OT - Tonsilectomy?

[pjtm]

My ds is having one this week - I need all the advice I can get!!! Please spill all that you know - the good, bad and ugly!

 

[Binnie]

Be sure to keep him hydrated! Water, juice, pedialyte, popsicles worked great for my dd, whatever you can get him to drink. And no drinking through a straw, either!

They recommend against milk-based stuff for the first several days, and DD wasn't interested anyway.

Be prepared for him not to eat or talk. DD talked, but she went a week without eating.

Luck! Good It ain't pretty, but it sure made a difference for my DD!

 

[Mommy2Julia&Brynn]

Make sure that if he's still complaining of it hurting after a few days, you take him to get it checked...mine got a nasty secondary infection that wouldn't have been so bad if I followed my hunch!
Peach jello felt great on my throat, but ice cream was too cold. I was disappointed because I'd always heard I'd get to eat lots of ice cream! I also liked broth.
Watch out--the pain medicine they gave me made me have some really wild dreams and my mom said I talked a lot in my sleep and yelled out, but it's normal.
I wrote on a marker board for a few days instead of even attempting to talk, and I kept the ice pack they give you on my throat to keep the swelling down--even though the ice is on the outside, it still feels good!

 

[gr8nurs1271]

DD had hers out last year. She did get sick to death of jello so we changed it up with ice cream and mashed potatoes. After a couple of days she was able to get very softly cooked macaroni and cheese.

She refused to take any pain medications (she was almost 17 at the time). She did fine and her snoring stopped almost immediately!

Good Luck!
Colleen

 

[Best Aunt]

A few months ago, I asked for advice here when my niece was about to have her tonsils out.

Her surgery was at 10:00 am. She vomited after the surgery. She went home and called her sister (who was staying at grandma's) about 5:00 pm. I was optimistic because she had eaten a popsicle and a little soy pudding and was about to eat something else.

My optimism was too early. She vomited again that night. After that, she did not want to eat or drink anything for several days. I think her problem was fear of vomiting as much as pain. SIL had a hard time keeping her hydrated. Also, SIL did not want to give her the pain medication, which was alcohol-based, on an empty stomach. SIL ended up giving her over-the-counter tylenol suppositories. I was surprised that a 6-year-old would allow that, but apparently my niece thought that was a better idea than having to swallow medicine.

Her doctor said to stay on soft food for 2 weeks after the surgery.

Here's a grocery/cooking list I put together for SIL based on the advice I was given by the nice people here on the Dis:

Pediasure
Juice
Gatorade
Baby food (fruit tastes best)
Oatmeal
Cream of Wheat
Overcooked noodles with butter
Macaroni & cheese cooked really soft
Broth
Soup with small noodles (Ring-o-Noodle)
Jell-o
Applesauce
Inside of mushy piece of garlic bread
Mashed potatoes
Watermelon
Pudding
Cottage cheese
Yogurt
Eggs: scrambled; egg salad
Plain pancakes
Lemon ice
Italian ice
Popsicles
Shakes
Pureed food
Make your own slushie: put ice and a drink in the blender and blend until smooth
Freeze juice and score with a fork

 

[QVCshopper]

My DD had hers out when she was 2.75 years old due to recurring fevers. She woke up out of surgery screaming, with a bloody mouth and throat, and it took me an hour to calm her down. After that, though, recovery was very quick for her. She was quite the trooper. I gave her liquids, yogurt, ice cream, jello, etc. for at least a week. But she did really well and was almost back to normal (minus the fevers) in about 2 weeks.

I'd recommend limiting activities for about a month, though. We kept on going with life; looking back, I should have kept things quiet for longer b/c while she was "better", I'm sure her body was still recuperating.

 

[Steph9072]

The one thing that I was not prepared for was the horrible smell that came out of his mouth after surgery. It was alarming at first. Nobody had warned me so just passing it on.

 

[tinkmom2]

My daughter too had her tonsils out when she was two. Her fevers would get up so high she would have a seizure. She did this several times which scared the heck out of me. After going to the doctor about 12 times in a year they finally referred us to a specialist at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. She ate a soft diet which was jello, mashed potatoes, plenty of clear liquids...etc.. they should be giving you a list at the doctors. Also our doctor encouraged us to give her the medicine even if she seemed ok to help her heal and give her a rest.
I am proud to say she never had another bad fever or seizure since her tonsils were out and she is almost 4.

 

[jewjubean]

I was a bit older (13) when I had mine taken out and also had my adnoids taken out at the same time.
They told me the first two or three days I wasnt allowed to eat ice cream (depends on the doctor) also I pretty much lived on Luigis Italian ice. If your DS is older it is easy to eat and tastes really good. They gave me Tylenol with Codine in it (good stuff ) and it pretty much knocked me out for almost two weeks. I ended up losing like 20 Lb's because I couldnt eat/med's made me sick. So just make sure you stock up on pedalight!
HTH.

