Before Teak was 6 months old he was sized for the molds for his hearing aids. It was a little mentally annoying because they do another visual hearing test. Chad and I agree with the audiologists findings from the hearing test because it is scientific but it is so hard to really grasp that he has a hearing loss. The boy hears, darnit! He reacts to his name, the dogs barking, items falling, me talking to him. Ugh, I honestly think that the hearing loss is harder to deal with then the Spina Bifida and I hate to admit that. The issue is that we have to agree to get him the hearing aids and of course we agree because we don't want our son to have a speech problem when he is older.
With the Spina Bifida it is more of a waiting game for us because he hasn't had a lot of "issues" yet even though we know that things can come in the future especially with walking, etc. Anyway, with the hearing aids are so right in your face, smack! We know that Teak doesn't understand what exactly we are doing putting these things in his ears. They are just fun chewing toys.
We had been in Houston the first part of May because Chad's grandfather was sick and in the hospital. He has had bone cancer and then came down with pneumonia. It was an emotional weekend but we are thankful that we were there. Chad's grandfather, aka Buster, passed away. He did get a glimpse of Teak which was the biggest goal of the weekend. Chad really wanted him to meet Teak. Buster played a big role in Chad's childhood. He will forever be missed. Okay, okay, back to my point of this post! So the molds take a couple weeks to come in, they end up coming in the week after we had an emotional weekend. I explain to our director and audiologist about the weekend and they told us that if we want to wait to start using the aids until after the funeral, etc, that was fine so of course, we choose to wait. It is just a lot to take in.
So the first full day that Teak wore the hearing aids was one emotional day. It was just hard to get used to him wearing the hearing aids. First of all, they make his ears stick out a little bit. I know, I know, not a big deal but the point is that they make him look different... When you hug on him, they feedback or ring a bit which is normal yet so incredibly annoying. The ringing in the ears is no fun for us or Teak. Could you imagine having ringing in your ears! Well, I end up emotionally breaking down for about a minute and feeling sorry for myself. Really feeling sorry for myself. I decide that I need to let myself have a little breakdown over this because I really hadn't yet but then I feel guilty. It is another issue with feeling like you can't protect your child from something. Kids are mean to other kids that are "different." The "What Ifs" start dancing around in my head again. I tell myself to let it out for a few more seconds and then compose, get it together and hug my Teak. I tell him I love him and decide to take a walk to the park.
So we are at our neighborhood park swinging and a little girl walks up with her mother. She is maybe 2 years old and wants to swing. She is focusing on Teak saying baby, etc., which is all fine until she says booboo and is pointing and looking at Teak. Her mother sweetly says to her that she doesn't think the baby has a booboo and they continue to swing.
Well, I just smile over at them and keep swinging myself all the while thinking how wonderful it is that a 2 yr old even noticed the damn hearing aids. I get why she said booboo, yes, it would seem that he has a booboo because he has something in his ears to help him hear better. I am not sure where I am going with this but just wanted to get it off my chest because even though I am not mad at the little girl or her mother, I am was just annoyed with the hearing aids that day and admittedly a little annoyed at God as well.
So back to the ringing...my little boy is so not little anymore. He is growing up so fast and getting big, not just around the belly but his ears as well. His molds are already too small and won't fit in his ears so all they do all day is RING! And when they ring all day, he really wants to pull the things out and chew on them. Heck, I would love to chew those things up as well. Our hearing specialist hounds me about keeping the hearing aids in his ears but if all he does is take them out then my sanity is going to disappear sooner rather than later.
We finally got new molds sized so we will see once those come in...
