Anyone have a child with ear tubes?

[winelover23]

Hi there, my almost 4 year old daughter has struggled with ear infection after ear infection for the past year so we''re onto our second ENT referral and her pediatrician is highly recommending tubes. Just wondering if anyone elses kids have or had them and what your experience was. Also curious about the surgery itself and how your child faired. The anesthesia part is what freaks me out the most.

 

[Kaleigh]

I feel fpr you and your DD. My son had many ear infections, we got the tubes when he was 2. They were a god send. After that, no more ear infections. The surgery is pretty simple, but still surgery, so check out the doc carefully. Good luck!!

 

[Girlrocks]

My 5 year old daughter got them right before she turned 2.

She had 9 ear infections in 5 months. She was starting to have hearing loss. After the tubes, she has had only 1 ear infection and that was about 6 months after the tubes were put in, some ear wax was lodged over the tube, they cleaned it out and she hasn''t had any problems with her ears since, not even in the 14 months since the tubes came out.

The surgery: Anesthesia was the WORST part. I carried her in, layed her down on the table. They placed the mask over her mouth and nose, she was SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER, I was trying hard not to inhale the gas myself, and then within a few seconds, her eyes rolled back in her head, her arms flopped to the sides and she looked dead (ok, maybe that''s an exageration, but it really freaked me out to see her like that!). Then I left. She was only under the gas for maybe 10 minutes, the anesthesiologists sits right with her the whole time. She didn''t have a breathing tube or anything, not even an IV, just gas.

Recovery: She was a bear when she came out of the anesthesia. Flailing, moaning, writhing all around, I almost dropped her. She was completely out of it for about 2 hours. She had a bloody tinged discharged out of her ears for the rest of the day. Slept the whole way home in the car and for about 1 1/2 hours once she got home. Then she was sort of laying around the rest of the day, sort of like she is when she has a cold.

Her tubes did not fall out on their own, so last summer when she was 4 we had to have them surgically removed. This time it was MUCH, MUCH, easier. Taking them out takes a little longer than putting them in since they have to patch the hole, but it probably didn''t take more than 15 minutes. She still freaked out a little bit when they were giving her the gas, but I just kept telling her she would be ok and maybe because she was 4 years instead of 20 months old, she stayed calmer. Plus the gas smells like bubble gum which she thought was really cool. I still didn''t like the part when she went under though. At least I knew what to expect.

By the time they called me back into the recovery room, she was sitting on the nurses lap eating a popsicle asking me if we could go to Taco Bell! Didn''t even faze her one bit the second time around. Went by Taco Bell and she was swinging on our playset an hour later.

Good luck!

 

[anchor31]

My sister had them when we were 5 or 6 years old. They eventually fell out, but she stopped having ear infections every month, so it helped.

 

[winelover23]

Thanks so much for responding!

Girlrocks - I wanted all the details so THANK YOU! I feel much better already.

We go to the audiologist and ENT tomorrow afternoon so I should know when etc....

Gosh being a parent is hard sometimes!

 

[Efe]

I wonder if this might help:

http://www.eardoc.info/

 

[redfaerythinker]

I had tubes when I was little for chronic ear infections. I was fine with the anesthesia. I went to a children''s hospital and they asked me what I wanted it to smell like. They used smelly chapstick as examples and all I remember about the surgery is being miffed that the gas didn''t smell like cherries. lol The tubes cured my ear infections but one of them never fell out and had to be removed. This was over fifteen years ago so I don''t know if it''s different now. But they just took me into the back room of the office and yanked it out. That was horrible for me as I was quite young, maybe three or so. The hole never healed on its own and I had to have surgery to fix it. But this procedure is done through the ear canal normally and is very simple. Mine was not so much because I had to have reconstructive surgery at the same time to fix other structural problems in my ear. But i''m far from the norm.

 

[drk]

The anesthesia is about as little of a deal as an anesthetic can be. I do lots of them, and you give the kid the mask to breathe the gas through. They pass out, you keep holding the mask while they breathe on their own while the surgeon does his/her thing for 4-5min. No IV, the stuff wears off fast at the end. And the kid usually gets a tylenol suppository while they''re asleep to help with pain control afterwards.
The 1-2.5 year olds are worst for screaming as they go off, just cause they don''t like to be held down or the mask or the smell of the stuff. Some hospitals will give an anxious-seeming kid a sedative by mouth before they go in, others let one parent come into the OR, others don''t let the parents come along at all. My hospital has a child life specialist who gives Mom or Dad and the kid a tour to the recovery room while they''re waiting, talks to them about how things will go down, and comes into the room with the parent to help them support the child. A nice calm parent who doesn''t freak out if the kid cries or struggles is helpful, but if you''re going to be anxious and the child senses it, it can make them feel worse.
A child who''s almost 4, who''s had the process explained to them, can be totally awesome. I do mask inductions for all young kids for ear tubes, tonsils, dental work, and a lot are quite amazing. Some don''t shed a tear or struggle at all, just listen to you telling them the stinky stuff in the mask is going to make them feel funny. If they cry, they pass out faster because they''re breathing more of the gas in (assuming the anesthesiologist can keep the mask held on there). If they flail around a little as they go under, at a certain point it''s just an unconscious excitement reaction to the anesthetic vapours. They''re not conscious at that point.
So if your kid''s healthy, I totally wouldn''t worry about the anesthetic at all. Super low risk, and really not that exciting. (At least not to the anesthesiologist!) If the docs say the surgery is what''s best for your child, I wouldn''t hesitate to go ahead and do it.

 

[winelover23]

drk - wow thank you very much for your input!

 

[phoenixgirl]

My sister''s two year old just had them put in. The sad thing is that she discovered that his ears were so clogged that he had reduced hearing and she had no idea. But he instantly could hear better (which is making his speech more understandable too) and so far so good with the ear infections.

 

[winelover23]

Hey all just a quick update after Friday''s Audiology and ENT apts...Her hearing is perfect so that was great news but the ENT (who I LOVED) said 9 infections this year is way too many. She is scheduled for tubes on 12/28 and said she could potentially need her adenoids out down the road. Thanks again everyone for sharing their experiences!