The first big step was our very first behavioral hearing test!
A little background: until Milo is able to "tell" us what he can and cannot hear, we've previously relied on an ABR to measure his brain waves when given a sound at various decibels. That test assumes that when he's able to hear a sound, his brain waves move; when he cannot hear the sound, they're flat. They track patterns in these waves to determine level of loss. It gives an approximation of his hearing loss, which is how his hearing aids were programmed.
Obviously, at 7-8 months old, Milo (nor any child for that matter) is able to say "OK, I can hear that!" - so the audiologist team works to "condition" Milo so that when he is able to hear a sound, he's "rewarded" (I know, I know, lots of quote marks) with an animated, light-up toy.
Think back to Psychology 101 when were learned about the Pavlovian response. In a nutshell: ya ring a bell, give a dog some food. Do it enough, and the dog will start to salivate at the sound of the bell. Luckily, we aren't tracking Milo's drool (tho there's plenty of that!). They put a device in Milo's ear and play a sound. When he hears the sound and turns his head, a lighted dog starts dancing. The goal was to have Milo turn his head to see the dog each time he heard a sound. That way, they can measure the volume of that sound, therefore pinpointing his level of hearing loss.
Or something like that. (Gosh I hope this post never makes its way to an audiologist - the probability of me relaying this information accurately is slim to none!!)
Well we went for our first try at seven months. He definitely didn't "get" it that time. He'd turn to see the dog, and in my mind, said to himself "well that's not that special" and continue to go about his business. This was pretty common at this age, but we were a little disheartened.
At the eight month mark we tried again, and he did it! Here's a short lil video. Keep in mind that this was at the end after the testing was complete, so it's a bit more delayed than during the actual test:
The great news is that the behavioral test results were in line with the ABR results, meaning A) his hearing aids were already calibrated to the level that would work best for Milo, and B) his hearing loss hadn't gotten worse in 6 months! It's our hope that his hearing loss will remain as it is now. Only time will tell!
The next step in determining the cause of Milo's hearing loss was an MRI. Through blood tests, we'd ruled out the most common cause, a mutation of the Connexin 26 gene, as well as CMV. We were to have an MRI to see if everything in the ear was structurally normal. We went to UNC Chapel Hill to have this test done. Since an MRI requires the subject to be completely still, Milo had to be sedated.
I was nervous as heck about the sedation, but it turned out to be not so bad. Just a quick squirt of medication through his nose, and Milo fell asleep in my arms within about 15 minutes. They wheeled him out, got the images they needed, and he was back to us within the hour. He was completely drunk until about 5 pm that day, but soon perked back up to his usual self.
Everything in his ear was intact! No structural issues! Cause of the hearing loss is yet to be determined - there are more genetic tests that we can choose to do. We're undecided about pursuing it at this point.
We continue to work with Milo's hearing teacher once a week, and we've got lots of tools and resources to ensure that his speech develops normally. (Tho we're aiming for advanced!)
I'll leave ya with a few of the latest pics of our lil man!
Thanks for caring about our family enough to read this through!
Til next time,
Jaime
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| Taken the morning of his [successful] behavioral hearing test. All smiles from us! |
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| Kinda creepy that they look alike, right? Even weirder? This doll was Marc's when he was a babe! Over 32 years old! |
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| After the drunkness/sedation wore off. |
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| His sleeping position of choice here lately. |
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| Sometimes I think he's going to turn into a blueberry!This is one of his newest pilot caps - with mesh panels on the side (for clarity of sound and so it's not so hot) and snaps (instead of a tie)! |
