Hearing Test

Well, Emma had a hearing screening today and it was PERFECT. Her Speech Path was just as thrilled as we were. However, she failed her tympanogram. This indicates that she may have fluid in her ears. God is good!!

The Sound of Silence

After having Emma's hearing tested yesterday, we found out that she has what the audiologist described as a mild hearing loss that could be corrrected with hearing aids. We were expecting and hoping for a middle ear related problem, so getting this new was quite a blow. Yet, we are thankful that it is correctable and that she was diagnosed so early. The audiologist told us that mild hearing loss in most children is not discovered until after they start attending school. We have done our best to educate ourselves on Mosiac Down Syndrome and new the possible symptoms, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

We began to suspect possible middle ear fluid when Emma was delayed in saying her consonants. Then when she did not respond to her Nana banging on a tin with a wooden spoon or when her mother crinkled paper in her right ear we knew she might be experiencing middle ear fluid problems. We thought for sure that it was middle ear fluid because she had already passed to hearing tests, one at birth and one at three months. So, as you can imagine, this came as quite a surprise. It was like getting the wind knocked out of us all over again.

We will be sitting down and visiting with the audiologist soon and will post the results of our conference when we hear from them (no pun intended).

Please pray that we will feel at peace with this new bump in the road. We have decided to have Emma annointed with oil on Sunday. Perhaps this is a small reminder that we actually have given her back to God. May His plan be fulfilled.

We found out yesterday that Emma might have some hearing loss. Nana (Emma's grandma who takes care of her while moma and dad are at work) first noticed that Emma was not paying attention to some loud noises when out of direct eye sight. We were fearful that this might mean nerve damage, but after talking with several professionals at her school Lynnelle felt confident that this was probably an inner ear problem that more than likely is not permanant or irrecovable. None the less, she went ahead and scheduled her to be tested just to be on the safe side. The dissapointing thing is that when Lynnelle called and asked Emma's speech pathologist about this condition, he said that he was very concerned as well but was going to wait until next month to tell us. He said he didn't want to worry us. We were just a little upset about that! We know that everything will work out for the good.

Craig goes back to school tomorrow after being out 5 days for a medical procedure he was recovering from. He is feeling much better. We just discovered that Sierra Bartlett will not have to have a hear cath put in after all. The doctors said that if she does have to have surgery it won't be until she is around 15 years old. Tiffany and Steve believe that God has performed a miracle in there daughter's life. We do too. What an awesome God!!! We are still praying for her and her family that God will keep His continual hand of protection over them. Lynnelle's B-day is coming up on the 8th. She will be... years old. I'll leave it up to her to tell you that. She will always be younger than her husband, though. Ah... forever young. Our jobs are both driving us a little nuts. It's not easy being a teacher. Hopefully Brad Henry will pull through for the little people and get us an increase in pay. Until then we are all forever in debt up to our eyeballs... or at least our shoulders.