I found out last night that my son has moderate hearing loss. He can hear high tones pretty well, but has what they call “moderate” difficulty with mid to low tones. How this has hit me is that he has probably never heard my voice. I am certain that he has not heard me hum and sing to him. All he knows of me is how I smell.

As far as options go, there’s a ton of them. I don’t know all of them now because the ENT doctor wants to talk to us about them in addition to going over the results in more detail. Our pediatrician has suggested a specialist in Iowa only because the preliminary options seem to wait longer than is necessary.

Let me put it this way. One option is to wait until he is 7.

Specifically, his nerves are good and the inner ear seems to be pretty good. That means the hearing issue is more related to the shape of his ear and ear canals. As I said earlier, the canals are shaped like corkscrews. Surgery on the canals needs to wait. Unlike the surgery on his nose, he has to reach a certain stage of development first. However, we can also get traditional amplifying hearing aids until that point.

I have to admit that this was very hard for me to hear. I felt bad that I wasn’t with my wife when she heard the news. I also felt bad that I need to wait for options. I spent some time Friday night being pretty angry at God and asking him if I could get out of the “character building phase” of my Christian life now.

My wife reminded me of what is true and my outlook has completely changed. For one, Jasper is healthy. For another, he is wonderful regardless of whatever grief or loss we may feel – all he knows is that his mom and dad love him. She also reminded me that we have found out early, and that provides more options than friends that found out at much later times. She also pointed out that we have more help from hospitals, the school systems, and Human Serivces of the State of Nebraska than we can track. There are multiple advocates for the best for Jasper and we are not alone. Lastly, she pointed out that we have real friends and are surrounded by real family through relatives and our church home. Many have made us meals, called, offered encouragement, and really been there for us.

As always, she has reminded me that we are not poor, but rich in the things that matter. That has made all the difference.