I can't hear you

Well this was a very humbling moment for me. Hailey brought home a letter from school a couple of months back saying that she failed her school hearing test. So I put it in my pile of things to call later in the week to set an appointment with the district to have her hearing retested. When I called it was too close to Thanksgiving so it got pushed back to December. But then I had to cancel due to....something.....and finally made it to the test that was on the 19th.

I thought it was going to be an unsuccessful appointment since I thought she was fine. After the testing is when my thoughts were changed.

The specialist said that she's almost deaf in her left ear. WHAT!!! That the test shows that she has some hearing lost that will get worse if not treated. That her right ear has been compensating but it is still hard for her to hear. He explained that since her left ear can hear only a very little bit that the right hear will hear for all things and will try to process the information to her brain. But when there's too much noise like babies crying or sitting by the door which leads into the hallway her right ear can only focus on one thing at a time. So if I'm talking to her while I'm holding a crying toddler she won't be able to hear me talk to her. Or if her ear is listening to the sounds of the kids in the hallway her ear wouldn't be able to focus on her teacher.

So last week she seen a specialist that thinks she was born this way. But then poses the question: Why wasn't it noticed before? She's gone to all her well child check ups and nothing was discovered. So tomorrow she goes for a MRI at our local children's hospital. This will tell how she lost her hearing and how the specialist can treat it. It might be a surgery or a hearing aid.

But this really made me shut up and realize that I need to start listening to my kids. With Ducati and her picky eating. She knew that something wasn't right before doctors and I could figure it out. And she has Celiac Disease. Mason- something was up with him at the age of 2 and I didn't notice anything. I thought it was normal for 2 year olds to not be talking. And he has autism. Lily- she has some hair condition that makes her hair fall out if not washed or brushed daily. So to hear that Hailey really can't hear....this is a big teaching moment for me to start trusting in my kids and what they tell me.

How is Hailey with learning the news? First she told me, "I told you so!", then she was enjoying telling everyone that her ear is broken. So with talking to her about hearing aids she wants to grow her hair out long so her hair will cover her hearing aid....if that's the road we need to go down. She's excited to be pigging out tonight since she will have to fast tomorrow for her MRI. So dinner of chicken, potatoes, pudding with marshmallows is on our patients menu for tonight. So how is she.....she's fine :-)