"John’s pulling his ear again," my wife would say wearily when I came home for lunch. "I guess I’d better take him back to Dr. Byrd’s this afternoon before things get worse."

"That probably means another round of penicillin shots for John and some more sleepless nights for us," was my usual response.

That dialogue was repeated over and over in our household. It seemed as though we would never get our three-year-old son’s ear infections cleared up. We were positive his body was working up an immunity to antibiotics, because each bout with his ears meant at least three and sometimes five injections. Dr. Byrd, our family physician, must have felt the same way, for he decided John needed to be seen by a specialist.

John was excited about a trip to the city, but not about another doctor prob…