Hearing Mommy

Michael's been struggling with an ear infection for the past month.  After the pain subsided, his ear was still so full of fluid that he still hasn't regained all of his hearing in one ear.  That's what we thought was happening to Oliver, who is constantly asking us to repeat ourselves.  He had an ear infection before Michael did, and no doubt there was fluid in there making it hard for him to hear.

But Ollie's had his ears checked since then and everything looked clear.  He continued to say, "what?!" after almost everything we said.  We'd say, "what do you think I said?" And sometimes he got the gist of it.  But this week, it's worse.  It's not selective hearing, it's not just that he's not paying attention, and he doesn't even hear parts of what we say.  This week, it's gotten a little scary.  Most of the time he cannot hear normal-volume conversations, and when you talk quietly he doesn't even know you're talking.

Michael tested this theory in the car the other day, when he asked Oliver to repeat certain words, and there was absolutely no response.  We had a moment of levity when this was taken advantage of and Michael said a number of back-to-back explicatives at a normal volume (which was of course went unheard in the backseat, but it was hysterically funny to those of us in the front).

But it's not funny anymore.  Honestly, we're a little scared.  Michael sat him on his lap today and played a game of "telephone", asking Oliver to close his eyes and repeat what he was saying at different volumes.  Some of them he got right.  A lot of them, he didn't.  It was when Michael asked him to repeat "Mommy" and Oliver very thoughtfully replied "monkey" that I had to leave the room in tears. 

We have an appointment on Thursday with his pediatrician.  My suspicion is that they will either find something obvious, like a lot of earwax or fluid; or, it won't be obvious, and we'll be nervously waiting an appointment for an audiology consult. Nurses tend to think in worst-case scenarios.  I've been lax about this whole thing until today when he couldn't understand the word "Mommy" spoken at a normal decibel.  I let it slip in, those catastrophic thoughts.  What if he has fast-progressing hearing loss?  He can't hear the word "Mommy"...what if someday he can't hear Mommy?

These are ridiculous thoughts to be having and really, I don't think this is what we're facing at all.  But I can't help but worry.  We've come to a point where we need to talk loudly at all times for Oliver to catch what we're saying the first time around. If he's downstairs and asks where I am, he can't hear me holler back "I'm in the bedroom!" and he wanders around the house saying "Mommy? Mommy? Where are you?!" until I go downstairs to show my face.

I've never before prayed that my child would have a Gummi Bear stuck in his ear canal, but that's more or less along the lines of what my hopes are.  A Gummi Bear removal would be an instant solution with a good story behind it, and there will be no more talk of what he can't hear.  Until he's a teenager and I tell him to pick up his room.