Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Nathan's Hearing Test ....

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 Nathan recently had a hearing test.   Well, he had a follow up with the doctor who did his cleft palate surgery, uvula repair & put tubes back in his ears.   Everything looked great.  At the end he says, would you guys mind waiting around and doing a hearing test just so we can see where it's at.  Sure....

Cuz, he's going to pass!  His palate has been repaired, he's got new tubes in his ears so there should be no reason why his hearing should be bad!!

Except he has a brother who's got hearing loss in one ear ...

So what...

Nathan will pass, even though.... he's ....... never....... passed.

So we get called back, pulled into the little room ....  she asks me if I'll go sit with Nathan.  In my head I'm screaming NO I WANNA SEE ... but of course I say sure... cuz he's my little man!

So we go into the sound proof room with an assistant ...  and Nathan is very engaged, doing what he's suppose to - looking this way or that... depending on the sound.

From the other side of the glass I can see the Audiologist and her face .... was full of concern.

And I knew....  he wasn't passing.

You come to a point where you are sure - absolutely sure - they cannot diagnosis a child with ANYTHING else ...  and then, they do ..... and you realize, the diagnosis mudslide will never stop.

Ever.

So we get out in the little room and she asks me "Did he pass his newborn screening?"  No...  "Has he ever passed a test?"   No....  "Has he done the test where they put the kids to sleep and..."  no... "Well they might want to do that."

Okay.....  I can accept this.   I've been through it before. 

 Nathan has hearing loss in both ears.  You want it to be above the gray area... you can see he is completely in the gray area.  The red circles is his right ear, the blue x's are his left ear and the red arrows are the bone conduction in his right ear. 
 I don't know if I should be thankful that his hearing isn't as BAD as Noah's ... Noah's hearing loss is a little deeper...  but ... he only has it in one ear.  Nathan has it in both - so does that mean it's worse?   I don't know....

He has another hearing test in mid-September... so we'll see.

Here is Noah's latest hearing test - to compare. His is severe in his left ear (under the gray) ...  and his right, although he has some loss, he's pretty normal.  And they fall in different directions - one hears better with higher pitched and one hears better with lower pitched.....

1 comment:

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Hearing tests are commonly administered to children and adults to determine how well individuals can hear and evaluate whether or not they need hearing assistance. While you likely want to do your best on this test, it is important to remember that it is simply intended to determine if you need hearing assistance. If you struggle with hearing, a test of this type is the first step toward getting the medical help you need.