Say What?

 So who knew? Kayden has had significant hearing loss for years. Boy do I feel bad, and dumb, and mean at times.  Well let me redeem myself. It's only been 'bad' for about a year. We started this adventure with him failing the hearing screening at school in Kindergarten. We were sent to the District Audiologist who did more testing and said yes there is loss but not too bad and since he was functioning fine we didn't need to do anything about it at that time but we came in for tests every year (instead of every other year.)

The tests always had come back about the same until this January when there was over a 20% drop in hearing since the previous test about 8 months prior. She suggested we see an ENT so we found a great one in AF and went for yet more tests. She found the same thing, hearing loss that was becoming a slow decline not just a bad cold, or loss of attention or what not during the tests. She explained that the ear muscles are like any other muscle and with being overworked and trying to compensate for hearing they will become strained and 'wear out' sooner than if we were to help out. But there were also social factors to take into account with a 7 year old, financial issues ($3000 almost) and we still were kind of surprised as he was doing well in school and karate and piano and didn't really complain about not being able to hear or missing things. So we told him it was up to him. If he got to a point he wanted to try them or felt frustrated or left out with his hearing we would do something.

About a month later he came home from school one day and said he had had a hard day and wanted to try them. hmmmmmmmmmmm so what to do? Honestly at that point we started praying for ideas cause we couldn't drop $3000 on hearing aids. I looked around a little and found that we MAY be able to 'borrow' some from the district for a few weeks to see if he liked them, if he would wear them, if he could tell a difference etc. They were pretty reluctant but said it may be an option. Then I was talking to a neighbor one day and tender mercy #1 she gave me a name and number for a lady at the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind. I thought 'no way, he's not THAT hard of hearing' but what did I have to lose right? So I called them, we had an appointment 2 days later and they took molds within a week and got his hearing aids within about 10 days. He was pretty excited as he got to design them and pick the colors and everything.

We went to pick them up and they showed him how to care for them, clean them, wash them, change and test the batteries etc. They are still on loan (for free though) for about 4 months so we thought we should probably get the insurance for $300 just in case. Still a lot of money in one check but much better than thousands of $$ at this point :) Tender mercy #2 on the way home that very day the lady called and said 'great news your model of hearing aid is still under warranty for 6 months so you don't need the insurance.' WOW!!!!

Also that day they sent an aid to his school to teach/train his teacher on proper classroom care, battery changing etc and were so incredibly helpful. This was such a blessing and has helped Kayden so much. He has been able to be more aware and make better decisions and is also a happier kid :)

 Learning to test and change his batteries

Making sure they are at the right levels.