The Ear Doctor

Yesterday I took Adam to the ear doctor to see if there was anything we can do about his hearing loss.  The appointment started off with another hearing test.  When the audiologist finished, she said that the loss at 4000Hz was still there.  (Adam had said that the ringing had gone away almost completely so I was hoping the loss had too).  She said that Columbus Speech and Hearing had thought the loss was conductive (which would have meant there was some kind of blockage or something more physical causing the problem) which didn't make sense with his history of being noise induced.  I said that is why we were there because Lisa (the audiologist at CSH) said things seemed kind of weird.  Well, after doing her couple of tests, this audiologist said that it was sensory - meaning nerve damage and most likely permanent.  Great! 

We had to wait a little bit before seeing Dr. Ryzeman.  That gave Adam enough time to jump all of the couch and play with the chair that goes up and down in the exam room and just get crazy!  Once the Dr. came in, Adam started freaking out and putting his hands over his ears and wiggling around.  I had to restrain him so the Dr. could check his ears and heart.  Then I handed over my phone so the Dr. could talk to me with out a bunch of whining in the background.  He basically said that if we had come in soon after the noise exposure, he could have given Adam some steroids that would have stopped some of the inflammation that caused the damage.  Being nearly 2 months out, steroids wouldn't do anything now.  There's nothing that can be done for it.  His ear might continue to heal on it's own but it would be slow and could take a year. We are to follow up with our audiologist in 6 months and a year to keep an eye on it.  As for the tinnitus - Adam will just have to habituate to it.  He already has to an extent since he said he doesn't really hear it anymore at home but could hear it in the super quiet hearing test booth. 

Thankfully, the loss is only at 4000Hz and not the whole spectrum so there's no need to worry about hearing aids or anything like that.  We feel a little stupid for not taking him to the dr. right after but we both figured it would be like when you go to a concert and the ringing goes away shortly after.   Live and learn, I guess.

Smart Kid!

A couple of weeks ago, Adam got to spend the night over at Aunt Brelle and Uncle Stefan's house while I got to spend the evening at my 20th high school reunion.  As I was unpacking his backpack, I found a rock (well, actually I wasn't sure what it was at first because it didn't look like your usual rock).  I asked Adam if someone had given it to him.  He said, no, that he snuck it into his backpack!  I told him that that was stealing and we had to tell Aunt Brelle and find out (what and) whose it was.  I sent Brelle a picture and asked if it was something important because from Adam's initial description, it sounded like it was from a warmer or something. I later got out of him where he found it and Brelle figured out that it was part of Evan's rock collection.  Adam asked if he could keep it.  I said, no - you stole that - but asked anyway because you never know, ya know?  Nope- Evan wanted it back.  I was going to bring it to the going away party for Alex but had put it out of Adam's view (and mine) so I forgot it...and kept forgetting it.  That is, until I got a reminder from Stefan last night. So I put it in my purse and got out a card for Adam to write an apology for his thieving ways.

This morning I told Adam we needed to drop off the rock and he should write that he's sorry.  I left the card on the table and went upstairs to go get dressed, thinking Adam would just eat some breakfast.   When I came back down, Adam was writing in the card.  I was all like, "Nooo!  Waaaiit!"  and then I looked at what he had done.  He had run upstairs and grabbed the "SORRY!" board game  and wrote SORRY all fancy in the card!!  How smart was that?!! 

The picture he drew was kind of funny.  It started off as his usual stick figurish guy.  Then he added big circle hands and feet with 5 fingers/toes each and some hair.  He wanted to add clothes because it was chilly out so he colored on a long sleeve shirt and pants.  Then he covered the big feet with some big brown shoes and the hair with a big blue hat.  That's probably the first fully clothed guy he's drawn!  Usually he just draws a belly-button.  Ha ha!

