We knew that because her hearing loss is caused by her cleft palate that it certainly wasn't going to improve until after her repair. But we could also tell by the way that she interacts and listens to noises around her that it had worsened much either. So I didn't really see much point in the review.
The day before I got a phone call from the receptionist who runs Gill's audiology clinic. She reminded me that Ellie would need to be asleep for the test, and suggested delaying her feed to help with that. I thought she was crazy. Maybe feeding a newborn will put them off to sleep easy enough (although this never really worked with Ellie!) but a six month old wont sleep unless they want to. And the appointment was scheduled right in the middle of Ellie's longest awake period. Needless to say, I was anxious.
I did the best that I could, delaying her feed until we arrived at the clinic, but what I was left with was a very cranky baby. She didn't want to sleep - she was too over-tired. I apologised to Gill when we went in... And she said that it was fine, Ellie actually needed to be awake and alert for the test! I was so annoyed with the receptionist. There I was, with an upset, over-tired baby, and if I'd stuck to her usual routine we would have been fine all along!
Gill did her best, and we managed to test her left ear before she became too worked up. She didn't pass the test, but we never expected her to either. Gill decided to leave it at that, rather than upsetting Ellie even more.
I was surprised to hear that her hearing would be fixed almost as soon as the grommets are inserted. I was expecting there to be a delay while the fluid drained, but Gill assured us that the grommets will be the magic solution.
There is no point reviewing her hearing again until after the surgery. Her next test will be a couple of weeks post-op, and will be done in a special sound chamber, rather than with the little probes. Hopefully Ellie will enjoy that one a bit more!
No comments:
Post a Comment