Bella's appointment did not go very well at all this morning. That being said, there is no sense in us stressing over something that is completely out of our control, just as there is no sense in us sugar coating it.
I freaked out for about an hour, then took the girls out for lunch & thought about all of the things the Dr said. Rather than focusing on the negatives I am choosing to focus all of my attention on only the positive things the Dr had to say.
Falling into the "not so positive" catagory:
Well, let's just say that I knew something was wrong when the nurse administering the hearing test said she had to go get a different machine because she couldn't get the one she was using to work. She thought the machine was broken. Come to find out, the machine works just fine. It's Bella's ears that are "broken"..
Bella is 97% deaf in her left ear & 73% deaf in her right ear. Everything she hears is muffled, kind of like the noises you hear when you're swimming under water. They gave her 3 different hearing tests today & she failed all 3.
That being said, she is not "Helen Keller" deaf. She was not born deaf & while it's true that she's pretty darn deaf right now, it's by no means 100% permanent.
If you recall, when she was a baby she suffered from multiple ear infections. We decided not to have tubes put in her ears, though - because we didn't like the idea of her having to be put under anesthesia. By the time she had turned 2 the ear infections had subsided & all has been fine (or so we thought!) ever since.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that she hasn't had any ear infections, fluid has still been building up in her ear drums. Her ears are almost completely full of trapped fluid.
First thing tomorrow morning we will schedule an appointment with a Pediatric ENT (Ear/Nose/Throat specialist). According to Bella's pediatrician, this guy is the best . After the specialist runs his own tests we will schedule surgery so they can remove all of the fluid. They will also put tubes in her ears to eliminate the possibility of even more fluid getting into her ear drums. With cold season fast approaching the last thing we need is for her to get a cold & end up with more fluid, especially given the limited amount of hearing she has right now.
Then, after a few months have passed, they will re-evaluate & see where her hearing is at. They have no way of knowing how much of her hearing will be restored once the fluid is taken out. Some of the damage is permanent, but there's a 40-50% chance that she will get at least 40% of her hearing back in her left ear & possibly all of her hearing back in her right ear.
In the meantime we've been instructed to make eye contact her when we are speaking to her, as all along she's probably only been hearing bits & pieces of what we've been saying to her. This is all that she knows though, so it's not like she was once able to hear great & then all of a sudden couldn't hear. She's long since adapted to the low level of hearing that she has going on now.
All of this directly ties into her speech, which we never viewed as a problem before. We assumed she was a late/slow talker. And, as typical of my little family, she did not show any signs of *really* having a problem. She rarely watches tv, so there's never been an issue with the volumn. She was born stubborn & defiant, so her not listening fell into the "this is just Bella" catagory.
I do feel guilty in that, up until oh...two hours ago?..I was constantly yelling & repeating myself to her. I can't tell you how many times I said "Aren't you listening?! Listen to me!". Hah. Poor kid can't hear!!!!
I'll tell you though...even the Dr was quite impressed with how well she communicates & with how much she CAN translate/hear, given the small level of hearing she has going on right now!! He commented on how bright of a child she is.. to be able to figure out what everyone is saying pretty much on the first shot, without having to constantly ask them to repeat themselves.
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