Johnny was born in January of 2007, and changed our lives for the better. A funny thing happens when you have a kid. Up to this point, as a married couple your life is all about two people, yourselves. Then you have a new baby, and life is about one person, the baby. Johnny was a runt from the beginning, weighing in at 6 lbs and 11 oz.
We loved watching Johnny grow and learn. One day he was a baby, then he was up and running around and climbing all over stuff, and he is a little boy, with his own personality. He was growing just like every other. He started to develop his own personality, and it was awesome.
As he grew, he didn't start talking. Our pediatrician wasn't concerned, because Erica was a late talker, so it could just run in the family. My mom started to be concerned about things like autism, because she reads too many articles about it. Our doctor assured us that Johnny had no symptoms of autism, he just didn't want to talk.
Then Eliza was born, and we found out about her hearing loss, and that it was genetic. The doctor said he was pretty sure that Johnny was fine, but that we should check just to make sure. He did a little screening thing in his office, and sure enough, it looked like there might be a problem.
Erica took Johnny to Primary Children's in Taylorsville, and they did some testing in the sound booth. The tests were inconclusive. They couldn't tell if he wasn't responding because he couldn't hear, or if he wasn't responding because he didn't get it. They wanted him to come back, but they also suggested that we set an appointment for a sedated ABR. When the kids get to be older, like Johnny, they have to have them sedated so they are not moving during the tests. This was in October. The test could not be scheduled until December 23. It was a little frustrating that we had to wait that long until we found out how bad Johnny's hearing loss might be.
I was convinced, again that nothing was wrong, that Johnny would be fine, and could hear fine. Erica knew better. She immediately started teaching Johnny sign language, and he began picking it up very quickly. It was like he had been wanting to communicate, but he did not know how. His whole world was opening up.
December came quicker than we thought, and soon it was the 23rd, and time to get him tested. We had to sleep deprive him, meaning we had to keep him up late and get him up early. We also weren't allowed to feed him anything, so he was in a great mood as we got to the hospital. He actually did really well. He was very curious about the hospital room and what was going on, particularly when they were hooking up all the sensors. He thought it was pretty cool. He just watched as the nurse got everything ready. Then they brought in the medicine to help him fall asleep. Soon he was out and they brought in the ABR machine and hooked it to the electrodes on his head, then they performed the test, and we waited, and waited. We figured something must be up when the audiologist had her supervisor come in for a second opinion. She tried to reassure us, but we knew better. At this point, this wasn't our first rodeo. But, we still didn't get any information, so we waited some more. Finally she was done, and let us know, Johnny was almost completely deaf. It was beyond the point that hearing aids would really work, and our option was a cochlear implant, after a six month trial with hearing aids. We had prepared ourselves for this outcome, but it didn't make it any easier. We tried to smile about it, but it was tough.
After he woke up, he was really out of it. He just kept falling asleep, and didn't want to do much all day. While we were still at the hospital, Johnny was waking up, and he wanted to play, but he was so tired, he had a hard time holding his head up. He would try to walk, but always ended up crawling, dragging his head on the floor. It was sad, but we couldn't help but laugh at him. It was pretty funny.
Since that time, Johnny has continued to grow and learn. He currently wears hearing aids, but they do almost nothing for him. We know that an implant will help him to hear, but we have to wait until our insurance to say we can have the implant done. The time is usually 6 months. We are pushing, and hoping that it will be lessened for Johnny. He already has to catch up two years, and the longer we wait, the longer he goes with auditory stimulus. The brain is an amazing thing, and he will be able to compensate down the road, but it is still frustrating.
He is also learning a ton of sign language, and it is fun to watch him learn and use it. The hard thing is that neither Erica nor I sign at all. Everything we know now, we learned from teaching Johnny, so we feel like we can't learn it fast enough to teach it to him. Erica is amazing, and does an incredible job teaching him all sorts of signs, but we were not prepared for this.
Johnny is a normal kid, though He loves Disney Cars, and Curious George, and Batman, and Mickey Mouse. He loves sports and playing outside. He loves his little sister, and is her little protector. It is fun to watch him take her along on his little journey through life. He is constantly showing her things, and trying to explain things to her. He is our little man, and I couldn't be prouder of him.
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