It's a terrible thing as a parent to have something wrong with your child that no one can fix. When the word surgery is used, it can be even more terrifying. For Sherri Chamness, a homeschooling mom from Turner, Ore., it was twice as terrifying knowing that the ear infections that had brought them to this point were having a permanent effect on her daughter's hearing.

"My daughter has had more infections than you can count," says Chamness. "I don't remember the names of all the drugs used. At one point, they told me that we could no longer use Penicillin, because her body was too use to it and had no effect on the infections." Chamness says the hardest part for her was knowing that there was no answer. "I wanted my daughter well, and no one could do that," she says.

Like many other parents, Chamness was faced with the option of continuing to battle with ear infections, which could lead to more hearing loss or getting tubes put in her daughter's ears.

Dr. James Thomsen, from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, says in order to get to this point, your child must be diagnosed with chronic ear infections. "Some ear infections get better on their own, and some must be treated with antibiotics," he says. "However, if your child has recurring ear infections, such as more than six infections in six months, it may be necessary to place a tube in the ear."

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