From silence to sound: Hearing restored at SIU Medicine
With dozens of texts and calls coming in from anxious homebuyers and sellers, Kerris Osborn’s days are already full. Add in the demands of co-owning a busy deli with her husband, and it’s clear the Jacksonville native has a lot on her plate. Still, she navigates it all with a bright smile and a bubbly demeanor, eager to take on the world. At The Corner Deli, their local hot spot, regulars line up for fresh-cut meats, seafood, cheeses, house-made pasta and more. In talking with some local regulars, this is the place to go.
Being so involved in multiple areas, with so many people relying on her, requires Kerris to keep her health at the top of its game. But about five years ago, Kerris began to notice a troubling shift. She’d be out with groups of friends or colleagues engaging in conversations, conversations Kerris wasn’t aware were taking place because she couldn’t hear them. A true go-getter hoping to maintain her busy lifestyle, Kerris took matters into her own hands. At the time, she happened to work next door to a hearing aid center. She walked over and purchased a pair of hearing aids.
“They were expensive,” she said, “and they didn’t even work!”
Kerris couldn’t hear any better with the hearing aids. Despite this setback, she continued searching for options to restore her hearing.
One day, while talking to a colleague, she learned about SIU Medicine’s ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialists. Her friend had recently completed a hearing evaluation at SIU Medicine and had encouraged Kerris to do the same.
After years of dealing with this condition that had worsened and now included ringing in the ears, with sounds of loud whooshing throughout the day, Kerris’s husband finally said, “Enough is enough.”
“He told me, you have got to do something! People are trying to talk to you and you can’t hear them. You need to be seen.”
So, Kerris made the call. After the conversation with her co-worker, she called SIU Medicine’s Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery to set up an appointment with audiologist Jennifer Berry. A series of tests followed, including one that showed no response in her right ear. That’s when Dr. Zaid Al-Zaghal, an SIU Medicine ear, nose and throat specialist, stepped in.
Dr. Al-Zaghal ordered a CT scan to see if her middle ear bone had collapsed and maybe, just maybe, this was the root cause of all her problems. Hopeful for some answers, Kerris had the cat scan, but unfortunately, nothing showed.
“I cried at those results. I just wanted answers,” she said. But Dr. Al-Zaghal said 5-10 percent of people with collapsed ear bones won’t show that on the scan. They won’t know for sure until they go in surgically to find out. So that’s what we did.”
Soon after, Dr. Al-Zaghal scheduled surgery. Kerris went into the operating room with almost no hearing in her right ear. Ninety minutes later, surgery was over and he had successfully replaced the third bone of hearing in Kerris’ ear. Kerris was one of the 5-10%.
“I woke up and could hear the nurses talking in the room right away,” Kerris said, “It was incredible.”
The surgery successfully restored hearing in her right ear and nearly eliminated all the ringing and whooshing she had been experiencing, which is expected to fully dissipate after her recovery period has ended.
Kerris is eager to return to have this surgery on her left ear as well, which also has hearing loss, though less severe.
“I already asked Dr. Al-Zaghal when I can come back for my left ear,” she said with a laugh. “He said I need to wait six months – I’ll be ready.”
