Eartube
Implantments
(For Parents)
The
ear tube insertion is one of the most common procedures done to the
ear. When taking your child to the hospital they can expect the following:
Registration, preoperative preparation, anesthesia, surgery, and recovery.
The
registration is where parents fill out medical and insurance forms.
Surgery is a complicated procedure so they have to have a lot of information
about you and your child. Next, your child will be told what they
are going to do to the child. Then the nurse will check their vital
signs to make sure everything is fine. The nurse will check their
pulse, tempeture, and heart beat.
Next, the people at the hospital will give
your child some medicine to calm them down (only if needed). Then
they will go into the operating room and give them the anesthesia
gas that will make them fall asleep. The surgery now begins. Then
the doctors go into the ear and cut a hole in the eardrum to put the
tube in. The tube is for draining out all the fluids and to prevent
infection. The surgery is fairly quick procedure.
Recovery can be the scariest part of the trip
for a child because they may be disoriented and sore. After an hour
or so the patient will go home after paying the bill.
The tubes usually stay in for three to six months. During that time
they will have to wear earplugs and a headband while they are in the
water, so it keeps the water out. After that amount of time the child
will have a check up with the doctor to see if the ear tubes are still
in. If they are still in, you will have to have them removed. The
procedure is almost exactly the same. The ear tubes insertion has
given relief to many little children who have suffered from chronic
ear infections.
This Picture shows just how small ear tubes are.
Click Here to Visit our Children's Story of Ear
Tubes.
Click Here to visit interviews of
real people who have had ear tubes implanted.