Tubes in Ears

[Anonymous]

I have a 13-month-old son, who has had one ear infection, which was seven months ago. Since then several tympanogram tests (which shows the amount of eardrum movement) have been lower to flat. My pediatrician gave me a referral for an audiologist and an ENT. I took my son yesterday and the audiologist said he is hearing slightly below average and the ENT recommended my son get tubes in his ears. I have heard from many friends that it is a very common procedure and is not a big deal for the child. However, I am still very concerned about it because he is so young. I was wondering if anyone has experience with tubes, and if you have recommendations for ENTs. I would like to go for a second opinion. Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks...

[cmsmeade]

Love love LOVE the practice we are going to.

My DS is also 13 mos old. Had 5 ear infections in 8 months and always seemed to have fluid in them even if they weren't infected.

Went to the practice our Ped rec'd and it seems to be like the only one out there that has specialist ENTs on staff that only do Pediatrics -- Otolaryngology Associates ( http://www.otolaryngology-assoc.com/). We saw Dr. Bahadori who is just amazing (Dr. McBride I've heard good things about). The whole staff for his initial consulation was fabulous.

We just had the tubes done Friday at the Fairfax Surgerical Center. It was such a non-event. Seriously --we got there at 710, surgery scheduled for 840am. They took him in a bit early at 830. I got to go into the operating room with him until he was put under. I left, disrobed from the operating room scrubs, walked back to my DH, was telling him about the waiting room/playroom where my DS and I hung out with other parents waiting with their kids, told him about walking into the operating room and literally before I was finished telling him about what he missed, the Dr was there telling us it was over! We saw my DS a bit later in the recovery room and made it home to Reston by 915!

My son was a bit cranky at first (and he did cry a TON in the recovery room) but when we got home, he ate a nice breakfast, slept a little and was running around by that afternoon as happy as ever (and, might I say, walking better, steadier, and faster than the day before).

Anyway - would DEFINITELY rec this practice for your second opinion (read the docs bios online -- again, one of the few practices out there that has docs who specialize in peds) and if you do have to go the route of tubes, I have to tell you, our expereince was fabulous.

Best of luck to you!!

[Anonymous]

My son was 3 1/2 and had had just one ear infection but had fluid that remained. He was clearly hard of hearing- saying "what" all the time, needing the tv or radio so loud that we literally could not be in the room with it). Our ped sent us to the Feldman ENT group. They confirmed his tympanogram was essentially flat, and that he was not hearing well. They recommended tubes. I was very resistant and so they suggested we wait a month to see what happens. Of course a month later nothing had changed. I asked if they had ever had a patient have good results after having craniosacral work done. They said no. I asked if I could rephrase it and asked if they knew of any of their pts getting craniosacral work done at all. He smiled and said that no one had ever told him if they had. We decided that we had nothing to lose, and took him to see Nishanka at The Teal Center (http://www.tealcenter.com/practitioners.shtml#NISHANKA) 703-522-7637 for craniosacral treatment.
The first session he started putting his fingers in his ears and wiggling them (like when you have water in your ears after swimming) and sniffling, the 2nd treatment his eyes were watering and nose running, the 3rd treatment he said he could hear better, after the 4th session he fell asleep during the treatment and slept for a couple hours. His hearing was better, the fluid resolved, and no tubes. He has even gotten 2 infections after that which did not end up with fluid remaining.
i cannot speak highly enough about Nishanka and about craniosacral in general. I would so strongly encourage everyone to try this no invasive option before the tubes. It took 4 sessions at the out of pocket cost of about $450-- best money we spent last year!
Michelle

[Anonymous]

PP here- the cost was much less than what I wrote-- I think the 1st appt was 130, and other appts were 75 so totalling less than 350.

[Anonymous]

my daughter is 11 months and has had at least 8 ear infections - awful. we have been waiting till she turns one, but have been told the tubes will likely be our only option. we have an appt with Epstein (in Rockville) in January. any comments (good and concerning) with him or his practice?

[Anonymous]

My son had eartubes placed at age 3 years 11 months. They fell out about a year later, but he was doing well enough that he didn't have to have them replaced.

Prior to surgery, his hearing in terms of volume was better than normal - you can do better testing at his age than at the age of OP's baby. But, due to fluid in his ears, what he heard was garbled and this had a definite effect on his ability to learn to pronounce words - since he couldn't hear the sounds, he couldn't imitate them. The change in his speech is amazing since the surgery. Also, probably coincidental, he has gotten far fewer colds since having the ear tubes.

As the PPs have said, the surgery was really no big deal. It took less than 45 minutes to both place the ear tubes and to remove the adenoids. I was able to stay with my son while he went to sleep and they brought me to him right after he awoke. Since my son's hearing was better than normal prior to the ear tube placement, he had superhuman hearing after it. He would tell us what was happening in our neighbors' houses. I had to keep earplugs handy because certain sounds, like the church organ or a tile saw, were exceedingly painful for him.

One thing that my ENT told us that some other parents using different practices hadn't been told is that with respect to keeping water out of the ears is this. It is advisable to keep the ears dry and use ear plugs everytime your child is around water. But, it is majorly unlikely that a simple bath is going to hurt if you forget the earplugs because water doesn't enter the ear canal until there is a certain level of water pressure which doesn't happen in baths. This information saved me tons of after hours calls to the ENT and spared me lots of mommy guilt.

BTW, FWIW, I used Lindsay Golden, MD and loved him. He has a very kid friendly personality and is good with nervous moms as well. I did not love his practice partner though.