• Nov. 14, 2007
THANK YOU JAMIN
I just had to say thank you to Jamin for her recent entry on Homeopathy. A mere comment on her blog just wouldn't suffice to express my gratitude for her post.
My son, who will be 10 years old in December, developed a severe ear infection when he was 6 months old. Although we did the round of antibiotics, twice, it never went away. I actually lost two jobs, well, lost one and resigned from another, because I had to take off so much of the time with him. I was taking him to the doctor every 2, 2-1/2, 3 weeks (3 week stretches felt about like Christmas to me). He just could not get rid of the ear infections.
At nearly age two, I took him to my mother's ENT and we talked about tubes. For his 2nd birthday, he had his first set of 2-yr tubes put in. (For those who do not know, some tubes are designed to fall out after certain periods of time. These tubes were designed to stay in place for 2 years.) Of course, his ears were drained when the tubes were put in and he was placed on antibiotics. Finally, clear ears and no more ear infection. Or so we thought.
We were at the doctor for his ears and received the dreaded ear infection diagnosis no less than EIGHT times from December to the following August. Turns out the infections blew his tubes out. So we tried to get the ears well once again. I was really wary of doing the "tube thing" again when it only showed slight imporvement. However, I gave in and we went in for our seond set of tubes. However, this time I waited until AFTER his birthday and Christmas. The tubes went in on January 2nd. On January 1st of the following year he blew the first one out and the second one followed on January 2nd. So much for 2 year tubes.
At that point, regardless of what the doctor said about tubes were helping, I knew better. I was the one up with him all night. I was the one that had been thrown up on about 20 times. I was the one that walked the floor with him and tried to sooth his pain. I was the one that cried with him and over him. The ENT was resting comfortably at home in his cozy bed dreaming of inserting more tubes in little ears. The tubes were not making a difference in the ear infections. Now, maybe if they had had bigger holes the fluid could have drained, but they didn't. What happened is the hole in the tubes was blocked by the fluid in the ear, which remained in the ear continued to build up until the pressure forced the tube out of the ear. Let me tell you there is nothing nastier or more frightening than for your child's ear to shoot a bnch of nasty smelling pus and blood out of his ear.
Throughout all of this, I had noticed that he did not speak properly and did not hear me all the time. After both surgeries, this improved, but then went back to the way it normally was. No, I was not willing to do tubes again. I just would not consider it since it was not helping. Sure, insurance covered it 100% with no co-pay, but why do it when it just does not work. It was like beating my head against the wall to get rid of a headache. Just did not make sense.
Well, the ear infections continued, of course. My son even spent almost the entire week of Valentine's Day in the hospital because he dehydrated so bad from the vomiting and diarrhea - all cause by an ear infection with a comfirmed diagnosis by three seperate doctors at the hospital (they sent their reports to the ENT).
Everytime he got an ear infection I had to first take him to our family doctor and then take him to the ENT (per ENT's instructions). Well, the ENT kept telling me that because he did not have pus and/or blood draining from his ears, he did not have an ear infection. I argued with him. I had an Otoscope. I had been taught how to look at my son's ears and and what to look for by him and the family doctor. I saw the red swollen eardrum myself. Granted on one "fateful" visit, my son had been on meds for four full days by the time I could get him an appointment to see the ENT. Maybe they had already improved tremendously. I do not know. I do know that when we looked at the ear together, it did look much better, but was still a little pink and swollen. He told me that he had minor irritation from to many meds. WHAT? "Well, can you explain to me why he had a temperature of 103 and was throwing up all night for two nights in a row - one while on meds?" I asked (yes, I was a bit huffy). "He probably had a stomach bug," was the response I got. BULL! I told him in no uncertain terms that I was done with his services. Thanked him for his previous care and let him know that I would NOT be bringing my son back to see him. I did ask him how he could possibly say that with the two sets of tubes, my son never once had an ear infection (which he told me during this last visit) and yet also tell me previously that he had blown both sets of tubes out because of infection. He then told me that my son simply grew too fast for the tubes, but did NOT suffer from ANY ear infections with the tubes. I again gave him my thanks and reiterated that we would not be returning. Little did I know, he had already fired me (my son because of me) as a patient. That would have been our last visit anyway. YEAH!!
We made an appointment with our family doctor. I gave him my son's medical files from the ENT and got a referral to a new ENT. I took a copy of the medical files to the new ENT and explained to him that we were "fired." He wanted to know why. I just knew that he was already wanting to kick our family doctor's butt for referring a "problem parent" to him. After I explained all that had gone on, he stated that he has actually received several patients that were former patients of the same ENT and the stories were all the same. He felt, although he did not know the other ENT, that he did not like his knowledge or diagnosis to be questioned - kind of like "short man syndrome" is how he put it. I loved this new ENT already.
