This morning we had to rush from nursery and school drop off to Dundee for the latest audiology appointment and to collect a new sleep study machine. Elis is full of the cold, and being snotty combined with windy roads had him throwing up halfway there. We arrived at the community hospital without so much as a second to spare before our appointment.
We were meeting up with the audiology team as well as a paediatrician to discuss his hearing loss, which had deteriorated so much last time we were in in January. The tympanometry test (more about how that works in my previous post on audiology found HERE) gave no reading, once again confirming glue ear. However his visual reinforcement audiometry went better than last time, still more hearing loss than in the autumn. However it had improved since January.
We were given three possible routes to go down.
1. Do nothing and come back in a couple of months to see how his hearing is progressing.
2. Get hearing aids (that sit in his ears).
3. Go down the surgical route and get grommets.
We feel his speech is paying a price at the moment and think it's due to his hearing I immediately ruled out 1. Grommets seem to fall out easier on kids with achondroplasia and their bones can have small abnormalities in their ears making the placement more difficult. He might also still get glue ear again even after they've fallen out. The best hope is that he grows out of it as 90% of people do and without serious repercussions. Of course it can also lead to serious hearing problems if it worsen and is left untreated over a prolonged time. If he had been as bad as in January, or his hearing had worsened, I would have considered pushing for grommets as I feel his speech needs the best chance - he might not "grow out" of glue ear till he's nearly 8 and a lot of development happens before then! So 3 was out (for now).
I was concerned about the waiting time for hearing aids as I've heard of others waiting for months on end. So I was pleasantly surprised to find out they'd to the mould for them at the appointment - Elis did great despite having stuff rammed into his ears. We'll then be back for our fitting appointment in 4-6 weeks time. The downside to the hearing aids (other than not knowing if he'll actually keep them in!) is that it means much more frequent audiology appointments. However I'm looking at it as a positive despite the hour long drive there because it means his hearing will be much more closely monitored. If his hearing continues to worsen again we'll know sooner and I was assured he'd be left on the paediatrician's list in case we decide to try grommets in the future. And should his hearing improve we will also know, the regular appointments must be held to recalibrate his aids whenever his hearing levels changes.
For us I think it is the best of all worlds. I feel something is being done as soon as possible to help his hearing so hopefully his speech can come on in the coming crucial months. But I also know we're on track should things worsen and we feel surgery is needed. Glad that, for now, we don't need to stress about him being put under with anesthetics. Fingers crossed hearing aids will be enough for our happy dude to become a wee chatterbox like his sisters.
As always we feel very fortunate that he's had such a good team behind him at every turn.
As always we feel very fortunate that he's had such a good team behind him at every turn.
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