We already knew she could hear

But since the Doctors weren't sure of how well, yesterday Sora had an ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response) test done. The purpose was to not only check her good ear to make sure she had full hearing, but to also try to figure out if her ear with Aural Atresia is hearing at all. On the AA ear they not only test how she is hearing at this time, but they also do a bone conduction test to see how well the hearing "would" be if she had an open ear canal and ear drum. The test takes about 1 hour and they have to be perfectly still so they put the kids under anesthesia.

We went back and forth whether or not to bring the kids. We could have put them in school but we didn't know if we'd be back here in time to pick them up. We finally decided to bring them, but then the morning of the test, the hospital called at 7:15am and asked if we could come earlier because there was a cancellation. I was all about getting it done and over with as early as possible (mainly because Sora couldn't have any food) so I just decided to bring her by myself.


We got to the hospital and didn't have to wait long to be brought in. I could tell these Doctors wanted to get it over so they could leave. :-) Not that they weren't incredibly nice or focused, but normally you just wait and wait.

Then someone asked if her adoption was finalized and legally our child. I said no, but that we were her guardians. Then they asked if we had any paperwork showing that. Hum, no. No one ever mentioned to bring something. I started to worry. I did not want to come back another day. I totally understood their concern but I didn't know what to do. Then I remembered the letter our agency sent for us to have Sora added to our Insurance plan. I remember it said we were in charge of her medical care. Phew! Thank God for WIFI at the hospital. I forward the letter to the hospital admin and they printed it out. Good to go.


Sora looked so cute in her hospital gown. She must have been able to tell something was going on because she was nervous. I was talking to the Doctor who was going to do the test and she was clinging to me. Of course, it could have been because of their funny surgical hats. :-)



"Can anyone tell me how to get this thing off?"

"Seriously, get this thing off!!!!"

They came by with some "special" medicine that she took by mouth. It was to make her "happy" and so she wouldn't remember them taking her from me. After about 10 minutes she was so loopy. It was hilarious. She didn't seem to mind too much when they took her.


I went to another waiting room for other families with kids in surgery. I met a family who is adopting from China. They've been waiting about 3 years and still have another year. It's a LONG program. Then a seven month old started choking on Cheetos. Who give Cheetos to a 7 month old? The mom was crying and freaking a little. Of course, if your baby is going to choke the best place for it to happen is a hospital! I have taken CPR and know what to do in the situation but froze for a few seconds. I was about to take the baby but luckily you could tell that she was breathing again. Thank goodness. Of course some nurses came in and checked her out. Phew. All of the excitement made the the wait go by pretty fast.

They brought me to the recovery area. They had warned me quite a few times that it's pretty "ugly" when kids come out of anesthesia so I was prepared for the worst. The Doctor came and talked about the test. She said her hearing was great in her good ear. She has what what be considered severe hearing loss in her AA ear. But the Dr. also did a bone conduction test which bypasses the ear canal and tests her hearing based on sounds traveling through the bone in the back of her year. This showed that her hearing in that ear is great! So basically, even though it's not hearing anything now because of the AA, eventually either with surgery or a hearing aid she could having normal hearing in that ear.

Of course, now comes the decisions. Do we give her a hearing aid now? If so, there are two options. One is very expensive ...the other is less, but might work well enough to be worth it. Some Doctors recommend just waiting to see if her speech develops normally...some recommend the hearing aid. So, we're still trying to decide what to do. We'll need to see what our insurance will cost as well as let her try out the hearing aid and see if she will even keep it on. But we're also pretty sure we'll wait to see what happens with her speech and intervene if there is a problem later.

We'll also have to decide in the future if she can either have the surgery to repair her ear canal or give her a hearing aid. All done around 5 years old. Repairing the external ear will be done at time too.

So, back to the recovery, they brought her in about 5 minutes later. She was sitting up in the crib a little woozy. As soon as I picked her up she started screaming. And the child didn't stop. Actually, every once in a while she would stop for about 5 seconds but then start up again. She drank a few oz. of Pedialyte (thank goodness because we couldn't leave until we knew she would not vomit it) and then screamed some more. She was so out of it. I tried calming her, but to no avail. I sang, walked her around, gave her toys - nothing worked and just made her more mad. Eventually I just held her and let her cry. Finally about 20 minutes later they said we could go. The second we walked out of the room she stopped. I think she just couldn't snap out of it until we left. She slept all of the way home and when I woke her up to get out of the car, she was smiling. I couldn't believe it. Not another tear the rest of the day.

She was pretty hilarious though. At home she just wanted to play but it was like she was drunk. She kept falling over and over but she didn't seem to notice. :-) After a long nap it was like it never happened. And I'm thankful that she doesn't seem to remember being taken away from me and still loves me. ;-)