My 89 year old mom has worn hearing aids for many years, however they are no longer proving to be effective. The audiologist referred us to a surgeon at very good teaching university near our home. She meets the requirements for the implants and Medicare will cover them. Mom is a happy person, reads lots and volunteers twice a week. Lack of hearing is a frustration for her. I do have some concerns moving forward with the implants. First, I've heard there can be issues with balance and a fall would be worse than not hearing well. A fall after implants where she couldn't hear would be horrible. Secondly, she loves to learn and read, but she does have some short term memory issues. When her primary care doctor points to his pen, shoes, tie and magazine she is only able to remember one or two of them two minutes later and may call them something different. A pen becomes an "ever sharp". The memory issues have me concerned with the cochlear learning curve. We will go to a meeting in a couple of weeks where there will be others with an implant, but no one around her age. My wish for her is to improve her quality of life and am worried surgery could do just the opposite. Thank you.
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Have a heart-to-heart with an anesthesiologist, who may tell you the outcomes are often not good for any patient over 80.
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