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What?? What??

That's what we hear from Abby all day long because the girl can't hear a thing!  We were hoping that this hearing loss was a result of a malfunctioning tube, but Dr. T. checked out her ears during her jaw surgery and everything was a-ok...except that her left ear now has a substantial hole in it that will need to be fixed when she is older.

So since the hearing loss wasn't fluid related, we were anxious to hear what the audiology report was.  Abby had a hearing test yesterday and cooperated very well.  The audiologist was very good and worked hard to get all of the information she needed.  I feel confident that it was a valid report.

Abby's right ear has always been worse, but this time her left ear showed moderate to severe hearing loss and her right ear showed moderate.  Her left ear has never been anything but normal (her last test was in July), so Dr. T. thinks this hole is causing more problems than he thought.  Because of her age and the growth she still needs to do, the hole really can't be properly repaired for another 4-6 years.

So....hearing aids it is!  She will be getting them for both ears.  And so will her doll, Joy.  The American Girl Store puts them in and Abby is very excited!  She's also thrilled to be twins with her "sister" Emily.

The molds won't be done until February because that's the earliest we could get in.  (I look at it as a sign that we go to an awesome hospital!)  We are really hoping that this will not only have positive effects on her hearing, but also her speech.  It's hard to speak clearly when you can't really hear the sounds correctly.  Looking ahead, we are also expecting this to really help her in school.  She's a good kid, so a teacher really might not notice if she's missing some information because she can't hear.  The hearing aids also set things up perfectly for an FM system to be hooked up if needed down the road.

At one point in my life, I'm pretty sure this announcement would have thrown me and I would have been pretty upset.  But ya know what?  They're just hearing aids!!  It's really not that big of a deal. I look at it as on the same level as glasses--just correcting a different sense.  And if it is going to help her to hear better, then I'm all for it.  My one fear is that she will get made fun of, but that's something that has always been a concern for me when it comes to Abby.  We will just have to give her the tools to deal with it and pray for a good group of friends to stick up for her!

Let the countdown to not having to repeat myself 20 times begin!

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