Glue ear & grommets op

[BookyJen]

Hi,
my son is 2.5 yrs old and has glue ear. He is having grommets fitted in a few weeks time. His speech has been a bit delayed and is often indistinct, which causes frustration for him and us. I think he's suffered for quite a while with it as he has been tugging at one ear lobe since he was about 6 months old. This is the ear that is most badly affected. He has never had an ear infection though.

Loads of questions for those of you who've been through it with your children:

How did you prepare your child for having an op?

How were they after the op?

How long before they could swim / shower again?

Does mucus come out of the ears whilst grommets are in (even if it's not an infection)?

Is a subsequent child likely to get it as well? (I ask because my 16 week old son has just had an ear infection and suspected burst ear drum and I want to make sure he's sorted quicker than my elder son)

Any helpful hints about managing glue ear after the op or reassurance would be great as I'm rather apprehensive about it all.

Thanks,
Jenny

Can't answer many of the questions as DS1 had his grommet op 16 years ago and my memory has failed .

WHat I will never forget though is the amount of cack that poured out of his ear in the days after the op - rivers of waxy yuck that just didn't seem to stop coming. That was the "glue" that presumably had been building up behind the ear drum. I also remember an almost immediate improvement in hearing and clarity of speech. Waking up from an anaesthetic is always horrible and they're bound to be a bit weepy - the hardest bit for you, though, will be that moment when they first go under and you have to leave them.

None of my subsequent 3 DCs have had any significant ear problems - have never heard of it being a genetic/inherited issue, though I'm prepared to stand corrected. Hope it goes OK.

PS - my DS1 was 4.5 - I think at only 2.5 your DS's speech problems will self-correct in no time.

mine had it at 18 months and overnight we noticed massive improvement in balance (which we hadn't recognised as a problem, him being a toddler and all!) and within a week the language was much improved - he'd been diagnosed with hearing loss due to glue ear before hand.

The op was v quick, 20 mins and he came round straight away, screaming the place down - but because he hurt a bit and didn;t know where he was.
We went home again about 1 hour after he came out of recovery and he was fine.

We didn't prepare him for the op really as he was too small but afterwards he watched tv and had a cuddle and some treats - think he could eat and drink pretty much straight away.

No mucus at all since - it was about 6 months ago. He could swim within 6 weeks.
Has to now have vaseline covered cottom wool in ears in bath to precent soap getting in

No idea re subsquent kids, he is the last one for us!!
HTH

My ds (now 5.5) is on his third set of grommets. His first he had at just under 2 and i did not prepare him until the day as he was too young. He was beginning to have speech problems and after the grommets his speech came on tremendously

The second we just told him a bit and let him look at the pictures in the booklet the hospital sent, and by the third he was pretty much used to it all and filling out the pre questionnaires himself!

My ds is actually my second child - my dd had her grommets at the same time as his second set and it does tend to run in families (my neice had it too) so definitly keep an eye on your ds2. Interestingly I had no idea dd had it - I was just chatting away to ds's consultant about her 'selective deafness' and he looked in her ears there and then and pronounced glue ear - getting a referal from the GP to get it treated was another matter even despite that tho

The worst part is once they wake up - try and get them to call you to recovery as early as possible as he is so young, or send down a favourite toy / snuggly with him

First time ds was playing happily within an hour, second was a bit longer to sort himself out and third longer still as he had adenoids out too, and being older was longer without food (they do the youngest first to avoid dehydration problems) which meant his blood sugar had dropped very low

Overall tho there have been no problems.

We use the silicone earplugs when swimming (with the ear-band-it to hold them in) and hairwashing. They could swim after 2 weeks but we usually waited till after the 4 week post op check up

With my two mucus only ever came out when they had an ear infection or a cold and managing it has been no problem.

Good luck - i am sure it will be fine.

Thanks for your encouragement (although not relishing rivers of wax!) I know that I'll feel a bit emotional on the day, but it's nice to know that I'm not alone in that.

SpringSunshine, why did your son need it done 3 times? Do you know if that's usual?

My DD has had grommets twice, the first set at 3 and the following set at 6.

Preperation wise we looked at a book from the library and completed some worksheet type booklets that wee were given on the day case unit when she went for her pre-ops.

After the first op she cried for a little while as was disorientated but was home approx 2 hrs later after eating everything she could lay her hands on.
The second time she just giggled constantly when coming round and found the smallest little things funny. Home after about 4 hours as she had her adenoids out as well so had to stay in lomger.

No mucous or discharge with either set (she also didn't have any infections with the glue).

Neither of her siblings suffered with glue ear but her cousin who was also a third child did.

Swimming wise I can't remember how long we waited before she swam again but we did use ear buddies and ear bandit.

DS2 had grommets a yera ago when he was 4.5yrs . Done first thing in the mroning out by luch time, running round like a idiot in the afternoon and back at school the following day !

No swimming until he had his post op check ( about 6 - 8wks)

As someone else said only needs ears blocked up to prevent soapy water getting in which can lead to an infection .

No mucus came out of his eras except when he had a horrible infetion due to saopy water getting in , then only ear drops managed to clear it up .

One thing I will say about the op is when they go under general anithestic be prepared yourself , it is not nice to see your lttle one being sent off to sleep ! You usually go into the threatre with them and once they are asleep you go out . I will say I was in tears .

when DS woke up he was a right old grump for about 30mins and they gave him some extra oain killers but after tha OK.

A year on the grommets are firmly still in place .

Bookyjen I have had grommets since I was four, your lucky it has been picked up on so early.

From a childs point of view going in to the operation I wasn't at all bothered, mum was more bothered and worried than me!

When I woke up the world was a very scary place, everything was just so loud and I couldn't understand why. I remember this feling subsided after a few hours and the noise became more normal. MMy speech and understanding improved pretty uch immediately. I could hear prople properly finally including teachers and friends. I also didn't realise how much background noise there was before, so if your ds notices odd noises like aeroplanes or cars revving thats why