ENT exam

I'm not exactly sure how to begin this blog. I put if off for one day but I really fell like this new development is something I should share with friends and family. I know how much my son is loved and the support that I have in this world though most of you are far away. I guess I start at beginning. I mentioned a while ago that when Landen was seen by the ENT back in February that she wanted to put tubes in Landen's ears and I doubted if he needed them but I agreed to let her do an exam under anesthesia to remove wax and determine if he was to get tubes only if they also agreed to give him a new ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response, the hearing test that they do for children like Landen who cannot do booth tests). I took him to Flagstaff Monday for all his pre-op appointments. He had to see the CRS doctor to be cleared for surgery and the ENT as well. We stayed overnight because he was going to be the first surgery of the morning and Flagstaff is a long drive for us. The surgery was early early and Landen wasn't happy to be there but eventually they took him from me screaming and crying to go back to the OR. Time seemed to fly by while he was in there and before I knew it they were telling me I could see my baby. I was back in recovery for what seemed like a long time before the ENT came to visit. She came to tell me that for her part everything went well she cleaned out and enormous amount of wax and put tubes in but the audiologist didn't come in with her. She told me that the audiologist needed to look through Landen medical history before coming in to speak with me. Just as I was beginning to think she has forgotten all about me she finally came. She didn't waste any time to before telling me that she was unable to get a response from Landen for any sound at all. She tried every test she could while he was asleep and even as he was waking to get some sound recognition from him but there was nothing. In other words our Little Landen's hearing is completely gone there is nothing left. There isn't even any point in him wearing hearing aids at all because he cannot hear even the amplified sound. I know I was prepared to hear that his hearing loss had become much worse its been over nine months since he last responded to his name. I've been begging for a new ABR for just as long and they have continued to try and do booth test with no results. I was even prepared that there was a good chance based on the fact that each of Landen's ABR's have showed a decline in hearing that someday this would happen. I've even been excited at the fact that he was getting close to having his hearing loss qualify him to start the process of getting him a cochlear implant. But despite all of that I still found the news to be heartbreaking. I couldn't help it... Landen has lost one of his senses completely and his other senses aren't exactly great either. The audiologist had been so shocked herself to see such a rapid loss of hearing that she wanted to review all of his other exams to see if she could find a reason why. But even looking the results of all of his ABRs and the steady rate of decline over the first two years of his life this was not expected this soon. I asked her what the next step for getting him ready for a cochlear implant or CI would be and she tried to talk me into not pursuing it. She told me that she had many deaf kids who learned to sign and live completely happy lives and that it was going to be a hard battle to get the state to approve such an expensive procedure. I respectfully told her that I disagree that it was my decision and Landen already has so many obstacles to overcome and I wanted him to have his hearing back even if it was going to mean a ton of work for me. So our next step is getting the audiologist to get paper work together to submit to his case worker who will send it to Phoenix and Landen will receive a medical review to determine if he is eligible for a CI. All we can do now is prepare ourselves while hoping and praying that the procedure is approved without much of a fight. But I'm already sure that no matter what it takes I will fight until this happens for Landen.