Hearing test

Today we have confirmed hearing loss at 4000 Mhz.  Our audiologist, Lisa, did the hearing test that we had done in June/July?  and repeated it again today with a couple other pieces of equipment.  She checked and rechecked just as Courtney did yesterday and, yes, Adam has significant hearing loss in his right ear at 4000.  The good news- it's such a high range that it doesn't really have any impact on his everyday hearing.  He can hear quiet sounds, just not this frequency.  At one point, Adam said "That sounds just like the squeak in my ear!"  I think she was testing his left ear at that point and she said that it is pretty normal for the tinnitus to be the same frequency as the loss. Once the hearing comes back, the tinnitus goes away.  Interesting! I asked if she thought he would regain the hearing or if the tinnitus would go away but she said she didn't know.  The weird thing is that when tested using "the headband" which went behind his ears as opposed to in, he could hear fine.  She showed me on a graph how it dipped way down when he had the earplug headphones in his ears but how it stayed in line with the other frequencies with the head band.  Apparently this is not the norm. I think she said that the headband tests the function of the sensory organ and that it is not damaged.  If it's not damaged, then why the hearing loss?  Soo.. she has referred us to an ear doctor (Dr. Ryzenman) who may be able to give us an idea why and maybe do something to help regain hearing. Then we need to get his hearing tested periodically just to keep on eye (ear?) on it.

(PS - Jen - Dr. Willett was on the list of ENT's but she recommended Dr. Ryzenman because he specializes only in ears and she's had a lot of success with him. AND he's 5 minutes from our house).

In the neverending saga...

As you all know from my posts on Facebook, Adam has not been a happy camper going to school.  He seems to always have an excuse for the meltdown - today it was that he wanted another hug - but he never says that when he's hanging on me.  It's always after I pry him off of me and leave (or hide on the stairs listening).  I told him he needs to tell me so that I can give him the hug or kiss he needs to go to class but he seems to forget. Mrs. Tucker took him downstairs today and distracted him with a clock.  She told him Mommy would be back at 3:00 and set the clock to 1:00 and asked if was time for me to be there.  Adam knew it said 1:00.  They did that for a couple more minutes then he went back upstairs!   He was so happy with himself for calming down quickly today and said he won't cry at all tomorrow.  Let's hope!

Remember the squeaky dog toy incident?  Adam still complains of tinnitus and asked his speech therapist to test his ears.  She did a screening today and sure enough, he has hearing loss at the upper ranges in his right ear!  She tested at 25-30 decibels and tested again to be sure - he couldn't hear until 45 decibels. Sooo..we have an official hearing test with the audiologist tomorrow and can talk with her about the tinnitus.  Maybe she can give us an idea if the ear is healing, if he will eventually get that hearing back, if the tinnitus will go away completely, etc.  Fun, fun!

Sugar = BAD!

Today, Adam and I went over to Bumma and Pa's house for a quick visit.  Adam raided the "magic basket" and turned into a jerk.  Then he was good for a little while.  Then he snuck back to the "magic basket" and scarfed down a pixie stick right after having a popsicle.  It was time to go and as we were heading to the car, he started begging for some Smarties that were in my purse that he was supposed to save for later.  I told him he wasn't being very nice at Bumma and Pa's and that he had enough candy for the day, so NO, he couldn't have the Smarties.  As we're driving, he threw a shoe at me, then a sock hit the dashboard, the other one didn't make it past the middle storage thing. He screamed most of the way home and I had to just ignore him.  That's when he started spitting. Then he curled his toes up around the door handle.  He said he was going to open the door and climb into the front seat to get my purse and eat the Smarties (ya, know, while I'm driving! OK stunt man!).  Right before we got home, he called me "Stupid Mommy" and he said he was going to kick me in the face so he could grab my purse!  Oh my!! Finally home -  I grab my purse, get out of the car, and leave him strapped in while I bring up the garbage cans.  By the time I close the garage door, he has managed to get out of the car.  We go in the house, say a quick hi to Dave and then Adam heads up to his playroom, turns on his radio and starts playing - never mentioning the Smarties again.   Moral of the story?  The boy can't handle his sugar.

On a positive note, I went to Parent Orientation at his school tonight.  They have changed to a new "creative curriculum" but said it isn't much different from the play curriculum that they had been doing.  It sounded like it was maybe a bit more child led instead of strictly theme based. They no longer have a separate music class (they do music in the classroom everyday anyway) but a Spanish class instead.  So on Tuesdays they go to muscles class (gym) and Thursdays they go to Spanish class.  Recess on M/W.  Snack policy has been changed so that you can only bring in something from "the list" - even on birthdays.  Thank goodness because there were A LOT of cookies and donuts being passed out last year.   One of his teachers is Mrs. Allen who he had as a teacher in summer camp.  His classroom is in "the penthouse".   It's upstairs and is actually 2 rooms - one room with their cubbies, sink, and a bathroom; the other room has all the learning stations and tables.  They have class pets - 2 finches named Oscar & Felix.  They get to go on 4 field trips this year - 1 to either the apple orchard or pumpkin patch (they haven't decided yet), 1 to a library, 1 at the end of the year to the zoo, and one to be decided.  Graduation is on Wednesday May 8th and then they have a luau on the last day (Thursday May 9th).  This year there will be 16 kids in the class - 12 boys and 4 girls!!

