Conference moira::parenting_v3

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    Has Amanda been tested for allergys yet?  Alex (who was a year then)
    went in to have his tubes put in and adnoids taken out.  He got an ear
    infection 4 days later!!! I was so upset.  Come to find out,he is
    highly allergic to milk products since birth!  All I can suggest (IMHO)
    is that you have the pedi run some blood tests on Amanda to see if and
    what she is allergic to.  Make a list of all the things she eats/drinks
    during the week.  That should help you and the pedi decide on what you
    should test for in the allergy tests.
    
    Good luck to you and Amanda, its rough on everyone with you have a sick
    child.

    A friend of mine has a 2 year old daughter.  She had her tubes replaced
    and her adenoids removed at the same time about 2 months ago.  Before
    the surgery, she only had 30% hearing in her ears.  Now she is fine and
    back up to 100% hearing.
    
    By the way, I'm not a Dr. but I was wondering if your Doctor every
    suggested keeping your daughter on a prophylactic dosage of
    antibiotics to prevent the infections from recurring.  Or maybe the
    length of time that she's on an antibiotic doesn't work.  I say this
    for two reasons:  one is that my nephew had to be on a prophylactic
    amoxycillin for about a year to keep from getting repeat infections and
    to totally wipe out the one that was there.  And two because I had a
    situation with sinus infections for year.  Now granted, I'm an adult,
    but what happened is that the typical length of time for being on an
    antibiotic is about 10 days and this was never enough to wipe out my
    infection.  I got so fed up that I had the Drs. culture the infection
    (which they should have done to start with) to see if the antibiotic I
    was on was effective for that particular bacteria, and it turned out
    that it was not the MOST effective antibiotic I could have had.  So
    they switched my medication and kept me on it for about 2 months.  I
    haven't had a sinus infection since.
    
    Good luck.  Maybe a second opinion from another pediatric ENT
    specialist will put your mind at ease.
    
    Nancy

    Thanks for the segestions.

    Amanda is supposed to see another specialist that is going to take the
    blood tests but can't do this untill the 14th of Feb.  Her ear doctor
    is trying to move this up but feels we should go ahead with the sergery
    anyway.

    We have tried the constant antibiotics but she has gotten infections
    while on medication and even had her ear drum rupture (before the
    tubes) while on antibiotics.  She has also tried all kinds of
    antibiotics I coulden't spell them all but at least 6 different kinds.

                                                            Mary

    

    
    I second the idea of looking into allergies, though that did not help
    me with my children.  Both my older boys have had similar experiences to
    your daughter.  My oldest (now nearly 5) had tubes at 9 months, con-
    tinued to break through prophylaxis medications until they took his 
    adenoids out and replaced his tubes (3rd set) at age 3.  From then on 
    he has NEVER gotten another infection and his tubes have subsequently
    migrated out of his ears!  What we don't know is whether he just outgrew 
    the infections, i.e. if his eustachian tubes straightened out as he got 
    older, or if the surgery really did it.  
    
    My younger son, now age 28 mos. is on his 2nd set of tubes.  His 1st were 
    at 6 mos. too!  He seems to have done well with these though and has not 
    needed the adenoid surgery.
    
    All I can say is I sympathize with you and hope you find an answer
    soon, or at least a method of treatment that is workable!  
    
    
    Dorothy

    Since I have read these notes I think I should put off the surgy untill
    Amanda sees the Immunoligst.  Her ear doctor is suposed to call me this
    afternoon to let me know if she can get in sooner.  But since her
    surgery is scheduled for feb. 5th I don't know if she can get an
    appointment and get the results back before then.
    They don't want her to get another infection because last time was real
    bad with not being able to take antibiotics and the fevor lasting about
    6 days.
    She was so pathetic looking walking around with her blanki. (she has
    been walking real good for about a month.) With the balance being
    off because of the ears she kept falling down and would insist on
    trying to walk holding on to her blanki.
    I don't want to see her that sick agin but maybe Were jumping too quick
    on the surgery?
    She had a hearing test today and they said it looked ok.  At least this
    is good news.

    My son had bad ear infections when he was little (about 10 years ago)
    his ear drums ruptured three times.  He kept getting different
    medications untill he was a year old then I took him to a specialest
    and they gave him something( I wish I could remember what it was) and
    he never had another problem, no tubes.  So maybe 1 year is the magic
    number in my family?

                                  Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone, 
                                                                    Mary

    Mary, have been behind lately reading notes, you last one mentioned
    Feb 5 as your "decision date", on surgery or not.  Did you go through
    with it?
    
    FWIW, my nephew will be 4 in 3 weeks, he is on his third set of tubes,
    starting at 8 months, and will probably have a 4th set inserted quite
    soon, along with having his adenoids removed.  His infections sound
    almost as bad as your daughter's, with the junk draining from the ear.
    For both yours sake and my nephew's I hope removal of the adenoids is
    the answer.  I recall reading something recently, seems to me it might
    have been Parents' magazine, that removal of adenoids is the latest
    answer to ear infections.
    
