A while back I wrote a post about what we were going to do with Sadie's sweet little ears. Do we want cochlear implants, hearing aids, or do nothing? I had no idea what to do. Well we made the decision to go forward with trying hearing aids. I honestly didn't have much hope that they would do anything, but we decided it was better to try them and rule them out then to have never tried them. Sadie got fitted for them a month or so ago and Tuesday we went and picked them up. I had so many mixed emotions going into that appt.
Ever since Sadie's first BAER test I was told she was between mild and profoundly deaf. I was also told once that she had auditory neuropathy (so sometimes she can hear, and sometimes she can't). No one really knew. Her tests always told us something different. After the first few tests I sort of stopped listening to the results. It was irritating to me that the answers were always different. So I always went off of how she reacted to life. I truly believe that she has auditory neuropathy. There are times when she and I will have "conversations" back and forth, and other times she completely has no response to loud noises or any noises. Her ENT though, kind of said in a round about kind of way that he thinks her "responses" to me are strictly do to her reaction to the movement in the environment versus her actually hearing me. So I've always had that in the back of my mind.
Up until yesterday I really had no hope that the hearing aids would work, but like I said sometimes you just have to play the game that Dr's and therapists want you to play. I was afraid to get my hopes up that she would respond, just to be let down by no reaction. But as the time grew closer to the appt I found myself filling up with excitement and I found myself just hoping and praying that there would be at least some sign that she could hear. I wanted to not hope, but I just couldn't help it.
The time came and they placed the first hearing aid into her "bad" ear (the right side). At first she stopped and looked at me and then she started turning her head side to side as if she were thinking, "what was that"? Then she started crying and ripping at her ear. I wanted to cry cause that meant, to me, that she was hearing something and it was "bothering" her. Then she just stopped and looked at me and then just started looking around, not really responding to anything. We tried to put in the other aid, but it was broken already. So the hearing aid lady went about talking to me about how to clean and take care of the aids, and then Sadie got this huge smile on her face and just started to laugh and laugh and laugh. We (the hearing aid lady and myself) totally believe that she is responding to sounds in her environment. I was so happy, I left the building and started to cry. Tears of joy are rare to come by with Sadie when we leave an appt. Usually they are tears of anger, hurt, fear. I was seriously shocked (pleasantly shocked and thrilled to be wrong) that there was a response to the aids.
Over the last few days of observing her I do still believe that she has the auditory neuropathy. Her hearing is definitely intermittent. BUT when she is hearing she is responding faster to the sound and responding a little bit more often. I don't really know how to explain it, but I can just tell a difference. Tomorrow, Friday, we will be going to get her other hearing aid and it will be placed in her "good" ear (the left side). So I am even more excited to see what kind of a response we get from that one or from a combination of both of them. I'll update again in a few days. :)
**Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. - Isaiah 35: 3-7
Ever since Sadie's first BAER test I was told she was between mild and profoundly deaf. I was also told once that she had auditory neuropathy (so sometimes she can hear, and sometimes she can't). No one really knew. Her tests always told us something different. After the first few tests I sort of stopped listening to the results. It was irritating to me that the answers were always different. So I always went off of how she reacted to life. I truly believe that she has auditory neuropathy. There are times when she and I will have "conversations" back and forth, and other times she completely has no response to loud noises or any noises. Her ENT though, kind of said in a round about kind of way that he thinks her "responses" to me are strictly do to her reaction to the movement in the environment versus her actually hearing me. So I've always had that in the back of my mind.
Up until yesterday I really had no hope that the hearing aids would work, but like I said sometimes you just have to play the game that Dr's and therapists want you to play. I was afraid to get my hopes up that she would respond, just to be let down by no reaction. But as the time grew closer to the appt I found myself filling up with excitement and I found myself just hoping and praying that there would be at least some sign that she could hear. I wanted to not hope, but I just couldn't help it.
The time came and they placed the first hearing aid into her "bad" ear (the right side). At first she stopped and looked at me and then she started turning her head side to side as if she were thinking, "what was that"? Then she started crying and ripping at her ear. I wanted to cry cause that meant, to me, that she was hearing something and it was "bothering" her. Then she just stopped and looked at me and then just started looking around, not really responding to anything. We tried to put in the other aid, but it was broken already. So the hearing aid lady went about talking to me about how to clean and take care of the aids, and then Sadie got this huge smile on her face and just started to laugh and laugh and laugh. We (the hearing aid lady and myself) totally believe that she is responding to sounds in her environment. I was so happy, I left the building and started to cry. Tears of joy are rare to come by with Sadie when we leave an appt. Usually they are tears of anger, hurt, fear. I was seriously shocked (pleasantly shocked and thrilled to be wrong) that there was a response to the aids.
Over the last few days of observing her I do still believe that she has the auditory neuropathy. Her hearing is definitely intermittent. BUT when she is hearing she is responding faster to the sound and responding a little bit more often. I don't really know how to explain it, but I can just tell a difference. Tomorrow, Friday, we will be going to get her other hearing aid and it will be placed in her "good" ear (the left side). So I am even more excited to see what kind of a response we get from that one or from a combination of both of them. I'll update again in a few days. :)
When Sadie went to get fitted for the hearing aids I was allowed to choose a color for them. Who would have thought that it was such a huge decision? In the end I chose the zebra strips. Why? 1. I think they are cute and 2. Because the awareness ribbon for rare diseases is zebra stripes. And since Sadie is amongst the rarest of the rare, what better way to represent and support rare diseases!? Love them and her!
**Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. - Isaiah 35: 3-7
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