Dave had just finished reading to Adam when I got home.  I told him all the things I learned tonight and he is FINALLY excited to go back to school! 

Just a bad day.

So here's the post-traumatic hair cut (I know you probably saw it on FB).

After lunch, we went over to the Worthington Mall after hearing they had a new play area for kids.  He ran around the tree house/slide 50 times!  He did well walking around the mall seeing if there was anything else new.  (We haven't been there since he quit piano lessons in December. It looks really nice!)

He said he was really tired so we headed home. He wanted to finish a puzzle that we started yesterday in Dave's office.  We brought it upstairs and then he decided it was too hard for him and wanted me to finish it.  While I was trying to work on it, he was running around harassing Olive - kicking and hitting her - not hard, but still....Then he started kicking a ball in the house.   I made him go up to his room again.  He came down when Dave was done with work and started kicking the ball again.  Dave told him to go outside.  He swung a little and played with Olive again until Olive got tired of being teased and she came in.  We heard him playing with one of the dogs squeaky toys and screaming along with it but didn't think much of it.  He came in for dinner and said he had a high pitched sound in his ear.  He had the toy RIGHT in his ear when he was squeaking it..and it wasn't just a couple of times.  GAH!!  You would have thought that it would have hurt and he would have stopped but noooo (the screaming was because he likes to scream, not because it hurt).  We told him about the damage it could do and how he should never do something like that again.  We told him to tell is when the ringing stops since it was still going on at bedtime.  Hopefully he didn't cause any permanent damage!

Free haircut

JCPenny was offering free back-to-school haircuts so I signed Adam up.  It was today at 11:30.  He always says he hates haircuts and that cutting his hair hurts. He usually ends up being just fine for the cut.  I explained that JCP had better tools and that he'd be fine.  He sat in the waiting area watching Madagascar but eventually sat under a chair to hide.  The hairdresser finally came out and I had to pull him out from under the chair and we talked about how we just shave him so it's quick and easy.  We get to the chair and Adam starts wiggling around and every time she tries to put the cool monster cape thing on him, he bats it away.  I have to restrain his arms to get the cape on and continue holding them and tell him to be a statue to get the haircut started.  I tried to distract him with a game that wouldn't load in time on my phone.  He catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror and starts SCREAMING!!  He hops out of the chair but she still needs to even up the sides and back.  I am trying to restrain him in the chair and have to keep putting my hand over his mouth because he keeps SCREAMING.  Oh. My. GOSH!  Then he's complaining because it's itchy but he won't stay still or quiet enough to wipe all the hair off.  I pick him up and he SCREAMS all the way out because he HATES his hair!  Everyone is staring!  I want to give the poor girl that cut his hair some money but Adam throws off his shoes and goes running through JCP! And he's screaming about hating his hair and haircuts.  I get his shoes back on, carry him back to the salon and wait behind some old lady who's picking through her change purse...screw it...throw some money to the lady behind the counter and tell her to please give it to the lady who cut his hair for her patience.  Adam walks out of the mall quietly under the assumption that he's going to get to play the game I downloaded when we get back to the car.  Ummm...nope!  Bad boys don't get fun things.  So I get to spend the car ride home with him screaming at me to give him my phone.  I keep saying no.  He said he's going to kick me in the head 160 times!  WTF?  We get home and he runs upstairs to where Dave is still in bed and locks the door, screaming that he doesn't want to spend the day in his room. I unlock it and explain to Dave what happened.  He tries to talk to Adam and Adam is just being crazy.  Adam says some very unpleasant things that I don't wish to repeat here.  He gets a Daddy spanking and sent to his room.  All over a damn free haircut.  Guess we'll stick to Cookie Cutters....