A pink what?

Howling is heard in the living room.
Mommy: "Is that a coyote I hear?"
Zoey: "No mommy. That was a Pink Poodle Princess Scratcher."

"So, how was preschool today?"

"It was great. Everyone adored me!"

I think I mentioned this before, but the blood tests for genetic issues, autoimmune disorders, and unspeakable mutations—all of the inner ear—came back negative. But we couldn’t let the fun stop there, so last week I went in to the otologist’s office for some additional testing.

The first test involved artificial pressure changes, ear popping, drinking water while holding my nose shut, and a handheld computer which judged my ear-popping skills.

The second involved lying down on a massage table wearing a strange pair of blacked-out goggles with cameras to record my eye movement, and if I recall correctly (it was early in the morning and I wasn’t allowed coffee) some combination of sound and artificial pressure designed to try and make me feel dizzy. I didn’t feel dizzy, but my eyes did twitch a bit.

The third and longest test was also pretty weird. Picture yourself lying down. Now imagine two electrodes on your forehead (vertically placed in the middle), one on each earlobe, and one deep inside one of your ears. Now, you know that ticking sound made by a gas stove when you light it? Imagine that sound, really loud, piped directly into one of your ears. Add in some static in the other ear, so that all you can hear is loud, constant, fast ticking and static. The noise just keeps going, just as loud, except for when it stops unpredictably and restarts just as unpredictably.

There was an hour and a half scheduled for this test, but I think it went faster. I’m not sure, because the audiologist told me while sticking things to my head that some people fall asleep during the test and that she usually sees better results when that happens. Get me up early, deprive me of coffee, stick really annoying noises in my ears, have me lie down on a comfortable massage table, and tell me I can fall asleep, and as it turns out, I’ll fall asleep. But, for the record, I don’t really feel the need to go through all that again just to take a nap.

Tomorrow afternoon the fun just keeps on funning, as I head back to Pill Hill for MRI and CT scans. I think that will finish off the testing, and we’ll schedule a meeting with Dr. Huong after that to discuss what she found in my ears.

Coming soon (really!) are a movie of Keegan walking and a slideshow featuring Zoey narrating a comic book she drew.

Here are words that Keegan says at almost 1918 months old, in no particular order:

• Mommy
• Daddy (but he likes to call me Mommy)
• Grandpa (it doesn’t quite sound like that, but it’s clear what he means)
• gabay (his made-up word, like baby Zoey’s bipth)
• ball
• baby
• please
• gilk (milk)
• pie
• hi
• bye
• mine
• up
• doggie
• book
• pod (iPod)
• hat
• Oh-wee or Wee-wee (Zoey)
• apple
• ice

Signs:

• please
• thank you
• more
• milk
• water

That’s all we can think of right now.
Coming soon: Another ear update and video of Keegan walking!

Aunt Bev wrote to point out that my Grandpa Holderby had Meniere’s Disease, discovered when he was about 59, in 1967, after he woke up one morning and couldn’t hear. He wore hearing aids after that, which I also didn’t remember, but then I was pretty little when he died. Although most cases of this disease include horrible vertigo and usually only affect the hearing in one ear, this was not the case with him. We may well have found the culprit for my hearing loss. Or not. More news to follow as the investigation develops.

The other day Keegan stood up by himself for a second or two in the yard. Tonight after dinner in the living room I demonstrated pushing up from a bear walk to standing with my feet wide apart, and he immediately copied me. He then started standing up repeatedly, and then even taking a few steps each time before falling down. He took about a dozen or more steps tonight. We got only a tiny bit of it on video, since as soon as the camcorder comes out he makes a beeline for it. However, we got some good photos, which are of course on Flickr now.

Back on the 24th I went to see Dr. Huong, the otologist. I received yet another round of hearing tests, which seem to be in agreement with the other two from this year. Apparently my hearing loss is mostly nerve-related, rather than mechanical, which makes otosclerosis less likely.

Here’s the list of possible hearing loss causes so far:

• Meniere’s Disease (inner ear fluid issue)
• Otosclerosis (middle ear/inner ear bone calcification)
• Autoimmune (body attacking cells in my ears)
• DNA Preprogrammed to Endeafen Me
• Matching tumors (one in each ear)

There are a few tests in my future to help sort out what is going on. These include a blood test, an MRI, a CT scan, and some sort of ear pressurization test. I can also schedule a hearing aid test fitting, to see what fabulous style of ear fashion works the best for me. We think that insurance will cover most of these things, once my deductible is met, though it won’t pay for trying out various hearing aids.

I’ll post more follow-ups once results start coming back.

Each year Shoreline Cooperative Preschool has one big fundraiser. This combines our Halloween Carnival, a silent auction (run by Rona and me and a small crew), and a raffle. You are, of course, invited to come to the big carnival at our preschool, to play some games, eat fun food, and bid on (truly) fabulous auction items, but there’s something else you can do to help keep us in books and fieldtrips. We have raffle tickets to move to deserving people like you! Priced at a very reasonable $1 each, these tickets open up worlds of prize-earning potential for a lucky someone who just might be you!

At time of purchase you can choose between a Child Prize or an Adult Prize. The Child Prize includes the winner’s choice of two of the following:

1. Seattle Pacific Science Center Family Membership
2. Seattle Children’s Museum Family Membership
3. Woodland Park Zoo Family Membership
4. Seattle Aquarium Family Membership
5. Northwest Puppet Theater gift certificate
6. Everett Imagine Children’s Museum Family Membership

The Adult Prize (which you should probably go for—it’s okay, you deserve it) is a two night stay at the Pan Pacific Hotel in downtown Seattle.

Just let us know how many tickets you want, and for each one whether you want to vie for the Child Prize or the Adult Prize.

Thanks, on behalf of Zoey and all her preschool friends!

My hearing has been a little problematic for years, but I didn’t really have it checked until 2005. I recently had it checked again at Costco, since it’s free there, and the results weren’t encouraging. Dr. Tracy asked me to get a second test done at an "official" hearing lab, and the results were the same. In the past three years my low to mid range hearing has worsened by about 20 to 30 decibels, meaning sounds in that frequency range (that of adult human speech) sound 20 to 30 decibels quieter to me than they actually are.

According to "Doc Rock," my Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor, the pattern of my hearing loss is not consistent with nerve damage caused by noise exposure, but does closely match that from a condition called otosclerosis. If I do have that, my hearing will most likely just continue to deteriorate. Treatment options include surgery to replace a bone in the inner ear (usually the stapes) with a prosthetic one, or hearing aids. The surgery, called a stapedectomy, usually improves hearing, but actually has a small chance of causing complete deafness in the affected ear (they usually do one ear at a time). It is also not necessarily a permanent fix, and so the patient often ends up wearing hearing aids later on. As for starting with hearing aids, this might be the only option if the hearing loss isn’t severe enough.

Doc Rock is having me get a second opinion from an otologist (ear specialist). I see her on Wednesday, and I’ll report back here with what she says.

We all went to the Puyallup Fair yesterday with the Hesses. It was a grand time! I haven’t been there in years! Keegan was amazed and didn’t take a nap for the longest time, until he just plain conked out around 2pm (he had been up at 8). Zoey went on rides for the very first time! She went on the helicopter ride:

The car (I remember it as the tea cup) ride:

And the roller coaster (third car back on the right)!:

Much fun was had! We also saw the animals. Keegan was looking at cows here:

It was a good time!