Proof of why you shouldn't take tests

We had Adam's hospital appointment today for his hearing test under anaesthetic, which went pretty smoothly overall. The totally disappointing fact is that we know absolutely no more now than we did 12 hours ago before he was doped up and gassed out.

Despite being without a hubby this week, everything went well this morning getting to the hospital. Caleb was dropped to a friend to play with her daughter before going to nursery, and Adam and I had our pick of parking places at the hospital (not a common occurrence!) and pitched up at the desk at 8am exactly. By 9:10am he had the eye drops and pre-med, which left him as dopey as if he'd been smoking something very wacky. Dopey, but cooperative. I didn't stay for the "going under", since that's not really my favourite part of the whole event. One hour later the doctor was at Adam's bedside to explain what they had found.

To summarise the details, both ears had lots of wax which was cleaned. Both ears were free of "glue" or liquid behind the eardrum which clouds hearing, and because of this the tubes were removed from both of Adam's ears. The right eardrum has a small hole in it (why? I never found out either) but it shouldn't cause any problems. Thus, the final result: both ears clean and dry, no tubes.

Then for the hearing test result, and this is the kicker (am I watching too much World Cup?): He had no response in his brain to anything up until 100 decibels. Adam can obviously hear to even the most casual observer, but his hearing tests show him to be profoundly deaf. Having quickly researched it, 100 dcb is equivalent to a snowmobile or a motorcycle. The doctor trying to explain this to me was as baffled by it as I am. What does this mean?

What it means, he surmises, is that Adam's brain must have developed pathways for sound to travel that are different from that of a normal person's brain, and therefore do not show up on their tests. In other words, and as he was kind to admit: They don't know how Adam hears. I guess now that I think about it, we are farther along from this morning. We now know to look at Adam and go by what he is doing rather than what the tests and experts determine. Hmph. Should have known that all along.

We were home by 1pm, and met up with brother for a quick lunch. Then, because it was one of those rare beautiful and warm days, we headed for the beach. We spent all afternoon on the sand and at the playground, had an ice cream cone, and came home to drop two tired boys in the bath and in bed. Sigh, job well done (or at least done)!

I do have to say that Adam, despite having been gassed out just a few hours before, put on the most stellar show at the beach that I've ever seen. He managed to strip off all his clothes and out run me down to the water, nearly diving in head-first! This is the north sea, after all, sun or no sun. To be honest, I think he may have had the edge because I was laughing so hard! :)