When Everett started speech therapy last year, he had to go and have his hearing tested. We went three different times, and each time the technician informed me that he had an ear infection and that they would do the test but it might not be very accurate. He tested a little low but they said it was due to the infection and that his hearing was probably fine.
The funny thing is, Everett had not been acting sick any of those times. He was happy and energetic and I was completely blind-sided by the news. It made me wonder how many ear infections he has had.
After we got back home a few days ago, I took Everett into our pediatrician to get his ears checked. The poor guy has been battling an ear infection off and on for a couple of weeks. Every time I thought he was over it, he would complain of it hurting again. "I can't sleep because my ear is making noise, Mommy!" Everett told me one night.
But then the next morning he said his ears felt fine and he seemed to be back to normal.
The pediatrician confirmed the infection. When I explained his history to her, she told me that he qualifies to see a specialist. I told her I would love for him to see a specialist. If he constantly has fluid in his ears, he can't hear very well and that could become permanent. Most of you are probably familiar with this. Needless to say, I was hoping from the beginning that I could get her to refer us to a specialist.
She also wrote up a prescription for an antibiotic--something she said she doesn't normally do. I won't really get into how I feel about using antibiotics for something like an ear infection (studies show it doesn't reduce the pain, which is what the kids really need), but I will say that I was reluctant to give them to him. I'm definitely not against antibiotics, which are life-saving, I am just a little wary of using them for a minor infection. As it has been explained to me by our doctor, almost all kids clear ear infections on their own within a few days which might be why antibiotics are so popular; after a few days on the schedule, the child gets better and the parent thinks it is was the medicine that did it. Because Everett told me when he felt better, I always thought he was one of those kids. He has actually never taken antibiotics before this week. We've only ever used those ear-numbing drops, which work very well. He is a few days into the medication schedule and seems to be doing great.
The appointment with the ENT specialist is on Wednesday and while I hope Everett doesn't need tubes, I suspect he does. I am happy to have them done if it means he can be done with all these nasty infections.
So, even though you haven't asked for it, you'll probably hear more about Everett's ears next week. Don't get too excited!
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4 comments:
I was the same with Ander. He never got any fevers, and if he complained of pain it would go away the next day, so I was reluctant to take him into the doctor. Turns out he was battling ear infections most of the time. The problem with NOT using Antibiotics, is now Anders eardrums have a ton of scar tissue, which can affect his hearing. I see that now, looking back. So please be careful.
Elise - Andrew has tubes, and I have been SO pleased. When he was little EVERY single sniffle turned into ear infections. After having 7 ear infections in 6 months - he was on his way to having tubes put in. They are great, yeah its a bother putting earplugs in for bath time, but it's well worth it. All the fluid totally affected Andrew's hearing/speech development. We're in speech therapy know to correct it! Oh, these boys!
P.S. if you have any q's about tubes, feel free to email me.
My kids are pros at ear infections. Tanner and Sydnee had them constantly as babies. We always knew when Tanner had them, he has a low pain tolerance. But we never knew Sydnee had one until it became an eye infection as well. We finally took Tanner to see an ENT but he told us since it was summer time and he was two we should hold off because they usually stop around that age. He didn't have another one for years. Landen had tubes put in in October. He did have another infection a month later but hasn't had another since then and has been sick twice. It is easy to tell once the tubes are put in if there is an infection. You just see fluid draining out of their ears. My ENT agrees about doing drops instead of liquid. Just because of the diariah aspect. But my kids are usually sick with something else so we had to do liquid antibiotics. Olive oil also works to numb the pain.
I think he will need tubes and maybe as reluctant as you might be to approve the suggestion, the primary reason they do it (as mentioned above) is to protect his hearing (which will directly correlate with his speech). Hope the appointment goes well!
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