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so the day of the doctors is over! yea. we have come away with a renewed sense of belief that the medical world is a good thing, but it can also be a, oh...annoying, frustrating racket.
so addy has a minor sore throat, but it doesn't explain her high fever. go figure. so we're left to just use motrin & tylenol to lower her fever while her body fights off the mysterious fever inducer. that finishes doc visit #1.
doc visit #2 was addy's hearing test. i finally made my way through the myriad of medical building & car dealerships in dublin to find the elusive 'children's hospital close to home'. when getting the auditory hearing test (it has a more official name that i can't remember) she kept pulling out the ear buds (which also had a more official name) so the auditory technician/nurse/official just did the test through speakers with me holding adeline on my lap...so i could hear & see everything that addy was hearing or seeing. but come to find out, adeline can't hear everything i hear! yup, she didn't pass her hearing test...i was floored, flabbergasted, amazed, shocked, etc. this was the appointment of the day that i was least worried about & wanted to cancel & here it is, the most important discovery of all.
as mentioned earlier, i was in a state of shock so i failed to ask any questions, but the gist is that she can't hear low decibel sounds. when i was holding her i would hear a noise off to the side & was waiting for her to turn her head to see the puppet & lights pop out of the box like she did with the louder noises...but she didn't. i really just wanted to cry when told this could very well be the cause of her slow language development. we let our pediatrician talk us out of being concerned about it for the past year & now she's already a year behind in language, ya know. really, she says about 10 words consistently. *SIGH* i am struggling not to feel some intense guilt about not pushing the issue...but now. NOW i am ready to push the issue. i don't want her to sit out a year of school b/c of this, right?
so i called the ped & asked for a return call b/c apparently an ear infection could also trigger minor hearing loss for a few days. the "officiant" thought it would be a good idea to re-test adeline in 1 month & also to have her ears checked for fluid that morning by our pediatrician. so...her being sick with a fever helps us know that she did not, in fact, have any fluid in her ears this morning b/c she was thouroughly checked out by the ped just a few hours before.
anyway, that was just a heartbreaker of a visit. & since i was so shocked & didn't ask any questions...i don't really have a lot of info which is totally frustrating wes & i. DOI!
next is the mri. wow, is that loud! it wasn't very exciting or frightening, well, except for the iv needle to put in the contrast liquid & waiting for 1 hour to have the mri was a bit frustrating. why do they tell you to come early to fill out paperwork & then they make you wait however long? craziness, i tell you.
at last, was my appointment with the optical neurologist, dr katz. we were 1 hour 15 minutes late & they didn't seem to care one bit b/c they were running nearly 4 hours behind! seriously, they had people waitin for 4 hours...i just can't believe they waited, ya know?! i'd think, 'ah to hell with this appointment!' anyway, katz walked in & totally forgot that i just had the mri & didn't really know why i was there & then when i told him i just had the mri, he had to go find the images & then came back to tell me that not all the images were available & he will call me in the a.m. after he examines them. (but the ones he did see: they look 'NORMAL'!!! excellent.)
& then we made a dash to chipotle & now the girls are in bed. addy still has a fever. amelia is giddy over her gram mum being with her all day (& did i mention that amelia went with wes to work this morning for about half an hour while i took addy to the ped. well, that happened & apparently she was loved on by his coworkers. we just didn't want to take millie to a sick baby hour at the ped's...we have enough of our illnesses around here). so that is our day. the day of the doctors is over.
what is crazy is that with our really wonderful health insurance (seriously, wes has GREAT health insurance through his employer, weyerhauser) we have still paid out of pocked somewhere around $1,000 in just 4 months this year. not including today, either! oi vay, there goes my new dryer & retractable clothesline for the yard.
here's a funny story i remembered today: adeline was outside playing, the windows were open (this was one of our nice days, you know, one of the 4 in the past 10) & i had the dryer going. addy races inside & throws her arms in the air & starts making a siren noise & points to our floor. translation: our dryer squeaks so loudly that adeline was outside, heard the noise from the dryer in the basement...& thought it was a fire truck siren. i guess there's a great 'you know you're a hillbilly when' joke in there somewhere. (like: you know you're a hillbilly when your kid mistakes your ancient dryer for a fire siren).
one last thing: amelia is so close to crawling! i just want to help her by movign her legs a bit more, but i know that will not help. i guess i'm excited to not have to carry her everywhere? so i'm okay with her moving on her own already. she looks so cute on all 4's, rocking back & forth & trying to move forward, but crawling backwards. today she even did a sideways shuffle. & she is becoming more proud of herself as adeline is now noticing that amelia is nearly moving & shouts & claps for her.
these girls are a hoot.
so addy has a minor sore throat, but it doesn't explain her high fever. go figure. so we're left to just use motrin & tylenol to lower her fever while her body fights off the mysterious fever inducer. that finishes doc visit #1.
doc visit #2 was addy's hearing test. i finally made my way through the myriad of medical building & car dealerships in dublin to find the elusive 'children's hospital close to home'. when getting the auditory hearing test (it has a more official name that i can't remember) she kept pulling out the ear buds (which also had a more official name) so the auditory technician/nurse/official just did the test through speakers with me holding adeline on my lap...so i could hear & see everything that addy was hearing or seeing. but come to find out, adeline can't hear everything i hear! yup, she didn't pass her hearing test...i was floored, flabbergasted, amazed, shocked, etc. this was the appointment of the day that i was least worried about & wanted to cancel & here it is, the most important discovery of all.
