Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The Results Are In- A Follow Up

I don't really know how to begin, because... it is going to sound like I lack faith either in God's healing power or the medical community... and I don't want to sound critical.
I was dumbfounded when the audiologist who conducted the ABR said she has normal hearing, see here. The main reason was not a lack of faith that God could heal, but being around and working with Elizabeth EVERY day. There are some sounds that she doesn't hear. Period.
So now the battle with the medical community begins and the school system. Fortunately, I have God and an awesome AI teacher who also sees that Elizabeth doesn't hear the "f", "p" or "th" sounds. I know that there are probably other sounds, but these are obvious. Her "up" is just the u and she is confusing me saying "push" and "fish". Some might argue that it is her development that is causing the problem.
I am going to try to not bore you with specific details about the testing, but give the overall view. Her audiogram in January showed a hearing loss, but it is a subjective test. The ABR is an objective test, but only leads me to inconclusive answers. There is a testing tolerance, but the machine is not recalibrated before each test. Could the testing tolerance actually change? There is a range for normal hearing. The test shows her brain can "hear" at the top of that range, but not at the bottom. And the upper limit of the range is at a higher decibal than what you need to hear certain letter sounds!!!! So she can't hear at the lower end and if your calibration was off by even 1 decibal it would show that she can't hear at the upper range either, but let's go ahead and say she has, "essentially normal hearing"!!!!
I am praying that my mother's intuition is really God prompting me to push hard for what is best for Elizabeth instead of some paranoid overreaction to the apathy that Mr. M drew from the medical/school community for several years. If I had paid more attention to my mother's intuition then, I would have pushed harder for him. But, hindsight is always 20/20. I just don't want to make the same mistake twice.

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