Forgive me, as I'm about to brag....A lot....about my son. :)
Caden has been such an amazing little boy the past few weeks. He has been so sweet to his brothers, using such great manners, really seems he's trying to practice obedience and make him momma and daddy happy. YES....he still has his "I'm 2 and will act like it" moments--
But I wanted to share how proud I am of him. If his brothers get hurt, he will go to them quickly, and kiss their head and say, "its otay." (often not saying the 'k's) If his brothers are crying in the car, he will reach over to touch them and say, "it's otay, we almost ome." When his brothers are fussing during their diaper changes, he will come over and try to distract them for me. (without being asked at times!). When we were at the doctors this week, he was using Please and Thank you a bunch, and spontaneously. The nurse was so impressed she walked back into the room and had to give him a high five and praise him for his sweet manners.
Phil and I have been AMAZED..literally, with caden's ability to throw a base ball(nerf style), dribble a soccer ball, then yesterday we were pitching balls to him, and the kid can HIT! I foresee travel ball in our future. ;) Till then...we will sign him up for soccer (AYSO) in the fall.
Love this little man....more and more everyday! He is such a blessing.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Caden's ears
As some of you know, caden's hearing test came back "abnormal". He has a mild to moderate hearing loss. Monday I took him to the ENT at Loma Linda. (luckily the insurance allowed us to go out of network to the pediatric specialist, due to the fact the boys also go there).
Caden's ear drums are slightly retracted (sucken in), but no visible fluid. SO he is getting some negative pressure when they test the inner ear. As my pediatrician warned me, the ENT's first suggestion was going to be, "put tubes in his ears". I asked if this was a guarantee that he would hear better, and she said no. Right away I then asked what the second option was and then the third. Second option is get his ears retested at Loma linda, then third option was hearing aids.
At this point, we are waiting for approval to get his hearing re tested at Loma Linda, with the same audiologist that his brothers have. (i really like him). Once we have those results we can make a more informed decision. As of right now, we are not going to do any surgeries. His loss is a mixed conductive/senori neural. This means that the conductive part (inner ear "issues") could be fixed, but then that would still leave him with a nerve hearing loss (thanks to genetics). Hearing aids are probably in his future as well.
If you know caden, you know a boy who talks a lot, and seems to have a wide range of vocabulary. He carries on conversations, and is a quick learner. After the results came back, however, I now see letter sounds that are missing, and notice him wanting the radio, tv, computer turned up, he speaks VERY loudly, and misunderstands me at times. To compensate, I have been using strategies you'd use on anyone with a hearing loss. One, being, look right at him and speak clearly.
Just like his momma...one on one situations and small group settings, you would never know he had an issue with hearing. The audiologist in LA said that you will start to notice the loss when he gets in school... so to prevent that we are taking action now.
Maybe loma linda will re-test him and prove the first test to be completely off. We'll see...
Hoping the referral comes back soon, and we can have this appt this month.
Caden's ear drums are slightly retracted (sucken in), but no visible fluid. SO he is getting some negative pressure when they test the inner ear. As my pediatrician warned me, the ENT's first suggestion was going to be, "put tubes in his ears". I asked if this was a guarantee that he would hear better, and she said no. Right away I then asked what the second option was and then the third. Second option is get his ears retested at Loma linda, then third option was hearing aids.
At this point, we are waiting for approval to get his hearing re tested at Loma Linda, with the same audiologist that his brothers have. (i really like him). Once we have those results we can make a more informed decision. As of right now, we are not going to do any surgeries. His loss is a mixed conductive/senori neural. This means that the conductive part (inner ear "issues") could be fixed, but then that would still leave him with a nerve hearing loss (thanks to genetics). Hearing aids are probably in his future as well.
If you know caden, you know a boy who talks a lot, and seems to have a wide range of vocabulary. He carries on conversations, and is a quick learner. After the results came back, however, I now see letter sounds that are missing, and notice him wanting the radio, tv, computer turned up, he speaks VERY loudly, and misunderstands me at times. To compensate, I have been using strategies you'd use on anyone with a hearing loss. One, being, look right at him and speak clearly.
Just like his momma...one on one situations and small group settings, you would never know he had an issue with hearing. The audiologist in LA said that you will start to notice the loss when he gets in school... so to prevent that we are taking action now.
Maybe loma linda will re-test him and prove the first test to be completely off. We'll see...
Hoping the referral comes back soon, and we can have this appt this month.
John Tracy Clinic (hearing tests)
Yesterday Phil and I took Braxton and Xander to LA, to a pretty famous place: John Tracy Clinic (JTC). It's a facility that educates and gives tons of support to parents of Deaf of Hard of Hearing children. (however they don't use the term "deaf". More on that later).
Per our audiologists suggestion, we went to JTC for a second opinion. I was anxious to get these tests done, because it was a play based test, vs the kind where the boys are sleeping (ABR). This test was suppose to give more accurate results. That is, if the boys cooperated. I'm not saying the visit was a waste....cuz it wasn't. However, the audiologist doesn't feel like she got thresholds (the lowest sound that they boys can hear). Her results actually showed worse hearing than the initial ABR tests taken at Loma LInda. Braxton was restless--very annoyed at the little ear phones he had to put in his ears. Xander did great. He fussed a bit then just sat real still playing wit the toys. He was so involved with the toys, he started to tune out the noises and not react to them. SO we took the toys away and then he seem to have gotten bored with the process of looking at the light up toys that were suppose to be associated with the sounds. (his attention span is SMALL).
SOOO.....now what. The boys will get another ABR, the brain stem test, before they get fitted for hearing aids. Although I trust Loma Linda, and really like the audiologist there, I think we are going to take them to H.E.I ( another famous facility in LA: House Ear Institute). They give the boys meds that knock 'em out in a deep sleep. Loma Linda requires us to starve them, keep them up, and then put them to sleep ourselves when we arrive to the appt. If you can imagine, that is not fun...for anyone. I rather drive to LA.
Hope to know more in a few weeks....Till then we are signing like crazy with them. THey are both signing "more", and xander is almost waving "bye".
Per our audiologists suggestion, we went to JTC for a second opinion. I was anxious to get these tests done, because it was a play based test, vs the kind where the boys are sleeping (ABR). This test was suppose to give more accurate results. That is, if the boys cooperated. I'm not saying the visit was a waste....cuz it wasn't. However, the audiologist doesn't feel like she got thresholds (the lowest sound that they boys can hear). Her results actually showed worse hearing than the initial ABR tests taken at Loma LInda. Braxton was restless--very annoyed at the little ear phones he had to put in his ears. Xander did great. He fussed a bit then just sat real still playing wit the toys. He was so involved with the toys, he started to tune out the noises and not react to them. SO we took the toys away and then he seem to have gotten bored with the process of looking at the light up toys that were suppose to be associated with the sounds. (his attention span is SMALL).
SOOO.....now what. The boys will get another ABR, the brain stem test, before they get fitted for hearing aids. Although I trust Loma Linda, and really like the audiologist there, I think we are going to take them to H.E.I ( another famous facility in LA: House Ear Institute). They give the boys meds that knock 'em out in a deep sleep. Loma Linda requires us to starve them, keep them up, and then put them to sleep ourselves when we arrive to the appt. If you can imagine, that is not fun...for anyone. I rather drive to LA.
Hope to know more in a few weeks....Till then we are signing like crazy with them. THey are both signing "more", and xander is almost waving "bye".
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