Coming Around to Ear Tubes

After Her Son's Fifth Infection, a Mom Reluctantly Agrees to Surgery

I'd been warned several times that this would be the worst part, that my 14-month-old son would have no recollection of this day, even though it would be forever burned in my memory. Still, nothing quite prepared me for holding Shep down as the anesthesiologist placed a small mask over his nose and mouth, drowning out his shrieks.

Months of frustration had persuaded my husband and me that it was time to go for "myringotomy with tube placement" -- a.k.a. ear-tube surgery.

It was my friend Perry who first suggested the surgery. "Gotta get tubes," he'd insisted, after my complaints about Shep's third double ear infection.

"Interesting," I'd responded, thinking, "No way." I pictured Shep with colossal rubber contraptions, like alien antennae, growing out of his ears.

Then Shep got his fourth and fifth double ear infections -- and, with his fever peaking at 104 and his screeching at night for hours on end, I started thinking seriously about tubes.

"They're microscopic," said Perry, whose son Jared was on his second set. But when Perry mentioned general anesthesia, I was back to "No way."

Shep had spent most of the fall and winter on antibiotics. While the infections at first seemed to respond well, Shep did not. My husband and I presided over a twice-daily torture session to get him to take the medicine, which left him with diarrhea, yeast infections and diaper rash. During the fifth bout of infection, Shep didn't seem to improve, even after several doses.

At a loss, I decided to tap into the collective wisdom of other parents, by typing "chronic ear infections" into the archives of a local parenting e-mail discussion group. Mistake!

I opened a Pandora's box of horror stories: repeat infections resulting in hearing loss; slow motor development; lack of coordination and balance; ruptured eardrums, as evidenced by "greenish-yellow pus" discharging from the child's ear.

And there was one more that troubled me: delayed speech. My older son, who never suffered from ear infections, had been considerably more verbal at the same age. Perhaps this explained why Shep still called me (and everyone else) "Daddy."

The only comfort was that the sheer volume of (sometimes desperate) postings suggested we were anything but alone. Indeed, according the American Academy of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery, ear infections are the leading cause of pediatric doctor visits.

Embedded in these stories were also glimmers of hope: rousing endorsements not just of tubes, but of alternative options: homeopathy, acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments and more, for each of which there is only anecdotal evidence.