ear tubes in a 4.5 yr old?

[Anonymous]

12:56 here -- I understand your concern about general anesthesia. I have a family member who had a bad reaction to the general anesthesia.

Confirm with the ENT that they are using general anesthesia, some ENTs use twilight sleep. Maybe you can find a different ENT who uses twilight sleep for the surgery.

I do recommend the tubes. Especially if your DS is having significant hearing problems.

[Anonymous]

I barf every time I get anesthesia - and then I get over it .. so much better than not hearing properly.

[Anonymous]

I remember so many scary trips to the ER between ages 2.5 and 5 because I would ear infections when we flew on vacation, played in the ocean, swam more than normal, etc.

I also remember getting my tubes in just before Kindergarten and not having to go to the ER again in a strange town in the middle of the night because I couldn't stop crying long enough to sleep. I seriously hated Christmas for many years because it meant flying to Florida to visit grandparents and the inevitable hospital visit.

Getting tubes in meant popsicles and special treatment for a day or two and was otherwise a non-event.

Get the tubes ASAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Surgery and general anesthesia is serious business! I'm the OP and as a child I had an adverse event to anesthesia (I woke during an emergency abdominal surgery). not good...

OP, I also had an adverse event during anesthesia but I still got the tubes for my DC. It's important for him to hear properly. It really is a very routine procedure.

[Anonymous]

There is a world of difference between the anesthesia risks for an abdominal procedure and being put under for literally five minutes for ear tubes. Both my older kids had tubes and the whole thing took less than 10 minutes. I got to watch DD get induced and it was so stress free and painless. She didn't even have to get an IV.

[Anonymous]

My younger DD is about to go to K and has tubes. I would do it to see if it improves hearing. Strictly speaking, if your hearing is within normal range in one ear, that's sufficient, but still... The surgery is really straightforward as surgery goes. Anesthesia is administered by mask. I walked DD the OR, gave her a hug as they put on the mask. Seventeen minutes later she was sitting up in recovery asking the nurse for an iPad. We were home by lunchtime and she was on the playground that afternoon. We did drops for about 5 days post op and did a hearing retest after a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:preschool all day. Pediatrician said the only way to prevent them is to not send him to preschool. That's not going to happen.

However, both of my little brothers had tubes in the preschool years and both did not go to preschool since my mom SAH. So maybe it's genetic with my boy.

My kid had constant infections when I was a sahm. No preschool isn't going to necessarily fix things anyway.

Tubes are awesome. Hearing loss is a big deal, the surgery is simple and fast and almost assuredly covered by insurance. My 7 yr old is on his second set. His two year old sister has them too, and went from virtually not speaking to talking on level within weeks of the surgery.

Pro tubes all the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Surgery and general anesthesia is serious business! I'm the OP and as a child I had an adverse event to anesthesia (I woke during an emergency abdominal surgery). not good...

and your child's hearing is not? I guess I don't understand. If your child already can only hear at high decibels and is having what you describe to be big troubles hearing in general, why wouldn't you do this? Our kid was at 60 decibels and we didn't think twice. Of course I never had an adverse "event" to anesthesia. It's all playing the odds I guess. Nonetheless, given the impact on your kid's life, I still don't see why you wouldn't do it. How is life for him if he can't hear his friends well?

[Anonymous]

When my DS got his ear tubes he was sedated, not general anesthesia. Sedation is pretty low risk. We used Feldman ENT group (Dr. Dettelbach).

[Anonymous]

And way better than the constant dose of antibiotics. The ear drops given after the tubes is great.

[Anonymous]

My mother is deaf in one ear because of ear infections that weren't properly taken care of. When she had kids, she was always vigilant about making sure we could hear properly, because of her experiences with life as a person who is hard of hearing.

[Anonymous]

This was me 6 months ago (except my son was only 3.5 yo). I was really leaning toward waiting but then DS got a bad EI and his eardrum ruptured. Got a second open and went forward with PE tubes and adenoid removal. It has made such a difference - not just better hearing but better sleep, better balance and even better eating. I am very glad we went forward with it and are now working with an SLP/OT team to help address some sensory issues that developed do to the impaired hearing/stuffy head.

I'm so glad to be doing this now instead if elementary school.

And for those wondering some kids are just more prone to fluid getting stuck in their middle ear which inturn leads to more ear infections - it generally is related to the eustacian tubes not draining efficiently and often runs in families. My dad remembers have awful ear infections as a kid and my sister did too and neither went to daycare/preschool.