We have been going to this new ENT for about five years now. My son's hearing has been tested every year. The new ENT did discover that my son only had 10% of his left eardrum and about 70% or his right eardrum. Based on this they were very pleased with his hearing test results. Since he cannot hear with the missing left eardrum, he hears with the bones inside the ear. He actually hears quite well for hearing in that manner, but there is still some damage that has resulted in some permanent hearing loss.
Once again we go back in for surgery to replace the left eardrum. This is something that really scared me. They actually cut the back of the ear completely loose from the head and fold it over onto the cheek and go INTO the ear. I was scared to death. There was the risk that he could lose all hearing. After the surgery, my son was in severe pain for days and days. He cried and I cried. He refused to take any pain medication because he was afraid it would make him feel like the anesthesia and hospital pain meds made him feel (confused, disoriented, dettached from himself). I could not convince him otherwise. The sweetest thing that boy has ever said to me was, "Don't cry Mom. I'm only crying because I hurt a bit. I can't get comfortable and don't know how to fix it. You didn't do anything wrong. I love you, so please don't cry." I went to the bathroom and sobbed and sobbed. Here I was "mommy hurting" because I couldn't make his pain go away or make him feel any better and he was concerned for me. I just love those "angel" moments.
We did find out, through the surgery, that his left Eustachian tube is not formed correctly. That was part of the problem. The eardrum graft did take, but he blew the new drum out again before the packing had even fully dissolved. So, we went another route. In June of this year, we had his adenoids and tonsils removed. (Had I known before that the adenoids sat on top of the other end of the Eustachian tubes, I would have had them removed a LONG, LONG time ago.) He healed well from that surgery with no complications and very little pain (only mild irritation because he felt like he had something in his throat - the swelling). Now we go back in February to see if this has had any effect on his ears and the eardrum acutally healing and staying intact. If it worked like we are hoping, we are done with the surgeries - for now anyway. If it didn't, we will go in for at least one more drum replacement surgery. We hope that his drum will heal on it's own, but do know that in all likelihood, we will have to replace the drum again first. Then the prayer is that it will stay intact.
Okay, you are probably wondering where the "Thank you" is in all this. Well, it is coming right up. Although, I just cannot see making myself give my son a homeopathic "remedy" for his ears, I would be willing to consider it for other ailments he may get. This child can get a splinter in his toe and it will turn into an ear infection (this is only a slight exaggeration that his doctors and I share). However, since I still really do believe that, even though the tubes are not formed properly, the REAL culprit is allergies, I am willing to try homeopathic "remedies" for that. Also, I have a 2 year old daughter that has had one confirmed and one suspected (will see the doctor Friday) ear infection this year. I think I may try this with her as well.
I did have my son on Echinacea for months before his first surgery. The anesthesiologist scared me off of them because they can interfer with anesthesia and make it very hard for a patient to come out from under the anesthesia. Now, having said that, I want to stress, the only reason this scared me away from giving them to my son is because there was always, and still is the chance that he could have to undergo emergency surgery at any time. I still drink Echinacea tea and allow him some on occasion. I just do not give it to him daily like I had been doing in the past. I wonder if I can get him to chew up a bit of horseradish root? Nay, I doubt it, but it would sure open him up. At least it works for me.
If there is a way to prevent my daughter from having to go through all this like my son, I am all for it. So THANK YOU JAMIN!!!! I will defintely be looking into all of this. You have reminded me that I do have other options rather than to sit and wait and see what happens with my daughter and in the future with my son. I have been so caught up in the ears, I had really forgotten about the rest of my options. We have a great homeopathy and herb shop nearby. I wonder if I can get the kids to drink apple cider vinegar. Ah! Really sweet Black Cherry Kool-Aid covers the taste of anything. You have really gotten me to thinking about all this again. There are really so many options out there that I have just forgotten about. Thank you for the "kick in the pants."
Again, thank you Jamin, for reminding me of my options.
Comments
• Nov. 14, 2007
Wow!
Posted by jaminacema
Wow! You have been through quite a lot with your son! I am glad my post reminded you that there are alternatives. You will be amazed what a few little white pellets can cure!
You are very welcome for the post. That is exactly why I wanted to write it. To plant a seed for someone who may be open to an alternative!
Blessings!
Jamin
