Mild or moderate

...hearing loss, that is, in 1 or both ears. We could not get a conclusive result -- as in one that says "Timothy has x% hearing loss in his left and/or right ear" -- because Timothy has tubes (that would take a while to explain). But, yesterday's test results definitely showed hearing loss. He does not respond to quiet sounds at all. They had to speak or play their noises at a moderate speaking level or louder for Timothy to respond. While that's not all that bad, not being able to hear quiet sounds will affect his ability to learn to speak just as much as not being able to hear loud sounds would affect his learning to talk. So, our next step is something we were really hoping to avoid. On October 9th, Timothy will be put under general anesthesia for what's called an ABR. This is the same test he had done in January but because he was so young, they didn't have to worry about his falling asleep and staying asleep 'cause newborns sleep all the time. Not only would Timothy not stay asleep now, he'd never tolerate those things being in his ears that long. Putting him to sleep is our only option if we want to know what we're dealing with and we need to know for certain what we're dealing with so they can get him into hearing aids. And the sooner the better -- this is a crucial time for little ones who are developing the speech and language centers of their brains. So, yeah, this is a major deal from that aspect.

On the other front -- his breathing -- the doctor was pleased but still wanted to follow Timothy closely. However, since they're going to be putting Timothy to sleep in October and he'll have to be there anyway, he's going to go ahead and do another bronchoscopy and/or CAT scan of Timothy's airway. Had Timothy not been scheduled to be put to sleep for another reason, then he wouldn't have done this. Timothy obviously does not seem to be bothered by the calcification in his airway and certainly isn't struggling to grow (weighing 21 pounds, 10 ounces yesterday) so there really isn't a "problem" but we know something is there (or at least was there in May) so we're going to take this opportunity to check up on things while we're there. Maybe we'll find out that his airway is an appropriate size and/or the calcification is gone so we'll not have to worry about that anymore. God is able, is He not?

Good news -- the doctor's scheduling secretary was appalled that Timothy wasn't taken into surgery in May until 1 in the afternoon. She said she can't promise me she can do anything about it but that if I call her a day or 2 ahead of Timothy's surgery date, she'll do all she can to insure that we get Timothy into surgery as early as possible that day so we don't have to worry about not feeding the little guy.

Specific prayer requests:

*that the testing will all go well, that there'll be no reaction to the anesthesia (just like last time)
*that the results will be conclusive (or even miraculous -- that Timothy's hearing would be perfectly normal)
*that the bronch/CAT scan will give us good news
*that Timothy will go into surgery early and/or that we won't have to deal with an irritable/hungry baby for long