31 for 21: Day 29 How Much Does Wyatt Hear?

today turned out a little differently than i expected.  that happens a lot with wyatt.  i had to "play doctor".....  at least i had to decide if he needed to see a doctor!   ongoingly, i am not sure about wyatt's hearing, if there's fluid in his ears, if he has an ear infection, if he's congested......the list goes on.   it's so hard to tell with wyatt, he just does not express much pain, and has had an ear infection with no real symptoms.   he has only been diagnosed with one ear infection, but i am concerned that he may have had other infections that we were not aware of when he has been congested in the past. 

all that leads up to today.....actually last night.  as we were playing, wyatt did not respond to the squeaky sound of his discovery toys blue ball....and he was wearing his hearing aid.  we tried over and over and got no response.  he also had a glob of yellow/green snot at one point after he got upset about something.  this week he has also sounded kind of "chokey;" like he was gagging on drainage.  he was also playing with one ear, poking at it.  this morning i told his developmentalist (who is also an RN) all this, and she tried the blue ball again, with no response.  she recommended that i take him in and have him checked.  

i am glad i did.....the ENT saw him within 30 minutes, and prescribed an antibiotic for his sinus issues.  we talked a while about wyatt's adenoids and eustachian tube, and  my concerns that he might have blockage of his eustachian tube due to his adenoids.  he decided to order an x-ray of his adenoids, the only way to determine if his adenoids are large.  we know wyatt's tonsils are large, but he told me that they do not remove tonsils at this age.  ugh!    but they do remove adenoids if they need to be removed.  yay!   so we go back in 2 weeks to follow up on that.  

we also did a quick booth test there with our audiologist and he tested wyatt at around 20 decibals in his left year!  yay!   praise God!   previously he has tested at 35+, so this is improvement.  our audiologist also indicated that the booth at that office is not that great for testing, which means he might test better in their office.  i'm glad he tested that he is hearing better, but i am still concerned about the high pitch of the ball that he does not respond to.....maybe it's the congestion.....or not.....i just wish there were definitive answers somewhere!  

kiddos with Down syndrome often have hearing loss....it is usually conductive, which means it might not be permanent.   often as they grow, the ear canals enlarge and allow for better hearing.   they also often have problems with sleep apnea, which can be treated with the removal of their tonsils and adenoids, which might be large.   so that's just another medical specialty that i am working on!