as mentioned earlier, i was in a state of shock so i failed to ask any questions, but the gist is that she can't hear low decibel sounds. when i was holding her i would hear a noise off to the side & was waiting for her to turn her head to see the puppet & lights pop out of the box like she did with the louder noises...but she didn't. i really just wanted to cry when told this could very well be the cause of her slow language development. we let our pediatrician talk us out of being concerned about it for the past year & now she's already a year behind in language, ya know. really, she says about 10 words consistently. *SIGH* i am struggling not to feel some intense guilt about not pushing the issue...but now. NOW i am ready to push the issue. i don't want her to sit out a year of school b/c of this, right?
so i called the ped & asked for a return call b/c apparently an ear infection could also trigger minor hearing loss for a few days. the "officiant" thought it would be a good idea to re-test adeline in 1 month & also to have her ears checked for fluid that morning by our pediatrician. so...her being sick with a fever helps us know that she did not, in fact, have any fluid in her ears this morning b/c she was thouroughly checked out by the ped just a few hours before.
anyway, that was just a heartbreaker of a visit. & since i was so shocked & didn't ask any questions...i don't really have a lot of info which is totally frustrating wes & i. DOI!
next is the mri. wow, is that loud! it wasn't very exciting or frightening, well, except for the iv needle to put in the contrast liquid & waiting for 1 hour to have the mri was a bit frustrating. why do they tell you to come early to fill out paperwork & then they make you wait however long? craziness, i tell you.
at last, was my appointment with the optical neurologist, dr katz. we were 1 hour 15 minutes late & they didn't seem to care one bit b/c they were running nearly 4 hours behind! seriously, they had people waitin for 4 hours...i just can't believe they waited, ya know?! i'd think, 'ah to hell with this appointment!' anyway, katz walked in & totally forgot that i just had the mri & didn't really know why i was there & then when i told him i just had the mri, he had to go find the images & then came back to tell me that not all the images were available & he will call me in the a.m. after he examines them. (but the ones he did see: they look 'NORMAL'!!! excellent.)
& then we made a dash to chipotle & now the girls are in bed. addy still has a fever. amelia is giddy over her gram mum being with her all day (& did i mention that amelia went with wes to work this morning for about half an hour while i took addy to the ped. well, that happened & apparently she was loved on by his coworkers. we just didn't want to take millie to a sick baby hour at the ped's...we have enough of our illnesses around here). so that is our day. the day of the doctors is over.
what is crazy is that with our really wonderful health insurance (seriously, wes has GREAT health insurance through his employer, weyerhauser) we have still paid out of pocked somewhere around $1,000 in just 4 months this year. not including today, either! oi vay, there goes my new dryer & retractable clothesline for the yard.
here's a funny story i remembered today: adeline was outside playing, the windows were open (this was one of our nice days, you know, one of the 4 in the past 10) & i had the dryer going. addy races inside & throws her arms in the air & starts making a siren noise & points to our floor. translation: our dryer squeaks so loudly that adeline was outside, heard the noise from the dryer in the basement...& thought it was a fire truck siren. i guess there's a great 'you know you're a hillbilly when' joke in there somewhere. (like: you know you're a hillbilly when your kid mistakes your ancient dryer for a fire siren).
one last thing: amelia is so close to crawling! i just want to help her by movign her legs a bit more, but i know that will not help. i guess i'm excited to not have to carry her everywhere? so i'm okay with her moving on her own already. she looks so cute on all 4's, rocking back & forth & trying to move forward, but crawling backwards. today she even did a sideways shuffle. & she is becoming more proud of herself as adeline is now noticing that amelia is nearly moving & shouts & claps for her.
these girls are a hoot.
5 comments:
Hey, my sister's little boy just failed a hearing test, too. He turned 2 in April -- he's exactly 9 mos older than my kiddo, but Rhys was saying more than he was. In his case, the docs think he had a series of untreated ear infections -- he never acts sick; high pain tolerance -- so they put in tubes. His language has improved dramatically since then. He'd only had tubes in about a week when we all went on vacation together and he picked up several new words that week. Don't know whether any of this applies to Addy, but I just wanted to let you know that kids are resilient and they make up for lost time FAST.
We are thinking about you all - glad you are well and sad to hear that Addy may have hearing trouble.
Thinking of you guys today. After many doctor bills from Elliotts stay at the hospital ( by the way, we are still getting them) we have come to the conclusion that health insurance is there to pad the pain, not take care of it. (especially our dental insurance). I am thankful that we have health insurance, however, I understand where you are coming from.
Know we love ya, hang in there. Not that it's the same, but my 8 year old cousin has some hearing loss from constant ear infections when he was a baby, they discovered it around 3. He's had a bit of speech therapy, but that's it and has been fine. I wouldn't have even known from spending time with him. You'll get it figured out, Addy's spirit it too powerful to let anything stop her ")
thanks everyone for the encouragement & stories. it seems that hearing loss is a bit more prevalent than we knew. & yep, kids ARE resilient & adeline does have quite the powerful spirit & all the support of her parents.
& my goodness where does she get her stubbornness from? ;o)
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