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In June, she had to give up her job as a surgical nurse because she can no longer perform the duties safely.

At home, every day is a struggle. Hubber relies mostly on lip reading. She wears hearing aids, though they are little help. Going out in public is difficult and causes anxiety. She avoids conversations and prefers the isolation of home.

She gets by communicating with her children, age 7 and 9, although it hurts when they’d sometimes say “whatever” or “never mind” instead of repeating themselves. She misses talking to her mother, who lives in the U.S., on the phone. And she dreads the day that she won’t be able to hear her husband Michael say, “I love you.”

It’s only been three months since Hubber was placed on the waiting list at St. Paul’s Hospital’s, where two surgeons in the Rotary Hearing Clinic perform all the cochlear implant surgeries for adults in B.C. and Yukon.

Being told it’ll take another two years is almost too much to bear, she said.

“If I were to have had my surgery three months ago, I would be able to be back at work by now,” said Hubber, who is now on employment insurance benefits while awaiting long-term disability status. “It makes me angry that I have to be a burden on the system when a two-hour surgery could change all that.”

Maggie Magee Dodd, a volunteer hearing coach for the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, has advocated for patients needing cochlear implants.

She said the two-year waiting list isn’t a surprise, but “it shouldn’t happen.” While deafness isn’t life-threatening, the loss of one of the major senses has a tremendous impact on a person’s life, she said.