Lucas had his sedated ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response hearing test) at Boston Children's hospital on October 27th. I was looking forward to it so much- it was the appointment that was going to give us the answers to his hearing loss. My Dad drove down with me to the appointment since Norman had a show, which I very much appreciated. I hate driving in Boston traffic, and I would have been worrying about Lucas the whole drive home if I was by myself.
We met with Dr. Kenna (pronouced Ken-ay) and went over my pregnancy, his birth, our family history, the testing that had been done up until that point and what we felt we were seeing. I told her that it seems like he responds to louder sounds sometimes, especially when sleeping. She checked him over and made sure he was healthy (he had started coughing slightly that morning, and I was SO worried we were going to have to cancel), and gave him the ok. He was of course, all smiles and flirting with the nurses and being his normal charming little self.
We got sent back to the SOUND PROOF (instead of a back closet) room for the ABR. They gave Lucas an oral sedation, which he drank right down, and he passed out pretty quickly. They got him all hooked up to a heart and O2 monitor to make sure he was tolerating the sedation well. Then they hooked him up to all the ABR wires.
Our audiologist, Gerri, was very nice and very thorough. She took her time and explained things to us as she went along. She tested both ears for about an hour. We got the results right there. His right ear had a response at 90 db for clicks, with no response to tones at 95- so that ear has a profound loss. His left ear however had a response to clicks at 70 db, and to tones at 75db, all across the frequencies. She tested that ear up to about 95 db and it was consistant. That means his left ear has a severe loss (at the beginning of the severe range). That means all those loud sounds that he seemed to respond to were actual responses. It made sense that they weren't consistant, because the small amount of natural "hearing" that he has, is only in one ear. It felt really good to know that I wasn't just imagining things. There is something to be said for Mommy's intuition!!
We talked to Dr. Kenna after the ABR to go over the results. Our course of action is to continue with the hearing aids, speech therapy and sign language, and see how he's doing with it all in Feb. He may do just fine with hearing aids, or he may need an implant in the right ear. It's pretty much a wait and see game right now.
We got his hearing aids adjusted to his audiogram the next week and it made a HUGE difference in his reactions to sound. He immediately started turning more to sounds, and making a wider range of vocalizations. All very encouraging.
I wish we had gone down to Boston a lot sooner, but I can't change the past. I'm just so happy that we FINALLY have more answers to what's going on with his hearing.
And now a bonus- picture's from Boston!!
Grampie and Lucas checking out the busy street below.
Mommy and her little man. I was SO excited for this appointment!
Sedated- all hooked up to the wires.
The microphones they put in each ear.
Waking up- always such a happy little boy!
aww great update! Mommy knows best! I know no mother ever wants to be at Boston Children's Hospital, but I'm glad you got him there. You are a great mommy.
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