    In our case, we "bought" a year by keeping AJ on low dose Bactrim or
    Ceclor to prevent ear infections.  We would do the theraputic 10 days
    dose of one anitibiotic and low-dose for 30 more days on that one, then
    we would change to the other and low-dose for another 30 days.  The
    doctor said this is a good way to do it so he didn't develop a
    resistance.  He finally got a real nasty ear infection, he really was
    hurting with this one and high fever, and tests showed a hearing loss. 
    That's when we gave in (up?) and had his tubes put in.  He's been
    pretty much all right since then, minor "red-ear" a few times but no
    real ear infections since.  They were put in November '89, we'll see
    the ear doctor next week to decide whether to leave them in place or
    whatever comes next.
    
    Good luck!
    Lyn

    What's the story with hearing tests?  My son I fear has some hearing
    problems, but at 18 moths, I can not concieve of how a hearing test
    could be done!  What is the procedure?  Is it something I could hellp
    him prepare for?
    
    Adrienne
    

    I just had my daughter's hearing tested, and my son's will be tested as
    soon as he gets home from the hospital. That's standard for premature
    babies, and they were born at 28 weeks.  What they do with infants is
    they have them sleep and measure their brainwave responses to different
    sounds that they make in the baby's ears.  They can tell from that if
    there is a hearing loss.  We have to go again when the babies are 1
    year old.  I understand that at that test, they have the child sit in
    Mom or Dad's lap.  As sounds are made, they watch for a response for
    the child, and have a clown or something light up as a reward for
    responding to the sound (that's how the folks at Children's explained
    it to me).  
    
    You can always call the place where the test is going to be done (if
    you're in the Boston area, they do it at Children's Hospital) and ask
    them how it works.
    
    Cathy

    	RE: .8
    
    	The procedures for doing the tests are as you describe.  With the
    older children (toddlers ) we are put in a soundproof room, I sit 
    in a chair with Shayne on my lap and then the audiologist (sp?)
    produces various sounds at various levels from all different
    directions, and then they check the child's response to that noise,
    such as did the child look in the right direction or perk up at the
    sound.  The hardest part is trying NOT to coax the child as to
    where the noise is coming from, you as a parent have to sit perfectly
    still.  We have are next test next week and I am going to see if we can
    just let Shayne in the room by himself this time.  

    We've been going down the ear-tubes road with Michael, who just turned
    two.  This last ear infection was a douzy -- it started while he was on
    the antibiotic prophylactic, and we've been through four antibiotics
    since last Tuesday.  It got so bad that he couldn't sleep at all
    without Tylenol w/ codine, and Sunday night even that didn't do the
    job.  This morning he seemed to feel a little better, and we're
    assuming it's because this 4th antibiotic might have kicked in and
    helped a little.
    
    We saw a very reputable ENT in Dallas this afternoon, and have
    scheduled tube surgery for Wednesday morning.  He explained to us that
    a routine part of his tube surgery is checking the adenoids and, if
    it appears they need to be removed, cauterizing them while the child is
    anesthecized (sp?) (the cauterization causes them to wither and go
    away).  If the adenoids seem to be OK, then he leaves them alone.  He
    said it's very hard to examine them until the child is asleep because of
    where they are located.
    
    We got two sheets of post-operative information, one for the tubes and
    one for the adenoids.  The adenoidectomy appears to have far more
    uncomfortable after-effects than the tubes (like a sore, stiff neck for
    10 days that requires pain medication).  We were completely prepared
    for the tubes, but were taken by surprise by this adenoid stuff.  Pat
    and I both had ours removed as part of a tonsillectomy, and thought
    it was pretty routine to do it at that time.
    
    Questions:
    
    Is it normal procedure to remove adenoids at the same time tubes are
    installed?
    
    What are adenoids and what do they do?
    
    Where are they located?
    
    What will he be looking for to determine whether they need to be
    removed?
    
    Steve, a worried Dad

<    Is it normal procedure to remove adenoids at the same time tubes are
<    installed?

My son had tubes put in 2-3 years ago, but the doctor never mentioned the
adenoids. 
    
      Carol

    My nephew (just 2 1/2 today) just had his 2nd set of tubes put in last
    week.  This time, the Dr removed the adenoids as well.  The Dr's
    reason.... I don't know.
    
    My guess, purely a guess here.  The adenoids are just lymph tissue
    growths in the nose above the throat.  Could it be that if they are
    larger than average that they may block the drainage of the fluid that
    builds in the kids ears????  I know my nephews ENT when he had his
    first tubes put in 18 mo ago said he never saw so much fluid in a kids
    ears.  This is what seems to always plague Timmy.  So that's just my
    guess as to why they may remove them.       ?????????? 
    
    Donna

    These words send my blood pressure soaring, literally and figuratively!
    
