Monday, January 31, 2011

Kieran's going in for surgery

Today we went to the ENT, Kieran's speech is behind (Average is 3-50+ words, Kieran has just over 10). We were worried that her hearing was the reason for her speech. Turns out we were right her hearing is the reason for her speech issues. When the did the first test to see how her ear drum reacts it wasn't good, her left ear hardly had a reaction at all, a tiny one at the end of the the flat line, the right had a slightly better one but still not good. And the hearing in her left ear wasn't good either (they didn't test her right?!) He said she was hearing at 30 decibels and they wanted it at 15 or higher (said the lower the # the more they could hear the softer and quieter sounds) so not terribly bad but he was worried about her ear drum not reacting like it should.

Like we thought he brought up tubes. Kieran's only had 3 ear infections since September so that wasn't the worry, he said normally kids like that with fluid on their ears he would just recheck in 6 weeks when the weather warms up. What he was worried about is the fact that its affecting her hearing and her speech, because of that he's going to put tubes in. He said we'll do the tubes then a few weeks later we will check her hearing again to see if it helps. He said this kind of hearing loss is normally reversible, in 5% (I think it was) of patients it isn't.

We are waiting on authorization from insurance but once thats in we are scheduled for the surgery on the 17th of Feb. He was also sort of worried about her tonsils and adenoids, they were larger then they should be, he said medium, so not as large as Seamus' were but he wants to watch that too. He also said they will possibly take out the adenoids if the tubes alone don't help the draining (The left ear was really full, the right a little)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Been on a Hiatus

Sorry for the lack of posts since December. Seamus had a break from school, for the winter holidays and it hit us really hard. We had a lot of break downs and behavioral issues. We ended up stopping the brushing technique because it became too much of a fight. Some times he would asked to be brushed others I had to make him. Our OT said that it would cause him to regress on some behaviors but only for 2 weeks, after a month of it we couldn't take it any more. So now we're back to square 1 trying to find something else, hopefully the listening therapy but he doesn't like wearing the headphones so I'm not sure.

Other news about Seamus, we had a follow up at the Eye Specialist a few weeks ago, where we thought we would get to stop doing the dilating drops, but nope. The eye doctor (a new one, the main one in the office, since the old one left)didn't see enough of an improvement to let us stop. He has to continue the drops till April, then we will see the specialist again and decide from there whether or not to do the surgery on his eye.

Miss Kieran started Speech back in December. Her's is pretty delayed, only saying around 10 words and most are the same word just slightly said different. She sees the same speech therapist Seamus does so that's nice. Early Headstart has been worried with her hearing even though her receptive language (on the ST's test) was through the roof, so they kept testing her with the ear test that goes in the ear, which she failed multiple times since she pulls it out. I asked our pedi for a referral to the ENT (same one Seamus went to for his tonsil and adenoid surgery) to get tested in the sound booth. I'm glad that I got that referral. I found out on Saturday, when I took her to the pedi for a different reason, that she STILL has fluid on her left ear, its been months now that its been there. I'm actually quite irritated the doctors haven't done anything sooner when I kept asking about it. The doc I saw Saturday (in the office there's quite a few pedi's and NP's, when you do a "walk in" or same day appt, you see whoever is available, normally not our usual pedi.) said the ENT will most likely tube the ear, something I asked about in November to a different doc and he told me no <_<. The doc on Saturday told me that the fluid is probably the reason her speech is so bad, if its been there this long she's most likely not hearing out of that ear so its causing her to not hear words correctly. We have our ENT appt on Monday the 31st, so I'll find out more then. I kind of have to laugh though, Seamus was 2yrs 2mo old when he went to the ENT for his snoring and sleep apena, Kieran will be 22mo when she goes, pretty close to the same age, and if she gets surgery on the ear then again pretty close to the same age, lol.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Bright Starts Bounce-a-Bout ~Giveaway~



I've had lots of Bright Start things for the kids, from the teething necklaces/beads, and rattles to their Exersaucers. When I saw Bright Starts post on their Facebook wall about looking for bloggers I jumped right on it, I love their stuff. Some of the first toys we bought for Kieran, while I was pregnant with her, were from Bright Start. We bought her a pink rattle, with a chewy part on one end, and some links to link on her car seat. Seamus had a couple of similar rattles when he was younger, the teething necklace, and both kids had one of their exersaucers (we've had 2, but ironically they were the "same" one lol!).

Bright Starts asked if I would be willing to do a giveaway on my blog...and well Yeah! I love their products and would love to share them with my readers!




Bright Starts has offered to giveaway a, Bright Starts Bounce-a-Bout (like an exersaucer). Here is some information on it:



Bounce, Spin & Rock in this fun filled entertainer! The unique bounce pad provides a soft surface for baby to bounce and dance. Seven entertaining toys are within baby's reach including a colorful bead chaser and push top spinner with swirling beads. The overhead toy bar also features two toys to encourage baby to reach and grab. The seat rotates 360° so baby has access to all the fun!


Features:

* Seat rotates 360° for access to all toys
* Three adjustable height settings allows entertainer to grow with baby
* Colorful bead chaser
* Frog push top spinner with swirling beads
* Spinning bee rattle ball
* Ratcheting bug with crinkle fabric wings
* Bendable firefly stalk toy
* Overhead toy arch includes teether and rattle
* Easy to clean toy tray
* Four toy loops for attaching more toys

Additional Features:

* Lays flat for storage
* Machine washable seat pad





This is a great item for babies 4months and up, lots of different toys and sensory items on it. This retails for $59.54 at Walmart.


Giveaway:
Bright Starts has generosouly offered a Bounce-a-Bout to one (1) lucky Silent Storm reader!

Mandatory Entry: Visit Bright Starts site and tell me another product you'd love to try.
(must be completed before extra entries will be counted. Please leave me email address in at least 1 comment, so I can contact you if you are the winner)


Extra Entries:
-Follow Bright Starts on Facebook (2 entries/leave 2 comments)
-Follow me on Facebook (heart above)
-Follow me on Twitter (heart above)
-Follow my blog with google friend (2 entries/leave 2 comments)
-Grab my button and tell me where to find it on your blog (2 entries/leave 2 comments)
-Tweet about this giveaway. Be sure to include @SliverStorm with a link back to this post. This can be done twice a day, at least 4hrs apart.
-Blog about this giveaway, link me to the post
-Enter this giveaway into a Giveaway Mr. Linky and tell me where you did


This will end on Tuesday February 8th @ 11:59pm PST. At the close of this I will use Random.org to draw the winner and post on the blog. The winner has 48hrs to respond to my email before a new one will be drawn. US only.


**Disclosure**
I was not paid to post this giveaway. Bright Starts will send product to winner