It's been awhile!

Well, I am in a funk. At that place in my mind where I am trying not to overthink things and still try to work the thoughts out in my head to make sense to me. Okay, let's back up a minute. Jack had a yearly hearing test last Monday---okay, routine routine...everything should go smoothly. Yeah right! It was like a sock in the face---I was stunned for most of the day. The audiologist said that Jack's hearing has declined, and in the right ear, by a lot. almost 25 dB's which is a lot. So now, according to this test, Jack has moved into the moderate level of hearing in the right ear. What worries me is that his hearing has changed and we don't know why---does this mean that his hearing will continue to decline and one day he will no longer be able to hear? They can't rell me squat! I am tired of hearing "We don't know" and "sometimes you never know"...cause I for one will keep looking until I find something. Anyway, we have had his hearing aids turned up, and we had to go back yesterday to have them adjusted because they were too loud. Now we have to go see the ENT (ear nose and throat specialist) to ask for an MRI that the audiologist says we need "to rule out certain things" for this new decline in hearing loss. I am sure this is not the case but one of those things we ned to rule out is something called Acoustic Neuromas and they are small benign tumors and the 8th cranial nerve---the nerve that sound travels to get to the brain. This is very unlikely but they have to check for it anyway. Also he has had the genetic testing and blood testing and CT Scan so the MRI is all that is left for that type of diagnostic testing. I am hoping that the ENT approves it and that we can get that scheduled soon. Other than the MRI the only other thing we can do is wait for the repeat hearing test in 3 months. There are chances that the hearing test is invalid---it is a behavioral test and Jack has in the past been enreliable in the testing booth. The audiologist says she thinks he was pretty reliable though. I have my doubts. Also, there are studies that say an ABR (a special hearing test that is done while the child is asleep and so the doc looks at how the brain actually responds to sound) should be used as a screening tool and not for total diagnosis of what a child can hear because they are unreliable in behavioral tests. Jack had a behavioral test back in July 07 and it also had his hearing at 65dB at the 2000hz frequency and that is exactly what we are seeing now in 09 on the behaviroal test. So my hope is that his hearing hasn't changed at all and that we were just wrong before because the ABR says his brain hears at a higher sensitivity. So think of us for the next few weeks (or months) depending on when we get that MRI and more answers----hopefully!