It seems I may be morphing into a mommy-blog. "No! Say it isn't so Geochick!"
hehe.
No, I'm not, but I am grasping at straws at what to write about these days. So, I figured I may as well ask for advice here.
S took Baby Z to an Ear Nose and Throat doctor yesterday since he has what amounts to a chronic antibiotic resistant ear infection. The ENT told S what we already knew...Baby Z could benefit from tubes in his ears since he's not effectively draining fluid. Then, he said that kids usually grow out of this problem by age 2 as the tubes grow and move from being flat to sloping downward. Let me take an aside here: "Hi, Evolution, WTF? You know babies are flat on their backs or tummies a good portion of the time, right? So, why are their little eustachian tubes flat and short?, hmmmm???" S went ahead and scheduled the surgery for two weeks from now.
I tend to have a no-surgery unless absolutely necessary policy, so I'm not exactly thrilled about tubes even though they are proven to relieve chronic ear infections and it takes a whopping 5 minutes to put them in. The doctor even told S that they have general anesthesia dialed in so well these days that malpractice insurance has dropped to 1/5 of what it used to be. That's comforting...I guess.
Anyway, I have heard that chiropractic care can help alleviate the ear problems and I'm curious if that may be a road to go down with Baby Z, and we can always reschedule the surgery if needed. On the other hand, we could go ahead with the surgery, and if it doesn't help or they fall out immediately, then I'd be keen on trying an alternative. It's a conundrum, because chiropractic care probably isn't covered under S's insurance, and surgery is. Another aside: Why in the hell is surgery covered, but alternative therapies like chiropractic and acupuncture are not? They are proven to help prevent and fix all kinds of health issues! Ugh.
Pushing me toward surgery is the fact that a) it's super fast and easy, b) it's covered, c) our budget is f-cking tight right now, d) it works, e) it's one day vs. several appointments. Pushing me toward chiropractic is a) it's non-invasive, b) it's easy, c) it could work, d) I'm paying for therapy out of pocket, so why wouldn't I pay out of pocket for my kid and suck it up money-wise?
So, interwebs, what say you?
My first 3 kids has them - twins at 9mo. I wouldn't hesitate on tubes but you know I come from a different place than most. We also got a ton of ear infections after the tubes but you can use abx drops instead of an oral which is really nice. You can do both. Chiro probably wouldn't be that expensive but it would take several months to see results, and during that time you'd probably be on abx again. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI'd vote for surgery. Simply because it will lessen Baby Z's discomfort sooner...and it works. Plus, I can't imagine that chiropractic adjustments for a baby Z's age are terribly fun....
ReplyDeleteJust my 2 cents.
I actually think chiro would be expensive. It was when I took my son is because he was having trouble nursing. It was really freaking expensive but maybe that is just where I live. If it were me I'd do surgery for the exact reasons you outlined above but I have never been in this situation so my advice is pretty useless. Sorry. ;)
ReplyDeleteI read the blog - https://solomamalife.wordpress.com/ .
ReplyDeleteThe blog is written by lindsay.
She has a daughter who has ear infection pretty often.
You can find some help in the blog about alternative methods ..
I don't know the cost of the chiro services but having just been through an ear infection I was told by 2 different people that they take their littles to chiros for ear infections. Both people said that their kids love going and that it has practically eliminated ear infections. I don't like the idea of surgery but it is definitely proven and the more cost effective. Sorry, I guess I'm not being of much help. :-) Just wanted to say that I, too, just learned of the chiro angle to infections and was intrigued.
ReplyDeleteTubes kept my kid's drainage at bay. Totally worth it.
ReplyDelete