Hearing Test Today

Brian was in great spirits for his hearing test today! He wowed them with his personality as usual-clapping, pointing, and saying "hi" to the different animals shown during the test. Unless, of course, a fish happened to pop up on the monitor. Whenever that happened he said, "FISH." Toward the end of the test he was really hamming it up. He would gasp and put his hands to his face "Home Alone" style every time a new character showed up on the screens. Too cute!

Onto the results. Brian tested the same as he did at 12 months. This is good considering they don't expect him to improve and by testing the same this means his loss has not gotten any worse. The audiologist just said to keep doing what we are doing because he is clearly developing as he should as far as speech and language are concerned. She talked a bit about what would be best for Brian educationally speaking, and we were pleased to learn that Montessori is typically an environment where kids with Brian's type of hearing loss thrive. Watch out Miss Young...he's coming your way in a few years!!

There was some fluid in both of Brian's ears today. This was not a surprise since he's been so sick, but we are going to see the ENT in a few weeks to check to see if it's still there. The audiologist said that if it is Dr. Arjmand may want to put tubes in Brian's ears to help them drain. Shockingly this did not freak me out as it would have a year ago. Or maybe not all that shocking given tubes are WAY more routine than some of the things we have dealt with!! I've learned that Children's explores EVERY option and rules out EVERY possibility, so I am just taking this in stride and we'll see what happens in a few weeks.

Overall, it was a good day. The audiologist didn't even mention a need for hearing aides, and when Shawn asked, she said that some kids with this type of loss flounder without them and some kids do great. She said right now, Brian is doing great and the most important thing to do is continue to monitor his progress and his hearing and hope that nothing changes. The BEST news of the day was that we do not have to retest Brian for 6 months, so we have until APRIL before we have to do this again. What a HUGE relief!!

Thank you to all who were thinking of us and sending prayers our way today. We are incredibly lucky to have a wonderful network of family and friends. Good night :)