted that very afternoon by a Canadian couple, a boy who had been convulsing for 24 hours (I quickly referred that case on!) and a man with a serious head injury (hit over the head by a stick in a drunken brawl).  Tuesday mornings are by far the busiest for me and yesterday was no exception. One minute I was taking impressions, counselling a non-english speaking patient about how to use her hearing aid with no translator, testing an ex-miner who was claiming for noise-induced hearing loss as well as seeing patients referred from the ENT clinic.  Keeps you on your toes as you have no idea who will come through the door next.