12 November 2014

Hearing Tests… Round 2, Plan B

This little peanut is just too cute for words! Just a complete blessing!

After chemo Monday afternoon we had to head back over to audiology to re-check Rylie’s hearing in her left ear. The audiologists ran a few tests last week and we know she’s had a change in what she is hearing in her left ear, but at this point we just don’t know how bad that change is.

We we’re a little worried about how she would do during the testing since she was so heavily sedated for her MRI earlier that morning and then had 4 hours of chemo right after but she managed to wake up, eat some lunch and bounce back to her feisty little self with about an hour to spare!


So, we jumped into the booth and started to repeat the tests ran last week. Things didn’t go quite as planned. She was happy as can be but she didn’t quite understand what we needed her to do. The audiologist said she was the most well behaved uncooperative child they had ever met (LOL). She gave it her best shot but the tests were just a little bit tough for someone her age.



So… we move on to Plan B. On December 2 Rylie will have a sedated Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) test. The ABR test measures the reaction of the parts of a child’s nervous system that affect hearing. (The ABR test measures the hearing nerve’s response to sounds.) The test is a helpful tool in determining a child’s ability to hear. The test uses a special computer to measure the way the child’s hearing nerve responds to different sounds. Three to four small stickers called electrodes will be placed on LadyBug’s head and in front of her ears and connected to a computer. As sounds are made through the earphones the electrodes measure how your child’s hearing nerves respond to them. The test is very similar to her VEP Test, just under sedation. Rylie’s audiologist will look for certain neurological markers to see how her hearing nerves are responding to certain sounds. The softest intensity or loudness level at which these markers appear roughly corresponds to the child’s hearing level in that frequency range or pitch. The entire process will take about 4 hours. After that we will meet to discuss the results and look into what the best options are to correct the problem if needed.

Of course, our hope is that there is no change that requires us to immediatly change her chemotherapy dosage or protocol but we have to be careful and make sure that once chemo is over she will still have an adequate level of hearing left to give her a chance at being successful in her daily life. It's a juggling act but we know we've got an amazing team that will help us figure it out! 

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