Thursday, January 24, 2013

Double the love, Double the Fun!

   I have the great honor and privilege of being Mommy to three beautiful children.  They are each unique and beautiful little people who add something different to our crazy family dynamic.
My precious twin boys are almost 4 years old and they learn new ways to enjoy life each day (most  of which involve torturing their Mother & Sister.)  We have always known our boys had a little trouble hearing.  However, in March of this year we received a diagnosis that shocked our family and turned us down a new path of life.  
   We were told that both of our boys have bilateral Aural Atresia.  This is a congenital birth defect, it means that the boys have no opening to the inner ear.  They each have about a 35-40 decibel hearing loss.  We new they were having a slight problem, but attributed it to their "Narrow" ear canals.  We had been told that as they grew the canal would open up to allow more visibility to their ear drums.  Since Andrew & Chase displayed no other signs of microtia (deformed outer ear) or symptoms of the syndromes commonly associated with Aural Atresia their pediatrician did not suspect this was an issue.  The diagnosis was very hard for Jonathan and I to accept.  We felt so guilty as parents that we did not suspect the extent of their problem.  We were scared for what the future held for them as far as their education was concerned, etc.  We are so blessed that they do not have any speech delays, but sadly we realized after the diagnosis how many times they were guessing at what we were saying to them or focusing on our lips to concentrate on what we were communicating to them.  
   Talk about a wake up call.  Reality came knocking and we were hiding under the bed.  It was very sad and overwhelming.  There are not enough options for repair, there are no easy fixes.   As a parent you want to be able to fix everything.  For the first time in our parenting lives, we were lost.  In these past months we have gone for second opinions,  earned our Doctorate in "Googling" and found peace and calm in the midst of this storm.  God has really given us a peace and shown us how strong we are, but more importantly how strong and powerful he is. 

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."  Psalm 46:10
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

We are researching our best options now for surgery and/or Baha devices/Symphono devices.  My sweet husband has really been glued to the computer every minute of his free time looking for other families to speak with,  trying to find out about their success rates and trying to get a better feeling for the direction we should be taking.   He came across 2 families in Australia who are coming to the States this week to the California Institute, so we are praying for their families when we pray for our own!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...