Who needs to hear anyway?

Does anyone else hate the ever present possibility that your kid could have an ear infection???? It is like this constant suspicion in your mind. Your child is acting differently....hmmmm.....well, it COULD be an ear infection. Maybe that is why they are acting so grumpy. OR it could just be they're acting that way because they're tired or teething or just upset. Let's see, how can you tell if there is an infection or not. Ask them if their ear hurts. Okay, they say yes. Well, maybe it hurts and maybe they just feel like saying yes. Ask them if their knee hurts. Hmmm. They said yes. So does their ear really hurt, and then they thought you were playing a game when you asked a second question, or did they think you were playing a game initially when you asked if their ear hurt. Okay, let's try something else. Have they been crying for no reason and acting as though they are in pain. Yes. Okay, well that COULD mean they have an ear infection. BUT it could also mean that they are teething, or that they have a cold, or that their tummy hurts. Hmmm.... Let's see. Do they have a fever. Well wait, that isn't really conclusive. They can have a fever with an ear infection, but they can also have one with a cold, or the flu, or because they're teething. Okay, well what about congestion. Kids usually get ear infections after being congested. So every time one of my four kids gets a runny nose should I take them into the doctor? I think I'd be in there several times each week. Hmmmm....You see the dilemma? Add to that Avery's crazy ears. There's a girl who never complains of ear pain or acts like anything is wrong, but then I'll go check on her when she's asleep and find pus draining out of her ear because her eardrum has ruptured. After having her eardrum rupture five times, you can understand why I can't sit back when I have the "ear infection suspicion" and rely on their body to handle it on their own, because hers simply doesn't. And now she's going to be completely deaf. How bad would it be if I asked the doctor to put tubes in all my children's ears? I think it would contribute in large part to me maintaining my sanity. It might be kind of selfish though. And possibly expensive (I'll know more about that part when/if Avery gets tubes-what else do I do with that child and her ears? I've got to try and salvage whatever minuscule amount of hearing she has left, right?) Does anyone know how hard it would be to diagnose an ear infection if I bought my own instrument? Ugh. Dang ears.