Tuesday 22 June 2010

The next most important part of Oliver's journey in the deaf world was his second hospital appointment. Mark came with me this time as I needed the support and He wanted to know for himself what was going to happen next.
It was a day of firsts for us. It was when we first met Oliver's teacher of the deaf, his paediatric consultant, we learnt the basic biology of the ear. In fact I remember coming away from the appointment slightly overwhelmed at the prospect of having so much information to process.
It was all quite daunting walking in to the private room we were offered, obviously there was nothing that showed he was a very deaf little boy so it was quite weird waiting to discuss something that we couldn't see and couldn't prove. A lot of faith was needed on our part. He was a newborn and looked very normal and healthy to me. There is no indication when they are babies that anything is wrong because he starts of the same. He can't talk or communicate to anybody his wants and his needs. He cried like a hearing baby and made cute noises as he grew like a hearing baby. In fact I can safely say I was definitely in denial about Oliver's deafness.
After just a few minutes of being in the private hospital room I felt a lot easier about the little chat that had been arranged for us. A nurse entered the room followed by Rosemary, Oliver's teacher of the deaf and Tracey his paediatric consultant. Tracey introduced herself and the rest of her colleagues and started talking about Oliver's results in detail. In fact I really didn't understand at first what she was talking about...decibels and frequencies to sound were all new to me. Mark being a little more intelligent than me seemed to be understanding more than I did and I quickly relied on that intelligence to fill me in later on the basics. If only I knew then what I know now. Decibels are common knowledge to me now and speech frequencies. I can talk about the biology of the ear quite happily and understand the ins and outs of hearing tests. This is definitely one of the advantages you can gain of something that can seem like one big disadvantage. The knowledge that you can gain from such an experience is kind of wonderful. It opens new doors which I will talk about further on in my blog.......anyway went on a little detour there.
Tracey the paediatrician mentioned that Oliver was severe/profoundly deaf which meant that he could hear at about 90-120 dbl. In object noise that basically means standing right next to a very loud speaker at Glastonbury and only just hearing it. He was very much in the deaf world.
My little baby boy who we waited for, for 3 years of trying for him had no apparent outward disabilities was not going to hear my voice, neither did he hear me when I spoke softly to him when he was in my tummy. I was upset but I never showed it. I guess I thought the worst at that point and never even imagined the miracle that would happen to him when he was just two...and again more of that later.
Tracey showed us a model of the ear and explained some possibilities of why he was deaf and that this area would be tested at a later date. She mentioned hearing aids and lots of hospital appointments at first. Rosemary explained her role and that she would visit Oliver at home and monitor his progress with hearing aids etc. You can see from all the information that it was quite a lot to take in at the time. I seemed to remember it though. Mainly because in my mind I knew that all this information was vitally important.
One part I did remember which was quite funny really and puts a lighter side to the cynicism is that Oliver gained a bit of a nickname for himself as he was quite a windy baby so they called him farty pants. I mention that because the nurse had to collect a wee sample from him and she placed a little bag on him and he took ages producing a wee and he kept trumping instead. Must of been what I ate the day before that didn't agree with him.
After the appointment Mark and I went home and felt a little more at ease about knowing what lay ahead in the next few months. It's important even when you are feeling shocked and unsure about the future for your deaf child that you ask lots of questions and get the information that is entitled to you and also the support that is entitled to you. I guarantee that when you do you feel more comfortable about the future of your child. In my next entry I will talk about Oliver's hearing aid journey. Thank you for reading x

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