nasal/sinus Turbinate Surgery

[Ohiodislover]

We just returned from the ENT. After YEARS of sore throats, strep, and sinus infections, my 14 Y.O. will more than likely getting her tonsils/adenoids out. We are trying a round of clindamycin first, and we have a 1 in 5 chance that will help w/ the chronic tonsil infections. If it doesn't help, we just need to call and schedule the surgery.

In addition the ENT is recommending Turbinate Surgery. Her nose is ALWAYS stuffy. She has trouble breathing on a good day, yet alone when her sinus/allergies are acting up.

Anybody have experience w/ this surgery. What to expect?

We are more than likely waiting till summer vacation. Which, of course, has my daughter expecting the worst, and having her ENTIRE summer blown (oh the drama) She wants me to allow her to skip 2-3 weeks of school

 

[luvmarypoppins]

My ds19 just had it done this summer. lst the ENT ordered a cat scan of his sinuses. It showed something by his cheek was also malformed so the surgeon had to go in and smooth that out too. My ds also had a large polyp in one nostril and suffers from asthma, allergies etc. and could really not breathe out of any nostril or taste,smell food etc.

It was a day surgery The surgeon told us he did as best he could for ds, He has nostril working so far. He said his nose was a mess etc.

The post op stuff was not so good. He laid on the couch for about 2 days and just wanted ice water and pain killers constantly. He was exceeding the dose so I guess he was in alot of pain. You also cant lay down to sleep. He slept on the couch with a few pillows to keep his head propped up. Then he kept spitting up blood for days. This is also to be expected. There is a cotton gauze pad taped over the nose that must be changed frequently. No hot foods to eat as this could cause more bleeding. Also rinsing with saline many times a day is required as well as 1 big saline wash a day. My ds had a few stitches in his nose that had to come out and there was something like a little plastic film/splint thing in his nose too.

Best of luck to your dd.

 

[Ohiodislover]

Thanks for the info. I've been on the internet most of the afternoon trying to get a feel for what to expect. How long before he felt back to normal?

What concerns me the most is that they will be combining the nasal surgery with the tonsils. Which means she can't breath thru her nose, along w/ the pain of the tonsilectomy. I can see her mouth/throat being so dry, which would add to the healing throat.

 

[minkydog]

Christian had this surgery done when he was about 8yo. He and DH kept passing a sinus infection back. both of them were on antibiotics for over a year! The ENT had a CT scan done which revealed a pretty deviated septum and completely blocked sinuses. No wonder we couldn't get him cured--the infection was just stuck in there! His adnoids were huge, so they had to take them out too.

Usually turbinate surgery is out-patient. Christian's situation was a little more complicated. He doesn't do well with anesthesia. It can take hours and hours for him to wake up. So after he vomited 9 times in 6 hours and STILL was not fully conscious they decided to keep him overnight and just run some IV fluids. By morning he was chipper and back to normal. I don't remember Christian having too much pain. His nose was sore. He's non-verbal so we don't know exactly how he felt. But he didn't cry and he played well so it couldn't have been that bad.

 

[disfan07]

I had more pain from teh tonsilectomy when I was 12 than I did when I had my sinus surgery when I was 16.

Both surgeries are outpatient. Both of mine ended up ebing inpatient because I have breathing adn heart problems which are usually exacerbated by anesthesia.

I really dont remember being in a lot of pain after the sinus surgery but I have an extremely high pain threshold so I might not be the best to ask.
I was in more pain after having my EP study/cardiac catherization this year than i was after my sinus surgery.

They should give your daughter tylenol with codeine for pain from her tonsilectomy which works wonders. Heres my advice:
water (lots of water)
gatorade (NOT RED or PURPLE)
popsicles (NOT RED OR PURPLE)
cold chicken broth
NO ICE CREAM!!! no matter what they say, it makes it worse. It might work with JUST the tonsilectomy but when you have your adenoids out it makes your throat stuffy and there is a lot of mucous (sorry TMI) in your throat so the dairy just makes it worse and harder to breath and swallow

Im with the other posters as someone who was not helped by the sinus surgery. Having my tonsils out was teh best thing ever though. I havent had a single case of strep in 8 years. BUT, the sinus surgery did not help. I still get about 5-6 sinus infections a year which end up exacerbating my asthma and on a regular basis I still have problems. I would say defintiley go through with the tonisls/adenoids but I would get a second opinion about the sinus surgery

 

[Ohiodislover]

Thanks everyone. We just need to figure out when is the best time to have all of this done. My vote is for summer. She is upset that she will miss either the new Harry Potter premiere or the new Twilight movie Suregery--ehh, no big deal--missing the midnight showings of either movie--UNHEARD of.

The good news is when she has the surgery, it will be snowball season in Md. I expect to be buying at least 1-2/day

 

[lovemygoofy]

I had my tonsils out and the turbinate surgery in 2005 on the same day. I would never do it again but I think that's more because the tonsils coming out hurts more than I could ever imagine.

Talk to the ENT more about the turbinate surgery. I'm not real thrilled with mine because I didn't know at the time that it was not a permanent fix that it essentially needs to be rotter rootered every few years. I need to have mine or something simliar scheduled again because I'm back where I was with not being able to breathe out my nose again.

The best thing that ever happened was having my tonsils out though. I didn't realize how swollen they were or that constantly being infected can cause constant sinus infections and strep throat. I did feel better finally when all was said and done with the tonsils out.

The get the liquid pain killer and stay on top of it. Don't want until she hurts to give a dose. Imagine not being able to yawn and then involuntarly sneezing and wanting to cry because it hurts so bad. I used saline gel to help keep moisture in my nose around the stitches.

I know this really didn't help and again I was 25 when I had mine done but even with all the issues from the surgeries I'm glad the tonsils came out, not so happy with the nose surgery.

 

[Mermaid02]

Had my tonsils out at 18 (piece of cake for me!) and I had a deviated septum and turbinectomy in 2004- also easy! Very little pain. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to make a difference in my nasal problems....