Well after 5 weeks Parker finally made it in to see the ENT Doctor about my suspition that he may have a hearing problem. Them darn specialist sure are hard to get into. We had to cancel his first appointment that I had to wait 2 weeks for because he had the flu, then I had to wait almost another 3 weeks to get him in again!! So anyway we first went to see the audiologist who did a test called a typanigram and right away she told me that his readings were way off and that he wasn't hearing hardly at all. Then I got in to see the Dr. who said that he had fluid in his ears, but not enough to cause such a bad reading on the test he had done. So he starts telling me what it could be and what my options were, which basically ranged from sending him to Devos, or having him put in tubes right away or to just remove the wax in his ears and see if that helps the fluid clear on its own and retest him in three weeks. Needing some time to let the whole thing sink in I chose the least invasive. He cleaned out his ears and I could not believe what was in there! When he was done he said that he didn't even realize how much hardened wax was in there. He said that sometimes that much wax can prevent the flow of air between the outer ear and the middle ear and cause a thick fluid to build up. So now we just wait and see what happens. The Dr. didn't seem to optimistic that it would clear up on its own and that he would have to do tubes and that he might even have to have hearing aids. But I don't know if its just wishful thinking or what but I am noticing an improvement already in him. He actually responds to his name, interacts more with other kids and has even picked up a few more words. (Which had previously been two, uh-oh and bye) Also it was so funny because he has this little puppy vacuum that he got for Christmas that he plays with all the time. When you push it it starts to make a vacuuming sound. This weekend he went to play with it and when it turned on he stops, looks totally surprised like he had no idea that it even made a sound. He looked to me, then looked back at the vacuum as if to say "hey check this out mom!!" and just started laughing.
Heres a picture of him from tonight with marker all over his face,doing his favorite past-time, getting into everything!!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Update on Parker man
Posted by Lisa at 9:55 PM
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2 comments:
Wow...sometimes I hate hearing all the options drs give us at difficult times. I just want them to tell me what to do! I would have done the same as you. We had a similar problem with Summer just a couple years ago. I was always getting after her for not listening and she even had a little trouble in preschool. Then the Doctor pulled out unbelievable amounts of wax that to me looked more like stones! I had no idea that could happen. He said her hearing was really poor. After that, she was sensitive to loud noises and music for a bit. Still way easier than what you are dealing with, because shes older and can tell us when something is not right. But to give you some hope, she now only need to have her ears flushed about once a year. I hope you guys can avoid any invasive procedures. But I do have some friends that have had great luck with tubes and say it was worth it. Good luck, and keep us posted on the little guy!
I have really noticed a huge difference in Parker's hearing, I really think removing the wax helped with all the fluid. Love the picture, he sure is a busy little guy.
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