Our third child was different from his older siblings. By two
and a half, they had spoken in short, clear sentences. Yanky
was only saying one- or two-word phrases, and it always
sounded like he had a bunch of marbles in his mouth. As he
was approaching three, a friend suggested I take him for a
hearing test. Sometimes, she told me, fluid in ears causes
hearing difficulties and speech delays. Then I started
noticing that he actually wasn't hearing well, and was
saying, "What?" frequently. He was also reading my lips. One
day, when I turned on the tape recorder at a normal volume,
he told me he didn't hear it. That was when I'd realized I
better check into this.
The hearing test indicated that he was only hearing 30%.
After trips to our family doctor and an ENT specialist, we
set up an appointment for what they call a tune-up removal of
the adenoids and tonsils and insertion of tubes. Apparently,
his continuously drippy nose since infancy was also a result
of his continuously swollen adenoids and tonsils. And in
their swollen state, they were not allowing fluid to flow,
and were continuously producing mucus that was blocking his
ears.
As with most functions of the human body, we take our hearing
for granted. It's just something that is always there. I
remember about ten years ago, when I was expecting my first,
my ears suddenly felt clogged and I couldn't fully hear what
was going on around me. They say that if someone who wears
glasses loses them, he has a hard time hearing. For me, it
was the opposite. Although only my ears were affected, I felt
like I was floating in the clouds. I was here but not here.
After my doctor irrigated my ears, I felt myself returning to
earth. The sound of the birds chirping, which I hadn't heard
in about a week, was sweeter than sugar.
When I found out that poor Yanky was only hearing 30% of the
sound around him, my heart sank. He must always feel a little
bit in the clouds. And I did notice that when I was telling
the older kids a story at dinner, he just sat there, chomping
on his food with full concentration. By nature, Yanky is a
mild-mannered boy, so he never complained about his state of
affairs. He sometimes seemed to be in his own world, but
never made trouble.
After the surgery and the tortuous week-long recovery, Yanky
started speaking more, with a broader vocubalury and more
clarity. We thanked Hashem for guiding us in the right
direction and resolving Yanky's problem.
When our next son, Shmuely, was two-and-a-half and not
speaking as much as he should, we checked his ears
immediately. Sure enough, fluid in the ears. Now this child
was born with a very different nature than his older brother.
He is more boisterous and charismatic and enjoys being in the
limelight. Shmuely's hearing difficulty caused him tremendous
frustration. He wanted to hear the stories I was telling and
even put in his two cents, but he couldn't. His inability to
fully hear and express himself resulted in unruly behavior.
Sometimes, he would just lie on the floor and thrash his arms
and legs, not out of anger, but out of frustration.
When he came home from gan, he went on a rampage,
emptying out cabinets, pouring out toys and pulling me from
one activity to another. I realized this was his personality,
but I also hoped that improving his hearing would also
improve his behavior. And it did.
Interestingly, neither Yanky nor Shmuely had had continuous
problems with ear infections. Maybe one here and there. That
brings me to our fifth child, Tzviki. Around the time we
started dealing with Shmuel's ears, Tzviki began having ear
infections. But these were not just occasional. Just as he
finished ten days of antibiotics, his fever would escalate
and his nights were full of crying. Back onto antibiotics.
Sometimes, his ear infections resulted in a burst eardrum,
which we noticed by the pus pouring out of the ear. During
this time, doctors recommended waiting till he got older
before inserting tubes. So we did.
It was a year of almost continual infections. At this time,
Shmuely's ears began making problems again and oozing. He was
obviously not hearing and his behavior was difficult; he
seemed simply frustrated.
Trips to the hearing center indicated problems with the
tubes. One had fallen out and the other had developed a polyp
growth. Back to the ENT. A few weeks later, both Shmuely and
Tzviki had their adenoids removed and tubes inserted.
Each of these children had different reactions to their ear
problems. Yanky withdrew, Shmuely lashed out and Tzviki cried
in pain and had fevers. But they all needed minor surgery on
their ears. If we had not had the experiences with Yanky and
Shmuely, we might have waited longer before dealing with
Tzviki.
After all these `eary' experiences, I thought it might be
helpful to some readers to hear, or rather read, about them.
Different children react to problems in different ways.
Sometimes mothers find their children's behavior frustrating
(wild) or worrisome (withdrawal). When faced with these
concerns, it is always good to check into physical causes.
This may eliminate problems that we attribute to a child's
natural make-up, when it is really something that can be
helped.
[Ed. Experience has shown that ear infections and thick mucus
in nasal passages may often be due to a sensitivity to milk
products, or some allergy, a condition that antibiotics
cannot cure. In the case of recurrent ear infections and
phlegmy noses, make this simple experiment. Take the child
off milk products (or, perhaps, chocolate) for at least five
days and then introduce it again. The reaction should be
rapid, and then you'll know for sure.
For milk substitutes, consult a doctor. Vitamin supplements
may be necessary.]
