{"id":77813,"date":"2024-09-05T12:48:15","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T18:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=77813"},"modified":"2024-09-06T13:05:06","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T19:05:06","slug":"cochlear-implant-surgery-brings-back-hearing-and-joy-after-workplace-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/cochlear-implant-surgery-brings-back-hearing-and-joy-after-workplace-accident\/","title":{"rendered":"Cochlear implant surgery brings hearing and joy back to Trinidad man after workplace accident"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"Jeremiah
Jeremiah Harris, 38, is a well service foreman in an oil field in southern Colorado. He lost all hearing in his left ear in October 2022 after saving a co-worker on a liquid nitrogen pump at a well site. He has since received a cochlear implant to restore hearing in his left ear. Photo by Sonya Doctorian, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The silence that entered Jeremiah Harris\u2019 life began two years ago, within a few seconds, in a southeast Colorado field during a routine task on an ordinary workday.<\/p>\n

A longtime well service foreman for an oil and gas company, Jeremiah had been in the business for nearly two decades since he graduated high school in 2004.<\/p>\n

So he wasn\u2019t worried on that Friday afternoon in October 2022 when he and a colleague set out toward a well site. As they began their tasks, Jeremiah gave directions via a two-way radio to his co-worker manning a nitrogen pump platform. The noise from the pump site is loud \u2014dangerously so \u2014which is why his friend was wearing a pair of PPE hearing protection<\/a> muffs that include a radio and headset.<\/p>\n

It was Jeremiah\u2019s pair that he loaned to his coworker.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no need for me to have the headset on because I was a long way from the noise of the burner on the nitrogen pump,\u201d said the 39-year-old Trinidad resident. \u201cI wasn\u2019t worried about it at that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then things went horribly wrong. His colleague, fairly new to the job, became flummoxed and fumbled with the controls, and Jeremiah grew increasingly worried at the alarming data in the readouts he was seeing. He knew that if the valves weren\u2019t handled properly, the nitrogen pump could overheat or even explode.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very concerned at this point, as he could hurt himself if opening or closing the wrong valves \u2026 I ran to the unit he was in, and with my heart racing, asked if he was OK.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2019I had put thoughts of myself aside, as I wanted to make sure he was all right. I shut the valves down properly and we had a safety conversation. I wasn\u2019t exposed to the noise level for very long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or so he thought: \u201cWhile talking to him, I first noticed something was wrong,\u201d Jeremiah recalled.<\/p>\n

He had a loud ringing in his left ear, coupled with a ferocious headache. Unbeknownst to him, he soon would be dealing with total hearing loss in that ear that he would have to endure for the next year and a half.<\/p>\n

Getting his hands dirty on the job and in Colorado\u2019s four seasons<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Raised in a military family, Jeremiah moved to Colorado Springs when he was 4, and then to Trinidad, where he completed high school. He settled down there with his wife, Tiffany, and the couple has two daughters, ages 19 and 12.<\/p>\n

\"Jeremiah
“Hearing affects every aspect of your life, especially socially,” Jeremiah says. For the 15 months before he received a cochlear implant, Jeremiah didn’t want to ride as a passenger because he’d lost hearing on his left side. He realized people thought he was ignoring them when they spoke to him. Photo: Sonya Doctorian, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jeremiah likes to stay busy and maintains a strong work ethic. During high school, he juggled multiple jobs: fast food, delivering newspapers, working at a convenience store. All the while, he ran track and was a straight-A student.<\/p>\n

A self-taught \u201cgear head\u201d, he loves fixing anything with an engine and is at home in dirt, grime, oil and grease \u2013 rain or shine, 12 months a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cNasty weather comes with the job, but it fits my lifestyle. I love being outside and enjoy doing this work.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a profession he gravitated to after high school as he turned his tassel on a Sunday and started \u201cswinging a hammer in the gas field\u201d on Monday.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah knows the ins and outs of what it takes to safely extract gas from the ground with large pumping machines and pressurized tanks of liquid nitrogen. He carefully tends an assortment of nozzles and valves to ensure no one gets hurt.<\/p>\n

He never thought he would be the one to get injured.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is too<\/em> loud and how is sound measured?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The human ear is a remarkable and sensitive organ. The inner part is a complex and delicate structure responsible for hearing, balance and our sense of equilibrium. Inside the inner ear is the cochlea, a small, snail-shaped flexible structure surrounded by fluid and sensory hair cells. Sound vibrations create waves in this fluid and in the hair cells, sending signals to the brain and helping make sense of what we hear. But too much sound can hurt these hair cell bundles.<\/p>\n

Loud noises can make us feel unsettled and even cause pain. Decibel is the scale<\/a> used to measure sound intensity audible to our ears. For instance, 0 decibel (dB) is the lowest threshold of human hearing, while 40 dB is an average room noise. Sound below 80 dB is considered safe but above it, potentially harmful.<\/p>\n

