"Welcome to the Hearing Wellness Journey Podcast, an exploration of determination, hope, self discovery, and triumph. We'll share the personal experiences of those that are living with hearing loss and provide a haven for their stories to show others that they are not alone in this journey. Please welcome your hosts,  Dr. Dawn Heiman and Lindsay Dougherty.

Here are some quotes from the podcast:

 Q: Hi, Mandy. I'm so excited that you're here or I'm sorry, I should call you Dr. Norgaard. So can you tell us who you are, where you're from? Any details you want to add about that? 

A: Sure. Dr. Norgaard, I am from Sioux falls, South Dakota. I have three siblings. One of them is my identical twin sister. She lives in Destin, Florida. She is a park ranger down there, and we were both diagnosed with hearing loss at a very early age, I think I would diagnosed at three years old and then she was diagnosed a few years later, just because one ear was normal..."

Q: Do your family and friends notice when you get new hearing aids? 

A: So you get new hearing aids and you walk into the room and you're thinking everyone's going to notice maybe, and they don't life just moves on. Yeah. And I think it's interesting when I get new patients in here and they say, "Oh, I saw your website" or whatever. And I'm starting to realize that not a lot of them are, they might see my website, but they're not reading the about me because then we get to the consult part of after the hearing test and they're like, "You wear hearing aids?" Cause I'm like, "You can do this or you could do this, like when I'm wearing." "Oh, I didn't even know." They're not noticing like they did four years ago or 35 years ago. When I thought people were notice noticing. So it's almost like it's turned a corner.

Q: So what advice would you give to someone who's listening right now that was born with a hearing loss, or they're younger and they just found out that they have a hearing loss, or they're struggling with who they are, and they don't want to wear their hearing aids? What would you say to this person?

A: I would highly encourage that... do I wish I would born with normal hearing? Absolutely. But that's not how it is right now. So there, we just have to take responsibilities for trying to make ourselves exceed, meet, or exceed our own personal goals.

And if you're, if you don't want to correct something that, you think it's absolutely wrong. God has a plan, if you can be the best person you can be. And that requires wearing hearing aids and you have a family or you have goals and that's what it takes. Then do it. There is no shame in wearing hearing aids.

Just like glasses. I have glasses too. I was the biggest geek in high school. I had braces, rubber bands. Headgear, glasses, and hearing aids all at the same time.

Some of those things go away and growing up, is awkward. 

What is your goal? If your goal is to become a CEO of a company or you want to be a manager or a supervisor? Whatever it is, and you have a hearing loss, why not correct it? Why not cover all your bases and put forth the full potential?

And because you would be surprised at how much you can accomplish, if you can just take those steps, those extra steps, and they're not negative steps. And like you said, we're probably our biggest critics. So to us is just more negative thing, and to other people, they don't even notice. Yeah. 

And you're so worth it. Why deny yourself of something that just makes your life easier? And when you achieve your goals, you're happier.

We have a sign in my, in our house and it, and I saw it. It's one of those farmhousey signs. And I saw it at an art show and I was like, I have to have that sign. It's a "Trust your crazy ideas." So anytime I'm getting down... I'm looking for that."

If you live in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota area, Dr. Mandy Norgaard's office is currently accepting new patients. See her contact information below.