It has been a confusing few weeks for us as we have tried to determine for ourselves what we felt was truly going on with Lily. Jon was gone for all but a few days in October and November. We were lucky enough to have him come back last week for the LAST TIME. He is now with us for the long haul and Lily and I couldn't be happier. Lily seems to be "coming out of her shell" a bit more, or maybe we are just hoping that is the case. She does seem to be interacting more with us and has even added new words to her vocabulary like "clock", "bubble" and "ball". She has also learned to blow kisses. She seems to be responding to us when we talk to her a little more than she had been. We continue to remain hopeful that this may just be a "bump in the road".
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Today Lily had an appointment with an ENT where they performed another audiogram (observational hearing test where sounds are played in a booth and the tester observes if the patient is responding to the sound). Lily failed this same test last time she took it. Since then both Jon and I have really been trying to determine if we felt she had a hearing loss and we both came to the same conclusion, "not a chance".
Today's test was slightly different. First, a LOT more sounds were played, a LOT more. With the first test, the tester played very few sounds but this time we got a good variety and a lot of repetition. Additionally, for this test Lily got a little "reward" if she looked in the direction of the sound. After she would look, a little box would light up with a little animal inside. This kept Lily very interested. She passed with flying colors. I defininetely felt a lot better about the validity of this test as opposed to the first one. This time if Lily seemed interested in something on the left, the tester would play a sound on the right. It was obvious that Lily could hear the sound because she would turn her head away from the thing she was interested in.
After the audiogram she was seen by an ENT specialist who examed her ears and found no problems what-so-ever. (He even let us know that the ear infection she had last week was cleared up).
So where does this leave us? We just don't know. Lily has another hearing test where her brainstem's response to sound will be measured through an EEG in 2 days. For this test she is not allowed to sleep the night before (fun, fun). At this point, I truly feel this test is unnecessary but I guess we still have to do it.
She also has another appointment to have her development evaluated on December 5. After this evaluation, it will be determined if she is eligible for intervention services (which we hope she will be).
We do see progress in her and we hope that we will get through this and with the right intervention that Lily will have the chance at a "normal" life.
