ENT referral

Following because we are in the same boat. We finally got an appt with an ENT next month. My son has been on antibiotics for about a month and still is pulling at his ears and not sleeping well. His pediatrician is saying we might have to do an antibiotic shot. I'm desperately praying that we can get bumped up in the ENT schedule.

The first appointment is a consultation going over the timelines of his symptoms, them making sure the kiddo qualifies for tubes, talking you through the procedure and you consenting to want to proceed. Then they call you to make the appointment for the tubes. We had to wait 3 or 4 months for a surgery appointment. The availability is far and few between but once it's done it's so amazing to see your kiddo generally more happy. My little ones ear just drains when it's infected and we use ear drops. Rarely need pain meds or oral antibiotics. We only had to do oral once because he had a sinus infection too. Hope that helps

We just had an ENT visit a couple weeks ago and just like Ami said it’s more of a consult and asking how many ear infections LO has had in the past 6 months. We are supposed to schedule an appointment to put in tubes but I’m very reluctant about it. Ami can you share more about your experience with the tubes?

@Princess yes ma'am. The procedure is so fast and there is no general anesthesia associated with it (no intubation or IV) just gas to knock them out for a few minutes. The longest part was getting checked in in the morning. Once they came for him my hospital sent me texts. 5 minutes after they took him they said he was undergoing the procedure. 5 minutes after that he was recovering. 10 minutes after that he was back with him. I will say they are super upset when they come out but not from pain. I think waking up from the gas and you not being there upsets them. They give pain medicine before so it's on board before the procedure. My kiddo napped on and off for the rest of the day. The next day he was fine. We gave pain medication for a few days and there was some drainage from the ear for a few days. Now if he gets an ear infection you can see it coming out of the ears and we have ear drops instead of oral meds. My LOs stomach was not happy with oral antibiotics so this helps a lot.

Honestly best decision we made.

@Ami thanks. Your initial response prompted me to call the doctor and try to expedite our ENT appointment next month so we've been placed on a waiting list for cancelations. As much as the thought of my son having a procedure scares me, I really want to get him some relief. Thanks again for sharing...especially the additional details

@Jess Here to help if you need anything else. Unrelated pro of tubes, no pressure issues on planes. We just went overseas with our kiddo and no screaming or anything causing him ear discomfort. He actually had an infection at the time and the pus bubbles out helping clear it.

@Ami oh that's great. We have a long flight to LA in a few months so that would help