Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Patience is Not my strong point

Little Guy Just Turned 2

It's been 3 and a half weeks since little guy started wearing his hearing aids and he is really doing great. He is totally comfortable and doesn't make any fuss about them at all. The audiologist did change them with a slightly thicker one though that doesn't sit as comfortably on his ear and flips over more often. He's great about coming over though to get them put back behind his ear.

I do have to say that I expected to hear more speech much sooner. Being patient is so difficult for me. I spoke with the audiologist who did explain that his brain has to figure out how to process these new sounds before he's able to speak them. Makes sense doesn't it? I just had no idea though.

I definitely think he's becoming more responsive to speech. He also just really starting to respond to the signing that he's learning. I love seeing him sign and he's quite pleased with himself  as well - the big knowing smile that accompanies his signs is too cute for words.

I did express to our family case coordinator that I felt a little dismayed over the fact that the caring professionals working with little guy had very little experience with children who have hearing loss. I really want to be sure his specific needs (of which I am clueless of) are being met. Our coordinator has been great and hooked us up with a woman who teaches deaf and hard of hearing children. She will begin working with Ronan very soon. She will be teaching him how to listen. I am really excited about this and she's enthusiastic about taking on our little guy.

Now I just need someone to teach me how to be patient. Maybe that's little guy's job. I know he's got a lot to say to me and he has been patiently waiting for me to get the help he needs to do just that.

So ~ whenever you're ready little one, your mama is listening.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

More Progress and questions

Despite what feels like some technical bumps the little guy continues to do remarkably well. On Monday we were scoping out toys for his birthday present in Target (more about that tomorrow) when I got a call about a cancellation at the audiologist. We could get in the next day to have his hearing aids adjusted upward.

Our appointment was a little unsettling for many reasons. It's one thing to sail uncharted medical territories but it's a bit unnerving when the professional that is supporting you leaves you with more questions than answers.

We got there and the audiologist told us she wanted to do some hearing tests on him with his hearing aids on. I thought it would be really helpful to see how he would do. Unfortunately there was some sort of software glitch (identical to the last visit). This meant the majority (45 minutes) of the appointment we sat in her office while she was on the phone to the hearing aid company's tech support, this left no time for testing.

Last appointment I was told they were on very low. This was to get him used to wearing them and that the adjustments would be a gradual process.  At home we listened with these hearing tubes that you can fit over the piece that goes in his ear to test them and indeed it was barely amplified. Yesterday I was told they were actually at 80%. This just seemed strange to me. They are now adjusted to 100% and they do seem quite loud. Little guy seems pretty unphased by this which is wonderful.

We were also informed by our audiologist that this particular hearing aid doesn't exactly cover the frequencies of his hearing loss. She's going to order different ones that will be better suited to him. This is great but I can't help but wonder why they weren't ordered in the first place ~ the results from hearing tests haven't changed. A few more little things occurred that just didn't feel right.

To be fair she seems to be a very genuine and caring person. I put a call in to her today and am awaiting a call back to go over yesterday's uncertainties and clarify the questions that were raised but unanswered.

It has occurred to me that it is hard to ask someone questions when you just don't know what your supposed to be asking.

So here we are living and learning. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and for joining me on this journey.

On a happy note here are some photos from our Easter day. We all really enjoyed the beautiful Spring weather and their first egg hunt.