Easton's speech update, Praise God!

When Easton first had his speech evaluation in April, he failed the hearing portion of the test. The woman who was conducting that part said it was probably fluid in his ears and to expect an ear infection within the next few days. She was right, and when we were at the pediatrician’s office the following week, we discussed possibly referring Easton to a specialist (basically an ENT), if he failed another hearing test after the antibiotics cleared up the fluid.  I didn’t want to- we’d been there and done that with Cory, numerous times. Cory’s had tubes put in his ears twice, his tonsils removed, and still has ear trouble. We’ve since learned with Cory that we could pretty much chalk all that up to allergies. Once he was older we discovered he’s allergic to grass (nothing we can do about that!), and cat/dog hair. Even with his nose spray and allergy meds, he still sneezes constantly (darn grass), and has frequent upper respiratory infections. He still wears ear plugs when swimming/bathing, and he knows that he’ll probably get swimmers ear if he’s diving repeatedly. That took over 4 years to figure out though! So once an ENT was suggested with Easton I just said no. I was determined that even if it took longer to figure out the cause, we were not going through all that again. Tubes are not always the answer. Our pediatrician was so, so nice and said he’d back me up 100% whatever I decided. He just reminded me to be patient as we figured it out.

 

We finished the antibiotic and went back for a hearing test at the pediatrician’s office after 14 days. Failed. Next step was a more sensitive hearing test, outsourced at a center in Athens. We went to that apt., and they said they’d send the results to our pediatrician, but it looked like acute hearing loss. I knew not to freak out at that term, but was still ticked- if I didn’t know what that actually meant, I probably would have bawled thinking my baby couldn’t hear. A week later we were back at the pediatrician’s office for the results. Failed. I wasn’t surprised because we hadn’t done anything to treat the fluid in his ear yet, we were just taking more hearing tests. That’s when we tied his delayed speech in with all the ear troubles- it made perfect sense!

We started over the counter allergy meds and a nose spray, and this time my pediatrician urged me to see an ENT. He said we could still avoid tubes, but he would be more knowledgeable as to what the next step would be, if the meds didn’t work. He referred us to an ENT in Athens, and we tried again. After waiting ONE HOUR in the waiting room, I finally asked what was going on. Was there an emergency, were we not booked, should we reschedule…..? The receptionist was not the least bit friendly and said they had a new computer system and it was putting things behind. Finally we were taken back and waited another half hour in our room when I stuck my head out again. I explained to the nurse that we’d been there an hour and a half and wanted to know how much longer we should expect to wait. She said she’d send the doctor right in. The doctor did come in and he seemed rushed too. He asked me to explain what the troubles have been, but then interrupted me to say he’d get a hearing test done, and walked out the door. I had to literally call out down the hallway to him, “We’ve already done hearing tests, you have the results, and I am not finished.” I’m sure he loved me at that point, but he did come back in the room, and then for whatever reason decided to give me a lecture on the inner ear. He pulled out his diagrams and started to explain how the ear works. I listened because I was sure there was a point to his speech, and then he followed up by saying he’d be right back in to discuss allergy medications. He left the room again, and then I heard him go right next door into the next room and greet that patient, “Hi! I’m Dr. _________, how are you doing today?” I was boiling at this point, and just gathered up our stuff and left. None of the nurses asked me where I was going, nor the receptionist, and we never heard back from their office, ever.

Back to the pediatrician! I love him by the way, have I said that? He just laughed when I told him what happened and said he could refer us to another ENT, but if I still didn’t mind being patient, we’d just try out different allergy meds and repeat the hearing tests every 2 weeks, no ENT. I was completely fine with that- anything over surgery. From April-August we played the guessing game with different brands before Easton FINALLY passed his first hearing test on August 14th!!!!!! I was SOOOO happy we had found the answer!!!!! NOW we know why his speech was delayed, the poor guy couldn’t hear for months, and who knows how much time passed before we even discovered that. Yay, my baby can hear!!!!

He started school on August 11^th...

 

 

 

....and between that and being able to clearly hear, his language has BLOWN UP. I am so proud of him! Family and friends have noticed a huge difference in him too, and Heath and I are thrilled. Easton jabbers non-stop now and is finally enunciating. The stutter is gone, I’m guessing that was developmental, but praise God, our baby can hear!!!!