Brady Hearing Update

I took Brady to the pediatrician today to have his ears checked. We have been having concerns that maybe he isn't hearing very well as he says, "Huh?" and "What?" often. First the nurse did a brief hearing screen. Brady put on big "ear muffs" as he called them and had to listen for beeps. I thought he was doing a great job, but the nurse told me that he did have, "some hearing deficits in both ears." After the screening, we waited for the doctor to come in. My stomach was in knots as a I sat and watched him play. The poor boy. His ears were bright red and he had that line down his face from being hot. He also has been doing this strange eye tic thing and he was doing that over and over as he played. As we waited I just felt very sad and annoyed by all of these little lingering things that no one can really explain. Of course I also realized that all or some of these things may just be "normal" almost-four-year-old stuff.

The doctor came in and checked his ears and found a "considerable amount" of fluid in both ears. She explained that they were not infected, but that fluid in the ears can most definitely cause some level of hearing deficit. We talked about the possibility of allergies and that made sense to me as Brady does seem to sniff a lot. She recommended that we try a nasal spray once a day to try and open things up. If that doesn't work, then she will perscribe an allergy medicine like Claritin. If that does not work, then she will refer us to an ENT specialist. Sounds like a plan.

She did comment on his eye tic and recommended that we bring him to the pediatric eye specialist. We are in luck there! It just so happens that Cara goes to one every 6 months, so I will call and see if Brady can tag along for his own appointment.

I'm glad to know that I wasn't just imagining the hearing issue and most importantly that there could be a simple solution.