Not long after Caleb turned four, I took him to the doctor for his normal yearly check-up, and as part of the exam, I requested that they check his hearing. For years now, I've noticed that Caleb talks a bit louder than the average person, but recently, I've also noticed that he doesn't always seem to hear us fully when we are talking to him. I wasn't sure if this issue was related to "selective hearing" (like all of us struggle at from time to time) or if there really was a problem with his ears. Assuming it was probably just Caleb being a busy preschool aged boy, I was expecting the test to come back perfectly fine but thought it didn't hurt to check just to be on the safe side.
A nurse came in and placed some large headphones over his ears as Reid and I sat watching the testing begin. Caleb was supposed to tell the woman every time he heard a beep. However, at first he said couldn't hear much of anything despite her efforts to check repeatedly to make sure he understood what to do.
Reid was a bit fussy so I asked if I could leave the room and thought maybe that would help. To our dismay though, when it was all over the results were not what I wanted to hear. The doctor came in to say that he had failed the test pretty badly and that she wanted us to go as soon as possible to an ENT specialist appointment that her office would arrange.
My mind was a mile a minute bouncing back and forth about this. I wouldn't say I was super worried or upset at that point, but I was concerned and had a lot of questions. I thought maybe he didn't understand the test, because, though I noticed some mild signs of hearing loss, I didn't think he should have done as poorly as they reported. As I shared the news with friends and family members, they too thought as I did, it seemed like maybe the first test was a bit off. His language skills were good and a lot of times he DID hear us, so it couldn't have been that bad.
On April 21, I took him to the specialist and before I went in was very hopeful that nothing was wrong, that they had just messed up the other test. However, we were disappointed again to find out that he really was having some hearing problems. They had tried a new type of test where he sat in a sound booth with ear phones and had to repeat any words that he could hear. "Hotdog....ice cream," he repeated after the Dr. But, as she turned the dial lower, "I can't hear you," he said giggling. His comment acknowledged that though some sound was coming through, the words were unclear to him.
They told me that 20 is the normal hearing level and that his was at 35, which is classified as mild hearing loss but is approaching the moderate level. The woman who did the test said this outcome may have been influenced by the cold he had at the time since the fluid that comes along with it can cause such problems, but when the doctor looked at his ears, he didn't see any fluid present. He said that basically Caleb appeared to be hearing about the same way someone who has water in their ears would.
In order to make sure that we had accurate data about my little fella's hearing, the doctor asked us to come back for another test in May. He said they would hook something to Caleb's forehead to record his brain activity while having a device connected to his ears to make clinking sounds. If his ear heard the clicks, they would see brain activity. This way they would know for sure that it was not child error since in the previous tests Caleb had been asked to respond.
That possibility that the previous test results were just an error didn't seem reasonable to me at the time though. The whole "repeat-the-word-if-you-hear-it" test seemed pretty accurate since I could see for myself that Caleb couldn't hear the words, which left me little hope that it was a fluke. If he tested the same on the third one, they said he would be fitted for a hearing aid.
I tried not to worry about it too much, but there were definitely moments when the fears crept up. Most importantly, I wanted him to be able to hear well and was concerned because I didn't want the hearing loss to get any worse. I didn't want him to be picked on by other kids if he was different from them since that's how kids can be to each other. Plus, I wasn't sure if he would actually wear a hearing aid since he is kind of sensitive about how things feel. Not to mention that there was the fear that possibly we'd been scolding him for things that he may really not have been hearing clearly and that made my heartache.
I began asking our families and our church to pray and started imagining how all this would change our lives. How would it affect his education? What did we need to do differently to make sure he heard us? Should I go ahead and tell his soccer coach and Sunday School teacher so that they could make sure they spoke where he could hear them or wait for the results from the third test?
Despite all these "what ifs," strangely I had an unusual peace about everything. Although the evidence seemed pretty clear, I felt like one way or another it would work out. To be honest, there were a few moments when I felt a little guilty for not worrying about it (...if that makes any sense). But, Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made know to God. And the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Finally, the day of the final testing came....and guess what?
Praise God! At his third screening EVERY test came back normal. When I asked how could that be possible, the lady administering the test thought maybe the cold he had previously had caused some fluid in his ears that wouldn't let his ear drum move like it should, causing him to fail it before. But, that didn't make sense since the doctor had told me last time he didn't see in fluid in the ear. She said there was a bit of wax that also may have made it problematic to pass the first test, but this didn't make sense either since the wax hadn't been removed for these final tests.
What was the answer? What had taken place? Did the Great Physician heal a cold or did He heal something else that was complicating Caleb's hearing? Did the One who formed Caleb in the womb develop his ears perfectly before he was born and allow us this trial to mature our faith?
I don't know the exact details of what happened exactly, but I do know that God worked it out and that Caleb is hearing fine now. Our prayers were answered and praises were sent up as people found out.
Even if we hadn't gotten the answer that we'd hoped for though, we still would have know that God is good, that He is more than worthy of our praise, but we are so thankful that He was gracious enough to give us our heart's desire - our son's complete hearing and that we don't have to face a lot of the worries I'd considered. It all boils down to remind us of this passage: "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matt. 6:34).
I'm so thankful that my lovable, creative, silly boy is just fine. There are no hearing aids to worry about, lifestyle changes to make, or hurdles to jump. I simply feel blessed!
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