Say What? Continued ...
Thank goodness the weather cooperated and Sammy was able to have his much anticipated hearing test and ENT appointment today. The weather forecasts showed that it was supposed to be below freezing all day and icy roads would have prevented us from being able to drive across town to the medical center. After much prayer, I was thrilled to find the temperature above 32 so we could safely drive.
The first test Sammy had was a tympanometry test which measures the ear drum's flexibility. I'm not exactly sure if it's air or sound or both that they use to do this test, but whatever the case, you can see a visual of the results below.
The bell shaped curve is normal in children to cross through the lower dotted square (it is normal for adults to cross either dotted square). The lowest curve is showing hearing impairment.
This is what Sammy's graph looks like for both ears. Flat as a pancake.
What this means apparently, is that Sammy has so much fluid in his ears that his eardrums can't flex at all. The effect on Sammy's hearing is a loss of about 35 - 40 db. Wearing a set of earplugs like the ones below cancel out about 30 db. Imagine walking around with these stuck in your ears and picture Sammy's hearing being even worse than that!! Can you blame him for not learning how to talk? Poor kiddo!
The second test they did was to put us in a sound proof room facing one corner with a speaker to the left and the right. I was instructed to keep Sammy focused on a toy in my lap facing forward while the test administrator would call Sammy's name over one speaker or the other and slowly turn up the volume on the speaker until Sammy looked in that direction. The guy was pretty much yelling at Sammy with the volume turned way up before Sammy would look. This comes as no surprise to me as we've observed his lack of reaction to sound at home since he was born. It's great for his sleeping, not so great for communicating. When I had the test results faxed to the speech therapist's office the receptionist said "Oh my, you weren't kidding about him not being able to hear!" Not the words a parent ever really hopes to hear. Sigh.
The good news is the ENT believes all of Sammy's hearing loss is temporary and caused by fluid buildup. We won't know this for certain of course until after the fluid is drained and his hearing is retested. Sammy is scheduled to get tubes in his ears this Monday morning and will have another hearing test in a month. This might be the first time in Sammy's 18 months of life that he's ever been able to hear clearly. I'll have to make a conscious adjustment to talk to him in a normal voice as I'm so used to talking to him like he is hard of hearing. I've never seen him startle from a loud noise, but I suspect that will soon change.
The procedure is extremely common and takes 15-30 minutes total, but since the kids have to be put under using anesthesia, it is a little concerning. I'm sure he'll be totally fine and I'm not feeling anxious at all, but prayers are always appreciated!
Funny side note, according to our fridge repair guy, Sammy's most commonly used word is the exact pronunciation of "big brother" in Cantonese. LOL!!
The first test Sammy had was a tympanometry test which measures the ear drum's flexibility. I'm not exactly sure if it's air or sound or both that they use to do this test, but whatever the case, you can see a visual of the results below.
The bell shaped curve is normal in children to cross through the lower dotted square (it is normal for adults to cross either dotted square). The lowest curve is showing hearing impairment.
This is what Sammy's graph looks like for both ears. Flat as a pancake.What this means apparently, is that Sammy has so much fluid in his ears that his eardrums can't flex at all. The effect on Sammy's hearing is a loss of about 35 - 40 db. Wearing a set of earplugs like the ones below cancel out about 30 db. Imagine walking around with these stuck in your ears and picture Sammy's hearing being even worse than that!! Can you blame him for not learning how to talk? Poor kiddo!
The second test they did was to put us in a sound proof room facing one corner with a speaker to the left and the right. I was instructed to keep Sammy focused on a toy in my lap facing forward while the test administrator would call Sammy's name over one speaker or the other and slowly turn up the volume on the speaker until Sammy looked in that direction. The guy was pretty much yelling at Sammy with the volume turned way up before Sammy would look. This comes as no surprise to me as we've observed his lack of reaction to sound at home since he was born. It's great for his sleeping, not so great for communicating. When I had the test results faxed to the speech therapist's office the receptionist said "Oh my, you weren't kidding about him not being able to hear!" Not the words a parent ever really hopes to hear. Sigh.The good news is the ENT believes all of Sammy's hearing loss is temporary and caused by fluid buildup. We won't know this for certain of course until after the fluid is drained and his hearing is retested. Sammy is scheduled to get tubes in his ears this Monday morning and will have another hearing test in a month. This might be the first time in Sammy's 18 months of life that he's ever been able to hear clearly. I'll have to make a conscious adjustment to talk to him in a normal voice as I'm so used to talking to him like he is hard of hearing. I've never seen him startle from a loud noise, but I suspect that will soon change.
The procedure is extremely common and takes 15-30 minutes total, but since the kids have to be put under using anesthesia, it is a little concerning. I'm sure he'll be totally fine and I'm not feeling anxious at all, but prayers are always appreciated!
Funny side note, according to our fridge repair guy, Sammy's most commonly used word is the exact pronunciation of "big brother" in Cantonese. LOL!!
posted by Mandy Klevenski | 9:40 PM
5 Comments:
Mandy! I am so glad that it appears that Sammy's hearing loss can be cleared up with a simple procedure! I have been praying for you guys since your last post. Poor guy! Please keep your blog updated so we know how he's doing! - Rachel
Yeah, I'm thrilled that this might be a breakthrough for Sammy and could fix his hearing which will cut down on his frustration from not being able to hear or communicate, plus he should get sick a lot less, and with his new ears ... he might actually begin to talk. I feel so bad his hearing is so awful, and I hope that it hasn't been this bad the whole time. Maybe they just caught him at a time when it was really terrible (I tell myself that so I don't feel so bad about it). Anyway ... we're praying for the best possible outcome and we'll keep you posted!
Whoa - poor kid. It is great that it should be able to be fixed so easily. I remember when Hannah got her tubes - it was nuttin'! ;)
Hope everything went well!
I heard through the grapevine that Sammy's procedure went well and that he is HEARING now! What a wonderful answer to prayer!
Hey buddy, first of all, sorry for being lame in checking and commenting on the blog, but this one triggered your dutch friend ;-)
Our oldest, Leanne, she basically failed the first test as well, and then got an A on the second, so don´t worry about it too much, you never know.
You and your family are in my prayers. Big greetings,
Leo
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