Kateri's Dr appointment

Kateri and I got to spend the day at Children's yesterday. It wasn't too bad, considering we were there for 4 hours and a lot of that time was spent between appointments. But I had a stack of quarters and we had fun with the vending machines and browsing the gift shop. It also would not have gone so well if she was not such a trooper.

First we had the EKG which she was completely fine with. And everything came out normal. So we moved on- an hour later- to the CT scan. She was a little hesitant when she saw the machine but lay down and held still just the same. I got to stay and hold her hand and afterwards she got to pick out stickers- again. She had quite the collection going on.

Then we had about an hour to kill until we saw Dr Sei. So we sat and talked and drew pictures and ate tiny cookies. I realized it was St Patrick's day when the gift store offered to sell me a $.10 green plastic necklace. For $1. So I told Kateri she could have a treat. She is really good about not having treats on fast days. I took her to the machine to pick out a drink. She looked at all the choices and said

"Water" without even hesitating. Then she explained "We can't have pop because its a fast day". Not that I was going to let her anyway.

Finally we got in for her hearing test. This time she got to feed the bunny carrots. The results were the same as the test in November. So no change was good for now. Then we got to sit and wait for the doctor. She was finally getting bored and asked if we could go home now. I was running out of games to play. She liked playing catch the jumping spider as it leapt around the exam room table.

The doctor and assistant came in and checked her ears first. It was so sad. She lay on her side and they put the tip of a scope in her ear and then looked at it through a big lighted microscope coming down from the ceiling. She held very still and never made a peep. But when they pulled the scope away, she had tears streaming down her cheeks. They asked if it hurt her ear and she nodded. I felt so sad for her. But impressed as well. Now we know the enemy won't be able to use torture to get any information out of her. Maybe she saw the whole visit as a training exercise for her missions later in life. And of course she wore her pink cowboy boots to distract everyone and put them off their guard.

"Oh, what a sweet little girl. I love your pink boots. And look at that hair. Security codes? Oh, sure, here you go sweetie."

We went over the CT scan which actually did have new information. They found her cochlea, which looks like a coiled snail shell and like stack of three donuts on a CT scan, only had two donuts. But interestingly, both ears are the same, though only one has hearing problems. The cochlea is formed before the 5th month so for whatever reason she been this way since birth. The doctor said it could be genetic, and there is some study they are doing looking at a link between CMV and hearing loss. She asked if we wanted to be in the study but I would need the heel stick they did when she was born. I can't remember if I took her in for one or not , I'm thinking not, so I said no thanks. I don't really need any more dr vistits than we've got going. As far as genetics, she said they are working on some new tests but right now she would not recommend going that route as it would involve lots of poking and blood work and it wouldn't change what we do now anyway. But she suggested I have the other kids tested. Which sounds incredibly fun.

So now our options are speech therapy and a hearing aid. Dr said either one we could try or both and just see if it makes a difference. And going forward they suggest we have her hearing checked every 3-4 mos. So I am thinking maybe at our next visit we might look into a hearing aid and maybe try therapy in the mean time.