Audiologist - Is Nothing Sacred?

On Friday we had an appointment with the Audiologist... It was a bust. Very disappointing. Part of the Speech Therapy Eval is to rule out any hearing issues. Since Holly has Fragile X she is at risk for tone issues in the muscles in her eras which can lead to frequent ear aches and hearing problems. While I didn't think she had a hearing issue, she often does not turn to look towards a sound, but it is hard to tell if she is simply not paying attention and doesn't notice it. other times if a door opens she will hear it and look or be startled, for example if she was sleeping.

So Holly had gotten up late on Friday because she woke up the night before and she wasn't having therapy in the morning, so she went down for her nap late, at around noon. I woke her when i was ready to head out the door to our 1:45 appointment. I admit I was in a bit of a rush, and she was still waking up. Waking in the car seat though was nice and gave her a chance to ease into things and when I arrived and checked in I changed her. Since her nap was short I didn't think she was that hungry yet and the doctor came for us, so I didn't feed her.

We went into a quiet room and the doctor told me he was going to play some tones and typically if you hear them you would look in the direction that they came from. I was expecting some quiet noises, Holly was sitting on my lap and then suddenly was this loud noise and then there was a box that lit up and inside was a monkey clanging two chimes together. it was horrifying and loud and holly agreed. She immediately started to scream. It took me several minutes to calm her, while from the other room the doctor reminded me he could not do the test if she was crying.. Like I couldn't figure that out, so then i say, do you want something to eat in hopes of soothing her and he says, she can;t eat during the test. WTF! Well eventually he had to let me make her a bottle, as she wouldn't stop crying otherwise. So I did and she was happily eating away. he attempted to resume the test at that point, he didn't say he was going to but I heard the tones in the room. She never moved her head though, when she is eating a bottle she is so focus, but perhaps she moved her eyes when there was a noise to alert him that she heard it.

He then came in saying he wasn't getting much and do I think she would let me put something in her ear. I said he could try and he did. She by this time didn't like him, he also had a beard which she has had a negative reaction to before, and she didn't like something in her ear, but I was able to keep it in for several minutes even though she was sort of whimpering and whining. I tried to distract her by letting her look at the device it was attached too, and my phone and various other object. He did something on a computer, presumably made some noises and watched her reaction or it tested something directly. He then said he had to test her ears to make sure she didn't have any ear infections that day.

So again something went into her ear, but this time I had to hold her head so she would be still for a moment on each side. She hated that, but then we were done. The whole ordeal was like only 10-15 minutes. He told me to get our stuff and I followed him out. he then said that he may need to do more testing on another day when she is in a better mood. I stopped him there and said, she has just been fed, and you saw I just changed her. She woke up from her nap moments before we got her, so this is the best we are going to do, when you do things that scare her.

He said that for the most part things seemed ok and he would write up a report and I could talk it over with my pediatrician. For the most part he was not very forth coming or friendly at all, and if it weren't for toys in the room, I would think he never dealt with a child before, l and well maybe he hadn't.

After I asked if I could speak with the speech therapist we had seen earlier (4 weeks to the day) and they said i could if I waited 15 minutes. She didn't have a direct phone number and I had lost her card with her email address, so I said I would wait.

I let Holly play with the toys in the waiting room, but really she wanted to explore the hospital hallways, so I let her wander off, of course with me right behind. She particularly liked the vending machine, and pushing the little door back and forth. I had to keep her from the elevator, because that looked especially fun.

Eventually they let us head back and I told the therapist that I had not received an email with her report and was afraid perhaps it went into my spam (thought I have been checking that and was being polite, I think she never sent it) I reminded her that it had been 4 weeks since our appointment and she indicated it would take 2-3 to get the report to me. She gave me her email address again and said it was sent and completed and she would follow up, but could not right then as she had another patient.

I doubt it was done because I am pretty sure my pediatrician would have called me if she got a copy of the report, but non the less I said ok, and I will email her a reminder on Monday.

After that we went to swim class, and Katie was meeting us for a therapy session in the pool. Katie was so thrilled about this, as she had been swimming since she was 6 months old and was on the swim team and everything. She told all her co-workers she would be swimming with us to make them envious and she was excited.

Holly was less then thrilled. She was already clingy and hadn't had the best afternoon so far, but she tolerated Katie's Enthusiasm. none of our usual friends were there, Kareem, Sarah, or other Meet-up moms, so it worked out pretty good. Katie was amazed. She said that holly was definitely much more open to stretching, either because she was more relaxed in the water or because she was so distracted she simply didn't care and let Katie move her around. When the doors on the bus opened and closed, Holly's arms stretched out wide, and when we sang motor boat, we stretched her thighs out straight and her neck back to stay out of the water. Even in between songs Katie stretched her when she could.

Holly loves the pool and normally wants to stay int he water long after class is over and I tend to linger around an extra 15 minutes until the locker rooms empty out, but today holly was done. After the last song, and toys were collected she was ready to go. The look she gave me simply asked, "Mom, is nothing Sacred" I felt bad turning her fun pool time into a therapy session, but that's ok, we certainly won;t do it every week and Katie felt like she did more stretching in that session then she had ever done with Holly before.