Logan is at the age where he likes to pull his hearing aids out of his ears to chew on them. In recent weeks, he has become quite proficient at this, as well as stealthy. We had several adventures at home looking for his hearing aids on the floor, but it becomes quite another matter when this starts happening outside of our home.
In the last week, we've had two incidents when we thought one of his aids was lost. Last week, Andrew took the kids out to Target while I spent some time with my mom. I get a call from him saying that he got home from the store and he can't find Logan's right hearing aid. So my mom and I rush to meet them at Target, where we search every aisle they went through and look through every shopping cart we can find. After a while, Andrew took the kids home and my mom and I kept the search up. We finally gave up and decided to check the carts outside again on the way to our cars. Incredibly, we found it at the bottom of a cart at the edge of the parking lot.
When I relayed this story to our audiologist, she suggested we use ear gear on his aids to keep them nearby. This is basically a sock that goes over each hearing aid that is tethered to the child's shirt. I happily gave this a try for a few days, but I noticed that Logan took his hearing aids out even more, since it makes them bulkier. After a few days, we stopped using it.
We are back to using the ear gear after losing one again today, but this time at Lowe's. I remember seeing the hearing aid on him when we were in the store, but when we got home only the earpiece was in and not the receiver. AHH! Not Again! We frantically search the truck, his clothes and his seat and then jump back into the truck to rush back to Lowe's. We must have someone watching over us because we found it near the cart return. It has some scuffs on it, like it was run over by a shopping cart, but it still works!
Needless to say, we will be using the ear gear daily and doing regular hearing aid checks throughout the day to make sure he still has them.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Next steps
Logan's hearing is worse in his right ear, but his left ears seems to be getting worse as well. Since he has profound hearing loss in his right ear, we have already been discussing the possibility of a cochlear implant (at least for that ear) with his ENT.
The first step is to see if he is even a good candidate for an implant. So we had to schedule a sedated MRI so his Dr. can see what his cochlea and nerves look like. We had this scheduled for the end of February, but of course, Logan got sick the week before we were going to have it done and we had to reschedule. Unfortunately, that meant we had to wait another month to get it done.
We finally had his MRI done this past Wednesday. It was so hard seeing them put an IV on my little guy, but I know that is nothing to what it will be if he gets his surgery done! Everything went smoothly and we were home within an hour after the test was completed. Now we have to wait for our ENT appointment to get the results. I swear it feels like we are always waiting. We just want to know what direction we are going!
The first step is to see if he is even a good candidate for an implant. So we had to schedule a sedated MRI so his Dr. can see what his cochlea and nerves look like. We had this scheduled for the end of February, but of course, Logan got sick the week before we were going to have it done and we had to reschedule. Unfortunately, that meant we had to wait another month to get it done.
We finally had his MRI done this past Wednesday. It was so hard seeing them put an IV on my little guy, but I know that is nothing to what it will be if he gets his surgery done! Everything went smoothly and we were home within an hour after the test was completed. Now we have to wait for our ENT appointment to get the results. I swear it feels like we are always waiting. We just want to know what direction we are going!
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| Logan and Grandma waiting for the MRI to start |
Our Story
This blog is long overdue! Logan is now 9 months old and I've been meaning to start this to document his story and to share with others for so long. Since he was diagnosed, I've taken much comfort in reading the stories of other families and I hope our story can give comfort to others.
We have 1 daughter and were very happy to be adding a son to our family. I can remember how in his first month of life it was both one of the happiest times and one of the hardest and saddest times in my life. He failed his newborn hearing screening 3 times before we were discharged from the hospital. They assured us that we did not need to worry and that this happens quite often. We were sure he just had some fluid in his ears.
When he was 1 week old, we went to get an ABR test done, which he failed. The audiologist suggested we do a repeat ABR when he was a month old, just in case there was still fluid in his ears. As we waited those 3 weeks we did many "hearing tests" on him, such as banging pots together, having his sister yell and anything else we could think of. Every time we thought he had a response, we were so hopeful. The 3 weeks finally passed and there I was with him and the audiologist again. As I knew deep down, they confirmed his hearing loss that day. I was crushed when they told me that he had severe to profound hearing loss in both ears.
Logan was fitted with his first set of hearing aids when he was just 7 weeks old. I will never forget how his face lit up when he actually heard us. But with that joy I also felt so sad thinking about all the things he had been missing.
Logan has come a long way since then. He has so much help that I am so thankful for. He is enrolled in an early childhood program at a great oral deaf school here and has other early childhood intervention services. He is such a happy baby and he loves to babble, which melts my heart knowing his degree of hearing loss.
We have 1 daughter and were very happy to be adding a son to our family. I can remember how in his first month of life it was both one of the happiest times and one of the hardest and saddest times in my life. He failed his newborn hearing screening 3 times before we were discharged from the hospital. They assured us that we did not need to worry and that this happens quite often. We were sure he just had some fluid in his ears.
When he was 1 week old, we went to get an ABR test done, which he failed. The audiologist suggested we do a repeat ABR when he was a month old, just in case there was still fluid in his ears. As we waited those 3 weeks we did many "hearing tests" on him, such as banging pots together, having his sister yell and anything else we could think of. Every time we thought he had a response, we were so hopeful. The 3 weeks finally passed and there I was with him and the audiologist again. As I knew deep down, they confirmed his hearing loss that day. I was crushed when they told me that he had severe to profound hearing loss in both ears.
Logan was fitted with his first set of hearing aids when he was just 7 weeks old. I will never forget how his face lit up when he actually heard us. But with that joy I also felt so sad thinking about all the things he had been missing.
Logan has come a long way since then. He has so much help that I am so thankful for. He is enrolled in an early childhood program at a great oral deaf school here and has other early childhood intervention services. He is such a happy baby and he loves to babble, which melts my heart knowing his degree of hearing loss.
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