My DS just had his tonsils and adenoids removed

[DisneyObsessed]

and I feel so bad for him. He sailed right through the surgery, but now he is in wicked pain. They gave him a script for Tylenol with codeine and it helps, but only for a short time. Not the whole 4 hours. He's 15, and he has always been a trooper. He never comlplains when he is hurt or sick, so I know this is KILLING him. Has anyone had experience with this? How long does the pain last? I will appreciate any info you can give me. Thanks!

Dawn

 

[KatelynnsAuntie]

I don't have any advice, just sending some pixie dust your son's way!!

When I was a teenager the Dr. looked in my mouth and said "have you ever had your tonsils out?" and I said "no" and he said "well they're gone". I guess I swallowed them or something, because they used to be there!

Hope your son feels better soon.

 

[nativetxn]

Bless his heart. I hope he is feeling 100% better very soon. Too bad they didn't give him a prescription for topical xylocaine, that would help a lot when he is between pain meds

 

[mudnuri]

Sorry in advance if this get wordy.

My DD6 had them out when she was almost 4.

We stayed in the hospital the first night due to her asthma, and the possible complications of that and the anesthesia (??SP?). We came home late the next afternoon.

DD drank Vanilla milk shakes, I used a vanilla ensure instead of milk to make sure she got vitamins and calories etc...

She had jello, and pudding...and sipped water. My main concern was for her NOT to cough.. her asthma caused her to cough quite a bit, which was not going to be good.

The script her Doc gave her was a cough syrup with codeine. She took it every 4 hours just to be safe. She never really complained about pain, however she laid on the couch for 5 full days.

She did complain about it hurting when she swallowed, which I'd asume was because her throat was dry etc... I just kept her full of fluids, and watched the coughing. Coughing can cause the blot clot to rupture, and then severe bleeding can occur.

One other thing- the doc told DD to lay on her side..not her back, as on your back there is pressure on the back of throat that is not there when your on your side? seemed to work

Pixie dust to your family!....

Brandy

 

[helenabear]

No advice here either... I just hope he feels 100% better soon!!!!

 

[clh2]

I have never seen her so miserable.

The one bit of advice we got from other parents was - NEVER, NEVER go more than 4 hours without the pain meds - even if it means waking them up in the middle of the night.

The other advice we got - this one from the hospital was don't let them have dairy products for a few days. While shakes and ice cream sound like they would feel good - they actually have an opposite affect. They told us that dairy products tend to make the throat secretions very "gunky" and there would be much more coughing which doesn't help with the overall healing of the throat.

For food - I would recommend Jell-o and popsicles. Not considered very nutritious, however, it got fluids in her!

While everyone recovers differently from this surgery, our daughter started feeling a little better after the 4th day after her surgery.

Good luck!

 

[clh2]

OOPS - I double posted.

 

[Gette88]

DD had her tonsils and adnoids out when she was 7. They also put tubes in her ears. She complained more about the tubes because everything seemed so loud to her.
I wish they would keep patients in the hospital overnight instead of going right home. I remember thinking that was one of the worse days of my life. She looked so pale after the surgery and couldn't talk and when they moved her she vomited all down DH's back. I sat in a chair and that was the only time in my life I felt faint. It was really hard to see her that way.
I hope your son is feeling better soon.

 

[RNMOM]

My DS had his out last year also at 15. He was very sore for about a week. It is the worst the second day or so and then again when the scabs fall off it hurts again. He didn't eat much at all that week and that is not like him at all.

He did enjoy applesauce and jello. He dranks very cold stuff as it felt best. If your son is not able to be comfortable call the doctor about maybe increasing his dose of pain meds. It may be possible. They usually start low and don't change it unless you let them know the pain is not controlled.

Good luck to him.

 

[dizneenut]

My 7 yo DS had his out at the beginning of the year. He was in alot of pain for about 3 days, then he slowly started to feel better. He would barely eat or drink anything for almost a week, and that is not like him at all.

Hope your DS feels better soon!!

 

[DisneyObsessed]

Thanks for all the well wishes guys! I know it's a pretty routine thing, but it's tough to see your kids hurting no matter how old they are.

 

[MHopkins2]

I just had mine out this summer (at 27 - which I do NOT recommend!!!) and it was a MISERABLE experience. I'm not saying that to make you feel worse than you already do, just to help you understand. My vote goes to two suggestions already made:

1) Call the doc and see if they can either give him a stronger drug, or increase the dosage of the one he's on. I bugged the snot out of my doctor's office (via my roommate who could speak) - there's no reason IMO to suffer when there are plenty of meds available that will do the trick without bad lasting side effects.

2) DEFINITELY wake him up in the middle of the night so he doesn't miss a dose. The worst thing you can do is to let the pain "get ahead of" the drug - then it's like digging yourself out of a hole just to get back to the "regular" pain level.

One last word of caution - I wound up in the ER one night because I couldn't force myself to eat anything with my drug dose, and started throwing up. Not only did I get badly dehydrated, but stomach acid on tonsillectomy wounds is not a good time. I eventually found that grocery store "Italian ices" were not terribly painful, and were substantial enough to keep my stomach calm.

 

[christineann]

I hope your son feels better soon. I agree with the above poster about staying on schedule with the pain meds. I had mine out when I was 23, and I think I would rather go through childbirth again than that!

 

[LisaTx]

I had mine about 35 years ago. I was probably less than 5, but I still remember the pain. I was really excited beforehand because I was told I could eat all of the ice cream I wanted.

I got mad afterward because they neglected to tell me it would hurt so bad I wouldn't want to eat anything. They were trying to get me to drink some coke and I didn't want to. I finally knocked the cup off of the tray table and it went all over the room.

I hope your son has a speedy recovery and doesn't suffer too much pain.

 

[DocRafiki]

I can't help you there since I was comfortably drinking water as soon as I woke up (I was 19). I was so painful before the surgery, I guess it was a relief. Same story with my impacted wisdom teeth; I took one pain pill because they told me to and never needed another. High tolerance for pain, I guess.

 

[SeaSpray]

The poor kid!! I'm sorry he's in so much pain. I hope it goes away soon and that he has a quick recovery. I'm sorry that I don't have any advice, just wanted to wish him well in his recovery.

 

[DisneyObsessed]

Thanks guys. He gets a kick out of me reading these posts to him. He started eating soft foods today as he was starving to death. But he is still in a lot of pain. As my mother used to say, "this too shall pass" Your friendship means so much! Thanks again!

 

[mrsmom]

My dd just had palete surgery a couple months ago and some of it involved the throat. she could not eat because of pain. she said cold stuff made the pain worse. she drank alot of hot chocolate with whipped cream. you might want to try that.
I hope your ds feels better soon.
Kim