    AJ had his tubes removed Mid December, after having them in for a
    little over 2 years.  They were only partially working, and the ENT
    specialist had concerns about two things, scaring in the eustacian
    tube, as well as the amount of fluid aparently trapped behind the
    semifunctional tubes.
    
    At his three week postop checkup he had a large amount of fluid in his
    ears, it looked infected and his audiogram and ear test showed about an
    85% hearing loss, a week later the same two tests and more fluid and he
    now is hearing less than 10% (a 90%+ hearing loss).  His specialist was
    insistant that the tubes be replaced "immediately" and at the same time
    he said he wanted to remove the adenoids because they were "dripping"
    down into the throat and were bound to cause a serious infection.  He
    also suggested the tonsils should come out at the same time to prevent
    any further strep throats, and to generally improve his quality of
    life.  
    
    We discussed the fact that even with the tubes, over the last two
    years, almost every month has been either a strep throat, an ear
    infection (or both ears), or a combination of throat and ears together. 
    At this point the ENT doctor said that this is justification for doing
    both tonsils and andenoids when he replaces the tubes.  My feeling is
    that even with the insurance company paying most of the antibiotics,
    I'm *tired* of supporting my local drug store.  Many of these infection
    take two and three different kinds to knock down the infections, not to
    mention all the fun side effects like the diaheria. And of course let's
    not forget that he ends up giving it to either one of us in the house
    or one of his playmates at school. (which is probably where it started
    in the first place anyway)
    
    Now why does this make my blood boil? Well that's another story,  we
    changed from John Hancock to an HMO as of the first of the year.  The
    HMO isn't allowing us to continue using the ENT specialist, the Hancock
    plan won't pay for it as a "post op complication", which was one
    approach I tried, so now I'm looking for an ENT specialist, and then
    I'll end up waiting for a surgery date.  All of this should have been
    done by now, if it wern't for the completely inflexible burocracy of 
    the HMO.  
    
    Anyone out there know of a good ENT in the Worcester area that takes
    our HMO's?  My pedi refuses to refer me to anyone in the Framingham
    area, which is really where I want tohave it done.  So I either take my
    chances in Worcester (at the Med center of Central MA-Hanneman) or
    change my pedi along with the ear doctor to someone who can refer to a
    Framingham doctor, right now!
    
    (frustrated and angry!)
    Lyn

    As a baby my brother frequently had ear infections and usually
    had a massive amount of buildup in them. I remember well how many
    times my mother had to rinse out his ears after softening the wax
    with drops, using what looked like a baster for roasts.
    
    He also had a high number of throat infections and colds - the 
    doctors felt that the adenoids were the problem.
    
    After they were removed when he was six, he had MUCH less of a 
    sinus problem, despite the fact that these frequent problems were
    later diagnosed as allergies.
    
    Only as a 25 year old did he finally have to have his tonsils out
    after repeated infections. 
    
    Monica

    
    My experience with tubes, adenoids and tonsils is pretty extensive.  
    Between my 3 children they've had 6 sets of tubes, two adenoidectomies
    (done in conjunction with inserting a set of tubes) and one tonsillec-
    tomy.  The adenoidectomies became necessary because even with tubes the
    eustachian tubes continued to be blocked by the adenoids at the base
    of the nose (above the roof of the mouth).  An adenoidectomy is a "blind" 
    surgery, they can't see up there very well, use a tiny mirror and reach 
    with curettes to get the tissue.  One of my children has had no ear
    problems since his adenoidectomy but my oldest continued to have problems 
    after his adenoidectomy and so we had his tonsils removed this past 
    November because they were continually infected and he was giving the 
    others strep.  Since the tonsillectomy he has been the picture of
    health this season, even with all the flus going around.  We also
    realized that his tonsils were so enlarged that they were blocking his
    throat and his speech was impaired as well as his appetite.  Since
    surgery his speech has improved (albeit his voice is a little higher)
    and his appetite has tripled!  I guess swallowing was a real chore, he
    just never complained!
    
    Lyn, if your HMO will allow you to go to Mass Eye and Ear I know of
    a terrific team of pediatric ENT physicians there.
    
    -dorothy    
    

    Oh Dorothy, Thanks....I think!  He eats me out of house and home now,
    as it is, can't wait to get this kid healthy again!
    
    Keep the moral support coming, I really need it a lot!
    
    Lyn

    I get so fired up to remove them, too, what with Nathan's still
    constant infections and now painful drainage!  But what holds me back
    is I don't know why they are in there to begin with!?
    
    What are tonsils for?  I had mine out at 5, and haen't noticed a
    difference...would I have?
    
    What are adenoids for?  Another infection catcher?  
    
    Besides the obvious worries that coincide with surgery, are there
    problems associated to being without these born-in body appendages?
    
    Nathan's problem is probably these things or a lactose/milk
    intolerance.  We are exploring all options...
    
    Adrienne