\"Jeremiah's
Jeremiah’s cochlear implant was placed so he could still wear a hard hat as a well service foreman on a job site. He had the implant fine-tuned during a recent appointment with audiologist Kelley Corcoran at UCHealth Eastview Medical Center in Colorado Springs. Photo by Sonya Doctorian, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The noise from the liquid nitrogen pump burner in the field where Jeremiah was working had steadily increased while his colleague was attempting to adjust the controls, registering at about 130 dB or higher.<\/p>\n

And 130 is not just a very loud sound \u2014 think a jack hammer, a gunshot or a jet taking off next to your ear \u2014 it\u2019s also a very dangerous one. Exposure to this level of sound, even for a few seconds, can cause permanent hearing damage or loss<\/a> if a person is not wearing proper ear protection.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first it was a loud ringing noise that I was hearing in that ear. It hurt and was very uncomfortable,\u201d he remembered.<\/p>\n

He was able to complete his work for the day, albeit with a horrible headache, and he went home and took some ibuprofen and over-the-counter drops used for swimmer\u2019s ear. Still hoping the ringing and headache would abate, he set about with his weekend chores.<\/p>\n

But then, like a child playing with a light switch, his left ear began shutting on and off. Every 15 minutes or so it would pop as if he was ascending in an airplane, along with an intermittent ringing noise that wouldn\u2019t stop no matter how many times he swallowed or yawned.<\/p>\n

That Monday morning, he tried to concentrate at work, and while he was inside a mobile command center, he relaxed when for a few fleeting moments his ear \u201cturned back on\u201d and he could hear perfectly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018That\u2019s cool,\u2019 and it stayed on for several hours. But then it turned off and never went on again. And it\u2019s just been a ringing since then, along with crackling noises, and me not being able to hear out of it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Jeremiah had sustained permanent cochlear damage from traumatic loud noise exposure.<\/p>\n

\""You've
“You’ve changed my life,” Jeremiah said to Dr. Sharon Lin. “I truly thank you.” Dr. Lin, an otolaryngology surgeon, implanted Jeremiah’s cochlear device in February 2024. Photo by Sonya Doctorian, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Caught in red tape and bureaucracy while he copes with hearing loss<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For many months that followed, Jeremiah was caught in a byzantine medical maze as his attempt to get to the root of his hearing problem was thwarted by the complications that can occur in a workplace accident when a person\u2019s health insurance is pitted against worker\u2019s comp, which should cover the claims.<\/p>\n

To add to his stress, physician referrals were difficult to obtain, exacerbated by living in a rural area where there were long waits for specialists or simply a dearth of care. Insurance hassles meant his medical bills were not being covered and he was growing more frustrated as he faced a future without fully being able to hear.<\/p>\n

A hearing test showed his \u201cright ear was perfect, and his \u201cleft was dead\u201d and that only a cochlear implant could help.<\/p>\n

\"Jeremiah
Jeremiah proudly displays the decal his daughter, Hailey, 19, presented to him on Father’s Day this year. Hailey drew the Star Wars character, R2-D2, and had it manufactured to precisely fit Jeremiah’s hearing device. Photo by Sonya Doctorian, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI was numb as to what that was and had to look it up online,\u201d Jeremiah recalled.<\/p>\n

He was still hoping that a quick fix would be able to reverse his hearing loss, which six months after his accident, was also causing him tinnitus in his left ear, consisting of a constant loud ringing and whooshing sound like a car defroster turned on high.<\/p>\n

That sensation, coupled with his deafness, affected his equilibrium and he was often nauseous and had headaches. He tried hearing aids, but they merely ramped up noises in his damaged ear, not improving the clarity of sound but only amplifying it.<\/p>\n

His anxiety was heightened by his working in a field that required precision across a wide gamut: from heavy machinery to intricate nozzles, high pressure pumping equipment and gauges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many things moving \u2014 pushing and pulling forces, pressure and temperatures\u2014all these hazards around me. I was feeling very sad. When you do something all your life and when they ask you to repeat something, and you can\u2019t \u2026 there were times I was close to tears.\u201d<\/p>\n

One particularly terrifying moment occurred when he was stopped at a traffic light and heard sirens but was unable to discern from which direction. Hearing in both ears is necessary to localize sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat scared me was location of sound. I didn\u2019t know where it was coming from, and I was scared to death. That\u2019s when it became very real to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, with the support of his company, his worker\u2019s comp claim was approved in spring 2023 and he was able to get the medical help he had wanted from UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central in Colorado Springs<\/a>. A few months later, almost a year after his accident, he was accepted as a candidate for a cochlear implant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was begging for some kind of closure to all the stress and anxiety that was going on,\u201d he recalled. \u201cWhen I found out I could get the implant and that hurdle was behind me, I was so excited, and I told everyone. It was very, very humbling. I teared up, I sighed relief, and I felt a glimmer of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Sharon Lin checks the location and healing of Jeremiah’s cochlear implant. Photo by Sonya Doctorian, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cochlear implant surgery and same-day activation serve as game changers for Jeremiah<\/strong><\/p>\n

After some additional insurance hoops and red tape, Jeremiah waited another six months, until this past February, for the implant.<\/p>\n

His UCHealth care team, including an audiologist and a surgeon, determined he would do well with the implant based on:<\/p>\n