Tubes and ENT Specialists

Hi, C.--

My nephew had tubes put in when he was two. (He is now four.) The change in his health was amazing!! He'd had tons of ear infection and strep throat constantly. This led him to be speech-delayed because he couldn't hear well. He saw Dr. Wiat and I believe he had his surgery at a place on Bethel Road. He also had his tonsils and adenoids out (this was at Children's Hospital.)

I also took my daughter to see Dr. Koegel (with Excell ENT) in Westerville at St. Ann's and he was great with her. She didn't need tubes, but I've got friends with kids who have gone to Dr. Koegel for tubes and he is very good and comes highly recommended.

Hope this helps!

My daughter had this procedure done (by ExcellENT) last summer when she was 16 months old. She had seven ear infections in six months' time prior to the procedure but only one in the 16 months since! It was life-changing.

As for recovery, the only difficult part was when she came out of the anesthesia... She was screaming, hitting, kicking and biting. The nurses explained that she was frightened after waking up (feeling very out of sorts) in a strange place. The temporary aggressive behavior was due to not being able to express herself verbally because she was so young. Her reaction - which terrified us - was actually pretty common. Thankfully, it lasted a very short time and we never looked back. Within the hour, she began acting like herself and she returned to daycare the following day. We never had any further problems.

I hope this helps ease your mind. It's scary to go through a surgical procedure with your child but he won't remember a thing and it could make his life much more comfortable overall.

Hi C.,

My twins has tubes put in at 13 months. They had 6 ear infections in a year. Since the tubes they each have had 1. You can tell, because fluid comes out of their ears, then you just put drops in.

The ENT we used was L. Arick Forrest with OSU Otolaryngology Head and Neck ###-###-####). The tubes were inserted at the Ohio Surgery Center on Bethel Rd.

I can not say enough good things about Dr. Forrest or the Ohio Surgery Center.

Dr. Forrest got them right in, other ENT's I called told me it would be a month. Let me know all the details about the surgery. Then scheduled their surgery for 10 days later. By that time one of the twins had another ear infection.

You go early in the morning for the surgery, they like to do the babies first thing. The procedure takes about 15 minutes. Then you sit with them in recovery for about 45 minutes to an hour. The staff is constantly checking with you and brings some apple juice and crackers.

When we got home they napped for about 3 hours. When they got up they were pretty cranky. I gave them some juice, took them for a car ride and they were fine.

Next month they will be 2 and the tubes are still in. We are very happy with them.

Let me know if I can answer anymore questions.

J.

Haven't had any experience with tubes, but my son had his tonsils and adnoids removed and I had to have my nose reset because my lovely 23 month old head butted me. We both saw doctors with ExcellENT. I could not have been happier with the way we were both treated. Dr. Hart (office is at Children's) operated on my son and I saw Dr. Shah (Broad St). I believe they do all their proceedures at Ohio Surgery Center on Bethel Rd. The staff there is wonderful. They really helped bring the anxiety level way down and were so sweet with my son even after he woke throwing a huge fit. Good luck to you.

Two of my three ended up with tubes- one at 13 months and the other about then too. We saw Dr. Koegel of ExcellENT. Really it was simple. They were groggy for an hour afterward but no big deal. It did cut down on the ear infectons but did not eliminate.