Red Cross: Part 2

Today The Boy and I were back at the Red Cross Children's Hospital for his follow-up appointment regarding his ears and all those nasty ear infections he used to have. Touch wood, ever since he has had the Prevnar vaccine he has just had one small infection, and that was just after the injection anyway.

Today we were going for a hearing test to establish if his hearing has been impaired and check if the muck behind the membranes had subsided. And then decide on a way forward either way.

I was more prepared this time. I had a lunchbox packed with sandwiches, yoghurt, biscuits, grapes, juice and water. I packed books, colouring books, crayons, race cars, a transformer train and motorbikes. I stashed an extra pair of undies and shorts, wet wipes, tissues, a nappy (just in case, figments of Seaforth restaurant still lurk in my memory), The Boy's clinic card and his hospital card in my back pack. And lip gloss. That was for me.

It wasn't so crazy as last time, maybe because I knew where I was going and what to expect. We still had to sit and wait our turn and the first time we were called was at about 11:30am, just to be told "oh you should have first gone for a hearing test next door.." well, if someone had just told me...!

Meanwhile The Boy rallied some bored little friends and got a game going of Zoom the Plastic Transformer Train as Hard and Fast as You Can into Passing Staff's Ankles, a big hit with his new cronies.

We emptied the lunchbox and managed to fit in a successful trip to the loos too.

So we waited some more but not too long. We got to enter the periwinkle blue swing doors and see the beautiful murals up close. The lady doctor took us into a sound-proof examination room and sat The Boy down on his own little wooden chair while Mama observed from the corner. She gave him a box of blocks and a dump truck. She explained what she needed him to do - when he hears the birdies singing from her hand held machine he must drop the block into the dump truck.
The machine, which looks like a big telephone hand piece, emits high, mid and low frequency "chirps".
Luke was game and did what he was asked. I felt immense pride mixed with relief when he dropped his blocks into the truck each time the machine emitted its high birdsong. My relief turned to concern when she switched the machine to the low frequency settings. He could not hear the low soft sounds until she switched the volume up.

Her diagnosis was that the mucus behind the ear's membrane had not cleared and was not allowing any vibrations to pass through. His membranes are taught and not too flexible. Normally the passage behind the membrane is filled with a pocket of air allowing the membrane to be softer and flexible. What he hears now is dull and not too clear, like having water in your ears. Therefore his speech pronunciation is not sharp either.

Why did I not pick it up? Well. Because he is just 3 and learning to speak, right? (he can chat the hind leg off a donkey anyway) And a toddler is notorious for having "selective hearing" right?

a tiny plastic grommet is inserted to act as a portal for any fluid behind the eardrum.

Well, now we have an operation booked for early March, hopefully the final chapter in the story of The Boy's ear problems.

For now, we will just have to take his hearing into consideration and not think we can call from upstairs and expect him always to hear or maybe just remember to say things more clearly.
My mom always enjoys recalling how my brother danced his little dance after having his grommets operation as he could hear clearly and, also particularly in his case, had no more painful ears.

I look forward to The Boy doing lots more dancing, with Mama and Pappa cheering him on.