No more runny noses!

We are home from the hospital and things are going well. Before, every time Luke was upright his nose would run and run and run... And he absolutely hates having it wiped. Since Thursday I think it has run maybe 3 times and each time was only a little bit. It was nothing compared to the rolls (and I do literally mean rolls - tissue twirled around and around) of snot Luke used to have. Lovely subject, right? Anyway, we are all well and the biggest adjustment we are trying to make is the usual one of getting Luke to eat more. He is still taking a very long time to eat and not eating enough. His latest weight before the surgery was 14lbs. 8.5 ozs. and his latest weight after was 13lbs. 14.75 ozs., which is basically what he has weighed since the fall. Too bad he can't eat chocolate yet, it helps me add weight without even trying.

Back to the good news. To elaborate a little on what Rob said about the hearing tests... Everyone is really encouraged by his latest results. In July, Luke showed no response at all to sounds via air conduction which went up to 90dbs. In this latest test he responded to sounds via air conduction at 70dbs which is a moderate/severe loss. But that stills shows more than a 20db. gain. And given that his ears still ooze fluid we could see further improvement when that fluid dries up. Luke was also tested using a bone conduction aid and his results were as good as we could hope - hearing in the normal range (the test only went as low as 30dbs.). He heard all the sounds used in the test. This means there shouldn't be any damage to the hearing nerve (and the cochlea); the sound is just not able to get to it at a normal level. In other words something in his outer and/or middle ear is keeping sound from reaching his cochlea. We know the fluid is one thing keeping the sound out, but are not sure if there is anything else that isn't working. There were no obvious defects in his CT scan, so we will have to wait and do more testing and see how Luke's hearing develops over time. The bone conduction aid is the best option at this point because it bypasses the outer and middle ear and sends sound directly to the cochlea. We are so glad we have already started working in that direction. The earlier we can imprint his brain with sound (any sound) the better it will be for his development.