We’ve been talking about the same thing for several days now, and while I find it incredibly refreshing to share those things with you guys, there continue to be other things going on in our life completely unrelated to our new pregnancy. For instance, Rowan’s hearing.
I’ve only mentioned it once or twice on the blog, if I remember right, but I’ve been suspicious about Rowan’s hearing for a while already. Earlier this year, I asked Dr. Guselle to check Rowan’s ears for me. At the time, she noted some fluid in his ears, but he was in the thick of a cold so it was hard to judge much. I also learned that, after a cold, fluid can last in ears for quite some time. Weeks and weeks. She sent a referral to the audiology department of the hospital for us, and that was that. Better to be safe than sorry, right?
So began a ridiculous run around, with the childrens section of audiology actually being cut for a few months, and then being rebooted with a mile long waiting list mid summer. I waited a month or two before calling and hounding the department, and Rowan’s spot on the waiting list had not moved in those months. It was SO frustrating. Yet I know he’s not the only kid anxiously waiting on this list to be seen. Its pretty awful that anyone between the ages of newborn and 6 years old can’t be seen for free by public health.
In my final call to audiology, I asked what I could possibly do next. They told me to go private. I had called private clinics in the summer and they all told me that no one in a private clinic was set up to see children his age. I told her as much, and she said there were only a few clinics that would, and gave me their names.
I called one and it told me they were booking either RIGHT at Christmas or into the new year. Keep in mind, this was in October. I was so discouraged, I gave up. But a week or two later, I called the second place and they said “How about this Thursday?” Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it that day, and they only saw the young kids on Thursday evenings, but I could get in just a couple of weeks later! I was totally thrilled, and booked an appointment on the spot.
That appointment was yesterday at 5:00. Ro and I went on a date, just the two of us, which we haven’t done maybe ever. It was so fun! He is SUCH a sweet little guy. I loved bantered with him in the van as we drove, though by “bantering,” I mean I was shouting and he was saying “I can’t hear what you said” over and over. Sometimes it worked 😉 We went to McDonalds and he got a happy meal, which the kids never get anymore, and enjoyed his chicken and fries. The toy was for after his appointment.
We talked/prepped for his appointment quite a bit. He actually seemed pretty on board with having his ears looked at. So much so that I think he knows he can’t quite hear as well as he should. The one thing I couldn’t drill into his head, however, was that he was not seeing Dr. Rubab. For some reason, he was so sure that he was going to see Dekker’s eye specialist, but I kept telling him he was seeing Dr. Jason. He was completely fine with everything we discussed, however, and even said he was excited to go. When we arrived at the clinic, he was so sweet and chatty, and he and I joked as I filled out his forms. They were definitely geared towards adults, so I couldn’t answer much of it, but I tried. When the doctor did call him back, however, he instantly narrowed his eyes and said “no.” I swear, he was still expecting to see Dr. Rubab.
I carried him back to avoid dragging his screaming self into the exam room, and he calmed right away. The doctor was great and said he could do everything with Ro on my lap, so we did. Ro was SO patient as Dr. Jason put thing after thing in his ears, with lots of waiting and sitting still and being quiet involved. Countless times, Ro would lift his hand up to the cords hanging for all the monitors, but then resist and put his hand back down. All on his own. He. Did. Amazing. I think that kind of thing takes longer with kids, too, because you don’t want to just shove the scopes into his ears. You want to be ultra gentle and avoid the fight, so there was a lot of trying new sizes until something fit/sealed/worked properly. But it was finally over, and Ro had done a fabulous job!
So, the results were in! Rowan’s right ear is in perfect shape. Its open, clear, and functioning well. His left ear is where our issue lies, and hopefully its a completely solvable issue. His left ear is apparently a tiny big red, and has fluid in it. Nothing big. The doctor said it looks like a bit of an ear infection. However, to my knowledge, Rowan has never had an ear infection. So its possible he has one now, for the first time, and I just would never have known, or he’s had some others in the past that we haven’t known about, or he has fluid build up from past illnesses in general, or any number of things. There is no way to know how long the fluid has been in there, but it is in there, nonetheless. Those of you who have had babies probably remember the newborn hearing screening, where someone came and put a little wand into your baby’s ears. Rowan had that screening again yesterday, and the doctor explained that what the wand does is send little ticking sounds into the ear, and the waits to register the echo back, showing how much movement there is in the ear drum. Rowan’s right ear was perfectly echoey. His left ear was completely flat, with no echo. The doctor agreed that he would have very little hearing ability out of that ear at this time. Answers! Yes!!
He made his recommendation, and I have a call in to my doctor, so hopefully we’ll get this sorted out very soon 🙂 Ideally, a round of antibiotics would clear the fluid from his ear, and Rowan can be firing on all cylinders again! We’ll rebook with Dr. Jason in three weeks or so, to make sure the treatment did its job, but hopefully thats the end of it and we’re in the clear. I’m so thrilled to have a direction to move in, finally.
And Rowan is thrilled with the happy meal toy he earned, haha! Wins all around.