Thank you
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Quick update on HearingGate 2012:
- The doctor at the walk-in clinic says he does have an ear infection (not sure if it’s double or not, because he had a super-thick accent and I could barely understand anything he said)
- The toddler is taking antibiotics 3X/daily for one week
- The doctor wants him to see his family doctor in one week
- He also wants him to see an ENT (Ear Nose Throat doctor), so we will be asking our family doctor for a referral to one. The Hearing & Speech people said that might be something we do “down the road” but this worried Mama is not waiting for “down the road.”
When I told people that he had a confirmed ear infection, the general reaction was relief — like everything would be cured with a week’s worth of banana-scented medicine. Like he wouldn’t have any hearing problems once he took the last dose.
I am not trying to be negative, but I just feel — very strongly — that it’s not as simple as that. I’m not terribly relieved that he has an ear infection. I can’t shake the feeling that it is MORE than just that. More than just this one infection.
Because, really, what are the odds that he just happened to have an ear infection on the day of his hearing test, causing him to fail it? Do I think his hearing was perfect up until whenever he got his infection? No.
What are the odds that his speech delay, his stilted/poorly-pronounced words, are not related to the hearing issue at all? Do I think the two are unrelated? Definitely not.
He is not just a “late talker.” Because as I told my friend J this morning at playgroup, I can’t ignore the fact that the toddler’s speech sounds like the speech of a hearing-impaired person.
It does.
It always has.
And while I definitely don’t think he has major hearing loss — he points to pictures I ask him to point out, he follows instructions, he listens to stories — I do think that he has had “mild hearing loss” for quite a while — maybe since he turned one, or even before. Enough for it to mess up his speech and pronunciation.
I feel much calmer today. I am not falling apart anymore. I still feel frustrated that the medical/doctor/review process is being so pokey, but at least it’s moving … slowly.
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Hey! I’m Heather.
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I'm so proud of you for following your mother's intuition. Hope everything turns out for the best. You are an amazing Mama and Toddler and Baby on the way are lucky to have you as their life-long advocate. <3 J