The results of the test were actually really good. We, as his parents, really felt that we were doing this to see if there WAS hearing loss on some level because we have such yucky speech problems. We KNOW he hears so we weren't worried about them saying he can't hear.
Well, the confirmed perfect hearing was no shock. It came at great relief. But also major disappointment. Don't get me wrong I didn't want Tyler to have hearing loss. But I wanted there to be an answer as to why we lack speech. NOT communication but SPEECH. There is a difference.
The Test done today was called an ABR. (Here is the boring medical stuff so I can show up on google searches, skip if you want.)
Auditory brain stem response (ABR) test
An infant ( in our case a 3 year old) is sleeping or sedated ( for Tyler he was under anesthesia) for the ABR. An infant may be sleeping naturally or may have to be sedated for this test. Additionally, older, cooperative kids may be tested in a silent environment while they're visually occupied.( yeah didn't work.... hence the test today) Tiny earphones are placed in the ear canals. Usually, click-type sounds are introduced through the earphones, and electrodes measure the hearing nerve's response to the sounds. A computer averages these responses and displays waveforms. Because there are characteristic waveforms for normal hearing in portions of the speech range, a normal ABR can predict fairly well that a baby's hearing is normal in that part of the range. An abnormal ABR may be due to hearing loss, but it may also be due to some medical problems or measurement difficulties.
So we know he is processing, hearing and using the information. Yay for Tyler.
Now to find out where to go next. There has to be an answer somewhere. Till then, we will just sit back and enjoy the cute signs and gestures he gives us. He is very smart and has been doing really well.
We are very proud of him. He is our hero.
The aftermath of the anesthesia is pretty nasty. He screams and cries and kicks and gags. Once we got the nurse to go away we got him calmed down just fine. She came back to take off the IV and that sent him into a fit again. After all the surgeries lately we have noticed a little increase in irritation with the tape. It left some nasty marks.
We went to sit till they discharged us and he wouldn't stop crying until the bracelet, and the band aid from the iv out. After that.. perfect. He came home and played all day. He has owie's on his ears but otherwise he is fine.
Here is the many faces today of our Hero:
The nasty stuff on his face is chocolate. He got a donut at the store because his mom is a sucker. The mark on his upper cheek is from the tape. I really think we need to remember next time to have them use the tape they use on allergic kids.
4 comments:
Yay, that's great he has no hearing problems!! I can understand how it might be frustrating that you still don't have answers about his speech though.
Well that is so great he doesn't have any hearing loss, but hard becuase you don't have any more answers. We know how that goes. Ty is so cute, I hope he is doing well. We have the same probs with tape and our little Josh. He has rashs really bad right now from the tape used to keep his NG tube in place. We are always fighting that battle.
How frustrating to not have a clear cut response for the speech but YEAH GOD that he can hear (when he wants too)! A typical toddler attitude!
I get the same mark when they use tape on me at the dr's. Dad said Grandpa Labrum got it when he had Hip surgery.. must be a Labrum trait! :)
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