Ever heard of a tympanostomy tube? Don’t feel bad; I didn’t know what it was until today either. It’s the technical term for ear tubes, which we just found out Jacob needs after months of running back and forth to the clinic and several courses of antibiotics.
With Jacob and Nate (not to mention his dad and brother as well) finally getting over last week’s nasty case of stomach flu, this means I’ll have to burn a few more sick days. Jacob is an unusually happy baby, which makes it hard to know when he’s sick. He’s had five ear infections, but the only way we’ve known is because it drains or the doctor finds them at his check-ups. At his nine month visit a few weeks ago we found out he had yet another infection. When his doctor referred him to an ear, nose and throat specialist, I had a feeling the tubes were coming.
After an audiologist’s test determined his ears were still full of fluid even through he just finished another round of antibiotics, the specialist suggested ear tubes. He said Jacob had chronic otitis media, or middle ear infection. The only things I’d heard about ear tubes before made me a little leery of the whole process. Tubes in his cute little ears just made me uneasy.
The specialist showed me the tiny blue cylinder that will go in and explained the procedure. Basically, Jacob goes to sleep and he makes a tiny hole in the ear drum to drain the fluid. The little tube then goes in to keep the hole open so whatever fluid collects will drain out. The tubes should fall out on their own when Jacob’s around 18 months old. As I was thinking of a crud dripping from his ears, the doctor explained the ear only produces a few drops of fluid a day which normally drains down through the nose. However, Jacob’s plugged tubes caused his small ear canals to fill up with fluid instead. The stagnant fluid becomes a breeding ground for infection. Antibiotics were taming the infections, but not getting to the source of the problem: fluid collection.
The alternative to tubes was to wait and see if he grows out of it, but that would mean more frequent trips to the doctor to screen for infection. Plus, Jacob’s hearing may temporarily be affected and speech could be delayed. I quickly weighed my options and decided tubes now would save a lot of trouble in the future. The surgery is scheduled for bright and early Monday morning in Wausau.
Being a curious person, I did some research to learn more about his condition. Approximately two million tympanostomy tubes are placed in children in the United States each year to help chronic middle ear infections. That makes the surgical procedure for placing tubes in the ears one of the most commonly performed operations of any kind. Also, I found out in the northern hemisphere ear infections are most common in November through March. Hopefully that means once he gets over this hump, Jacob can be healthy and doctor-free for a few months.
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