Just a quick update on Nicholas’ hearing….

Back in May we discovered Nicholas hemorrhaged his right eardrum. This required surgery to correct the hemorrhage & tubes “installed” to help keep this (& all those nasty ear infections) from happening again. Surgery went fine & our doctor was happy with the results.

Today we had our post-op checkup complete with hearing test to see if there had been any change in his hearing post-surgery.

Nicholas woke up this morning with his new favorite phrase on repeat: “oh, no”. But his interpretation of the phrase is much more dramatic than I can ever begin to describe here. Worse than Scarlett O’Hara on her most dramatic day. His “oh, no”s are long, drawn out, and often accompanied by a melodramatic head to the hand in despair.

So, when he woke up with these words on repeat I was a mixture of hilarious laughter & ‘what does this kid now about this day (a Monday) that I don’t know?’.

But, since we can’t hide behind what-ifs & what-about’s off we went about our day.

Once we arrived at the doctor’s office & made it through the parking garage, across the lot, up the elevator, & into the waiting room (why aren’t medical parks less complicated to maneuver?) Nicholas was greeted by a nurse. His reply? “OOOOOOOHHHHH, NO!”. The whole office laughed. He stared at them confused – how could such a dramatic phrase elicit such laughter?!

Back in the hearing booth, we listened as sounds & voices came from all angles. (Those hearing booths can be a bit creepy with the dark walls, random voices, & the occasional flashing light).

After the test we headed back into the waiting room. Again. Then, after a 20 minute wait we were taken back to a room to wait for the doctor. And there we waited. And waited. And waited. We’d been there for over an hour with no sign of the doctor. And let’s just say it wasn’t enjoyable. I was running low on goldfish. We only had water, not “wa-wa” (which depending on the day is a toss up between either milk or apple juice – not water). We had read all our books. There was no music. In short: “misery” is being put in a quiet room with a toddler only to be surrounded by medical instruments & sharp objects said toddler is not supposed to touch. I performed my own interpretation of “oh,no!” About 8,457,362,199 times. Nicholas needed “wa-wa” & mama needed wine.

The doctor finally did come to see us  (I was beginning to think we’d been forgotten). Nicholas checked out great. His ear is healing well & his hearing is well within “normal” range. We were discharged with no medicines and a note to come back in 6 more months for a check up.

Now, Nicholas doesn’t get the excuse of hearing troubles anymore. He can hear me. Just fine. Now I know when he doesn’t “hear” me it just means he doesn’t WANT to hear me. Selective hearing was my specialty growing up so I can see him coming from a mile away. His father still performs daily selective hearing exercises around me (“oh, you meant do that now now. Sorry I didn’t hear you.”) so at least from “hear” on out Nicholas will come by it honestly.