I am Blessed

You know, it doesn’t matter how long it has been, or how far apart you are, or the things that have gone on in the past…True family is always there for you when you need them.

That family can be blood family, friendship family, neighbor family, or community family…one thing I have learned in our life with each of us having differing needs and disabilities, is just that.

I may bitch a LOT to get through the everyday stress…this is kinda what this blog is for…but I am very blessed in my life because of the true family and support I have in my life.

I told my mom and dad about the waiting for an audiologist test for the boy, from my mom’s asking on my FB wall the other day about his CAPD ( Central Auditory Processing)

Today I did some calling around to find out about alternate ways to get him tested faster.

I’ve been waiting for months to even HEAR anything back about a future date for the OHIP covered testing at the hospital in the city. My Nurse Prac. is not taking me seriously and the boy’s hearing is getting worse, he is loosing /not developing consanant sounds in his talking, is talking more “cotton mouth” like a deaf person with the soft pronouncing of his words, much like my dad did/does, and he is getting very frustrated when he tries to communicate with people. I’m seeing that “i don’t know what you just said, but I’ll smile and nod anyway” look on his face, that my dad often had in those situations.
I’ve asked twice if the referral has gone through because I have not heard anything yet and i felt that she got annoyed with me for being over worried and impatient. “there’s a process, these things take time” instead of just saying, “I see you are concerned, I’ll look into it for you.”

i’m SO SICK of this woman not taking my family’s issues serious. I’m trying to find a new health care provider, but so far no one can take us, and anyone in the county who is available refused us because we are HER patients, and they are on the same health care team, and they won’t take patients away from each other.
So anyway, I had called an audiologist and asked some questions…enquired about cost, coverage etc… it was SO REFRESHING to talk to someone who BELEIVED me when I told him my concerns and the signs my boy shows of CAPD. They squeezed us in for ASAP, and he said, “if you grew up with a deaf parent, and have mild CAPD yourself, NO health practitioner should be minimizing your concerns with him fulfilling ALL of the preliminary criteria for CAPD.”

So, on the off chance I can’t get the testing covered by our Disability, I had written my mom an email and asked if they’d loan me the money to get a hearing test on our own faster. My dad has been essentially deaf even with two hearing aids since I was 9…he had a cochlear implant at 55years old, and got back 65 percent of his hearing! He heard bacon fry for the first time in nearly 30 years when he was 55 years old.  I can TALK ON THE PHONE with my deaf father. we now call him bionic Poppy, because he has digital ears technically. He can “turn his ears off” and be completly deaf when he is not hooked up to his implant. He says he sleeps REALLY WELLlo.. anyway…i’m getting sidetracked…

When I got home from swim class with the kids, my mom had emailed me back and said “of course, we know how worried you are, as are we with the family history of nerve deafness, and no we don’t want the money back.we’re glad to help. All you need to do is ask!”

So I have an appointment for the boy with an audiologist on June 21st.  It’s a day trip, in a farther away city, but I don’t care. I’m hoping for good weather and a good health day for hubby, and i’ll pack a picnic, and we’ll make a day of it. At the appointment, he’ll get the full testing needed. A physical hearing test, the newborn screening nerve test they did when he was born ( which he technically “failed” because they did not get a reading, and the midwife assumed that meant her device was broken), and then the test with probes on his ears and head to see what he processes from ear to brain, while engaging in typical conversation/play and talking during background noise etc.

My dad  knows what it is like to live without hearing well and growing deaf and he doesn’t want that for his grandson. He’s too smart a boy to be held back by any level of deafness. When I told my 5 year old about getting his ears tested, he was genuinely happy, and said he’s wanted his hearing tested, because he can’t understand people when they are too loud to him, and he can’t hear me when the disswasher is running, or when daddy is talking”.

This is a BIG deal for me…My parents are not well off by ANY means…. they get by on my father’s disability pension for his deafness & arthritis from a school board as a bus driver, and my mom works part time giving samples in a grocery store like they do at costco, and kills herself physically doing it…so for them to just give us the money, no questions asked, means A LOT to me!

you have NO idea how relieved I am right now! I’m sittin’ here with tears streaming down my face!