 

[Macduffy]

If there is a history of nauseousness you might want to mention it the anesthesiologist so he/she can administer some gravol after the surgery

oh yeah and don't forget lots of good movies and TLC from mommy and daddy

 

[Binnie]

Oh God, I had forgotten the super foul breath! It's seriously bad. Like walk away bad. It's awful. Bring tears to your eyes bad. And it lasts for several days. YUCK!

 

[pjtm]

thanks for all the info. How long is the no straw rule? I am going geovery shopping today - thanks for all the input!

 

[dznyfanatic]

you didn't mention how old your ds was, but my ds was 4 when he had his out, and although the dr. mentioned he would be groggy after the surgery, I was really not prepared for it. He was crying (with an extremely froggy sounding) voice, and was pretty inconsolable for a while. I honestly felt like the worst mommy in the world for putting him thru it. (not that I would not do it again if necessary, but it was so hard to see him hurting) He ended up falling back to sleep for a little while, and when he woke up again, he was better.... he did really well after his surgery though, pretty much liquids only the first day then some soft foods for a couple of days... after that he was completely back to normal... well better than normal... he started sleeping better, and even went thru a bit of a growth spurt.

 

[VroomVroomLightning]

I had mine out around 9 years old. The one thing I regret was not trying to eat. I lost so much weight that summer. Every little thing hurt and I did wind up back in the hospital after a few weeks because it started bleeding again. I didn't want to eat because everything hurt. But that was not a good idea. I remember it clearly..lol..It was a week before school was going to start back up and my Mom made me a very thin milkshake and MADE me drink it. After I started drinking it and started eating I was fine. I had to get over the fear of food going through where the tonsils had been What a dork I feel like now looking back on it. Make sure they eat even if it is the smallest things. The obvious is that cold stuff will be the best because it is going to soothe as they are eating! Good Luck!

 

[krcit]

Oh God, I had forgotten the super foul breath! It's seriously bad. Like walk away bad. It's awful. Bring tears to your eyes bad. And it lasts for several days. YUCK!

Both of my dds had their tonsils out when they were 6 (3 years apart) Neither one of them had the horrible bad breath but a friend of mine's dd had hers out at the same time as my older dd. She had the horrible breath-like so bad that her mom said the whole room smelled She also took a lot longer to heal than my dds. i think the difference was that my girls ate as soon as they could. My Dr told me that swallowing helps the healing. The first day was all liqiud but by the next day, I gave them soft scrambled eggs, soup, mashed potatoes. They have to take the pain meds in order to feel well enough to eat though-if they don't take them, they will hurt to much to eat. Good luck!

 

[dislvr74]

I had mine out when I was 16, which is supposed to be much worse than for younger kids. I couldn't stand anything chocolate-it just burned my throat. Ice cream was okay, but warm (not hot) broth and tea was much more soothing. I graduated to eggs and mashed potatoes pretty quickly. I echo what others have said about getting them to drink or eat anything as soon as possible. It really does seem to speed up the healing.

 

[mjpeter]

I had mine out when I was 10. I remember vomiting a lot after the surgery as well, so I'd also recommend talking to the anesthesiologist. The mixture of blood in the stomach and the drugs didn't sit well.

It was a struggle to get me to eat for quite a while, and I remember the doctor and my mother threatening me with an IV if I didn't drink or eat, so be patient.

The good news....after chronic strep infections, I never had one again!!

 

[MOREMICKEYFORME]

My son (Just turned 6) had his tonsils and adnoids removed a few weeks ago. While in the hospital, the nurse was force feeding him popsicles. After 2.5 popsicles, he threw them up. I think it was more because of the sugar in his stomach (which he is not used to)
After we got home, he was really hungry and wanted really soft macaroni and butter. He ate three bowls full!
I am SUPER GLAD I did this because he was still on the stronger hospital pain killers and therefore didn't have any pain while eating. After the hospital pain meds wore off and he was on Tylenol- he wouldn't eat a thing for days. He lost about 4 pounds.

 

[taylor5]

My dd just had hers out on Friday. No matter how prepared you are, things will still send you a curve ball. We went in at 7am & were leaving the surgery center by 10am. She had only taken a few sips & they declared her fit to go home (too early in my opinion, ds stayed a lot longer when he had his removed). She was pretty sleepy & out of it for a while because of all the meds, but as the afternoon went on, she did pretty good, even eating some Ramen noodles.

The next day though, she did awful. She barely drank anything & didn't eat anything. That evening, both her & dd16mos. started throwing up. I called their pediatrician & she said try to get a tsp. of liquids in every 5 mins. This did not work, nothing stayed down, could not give any pain meds. or antibiotic. They both finally fell asleep around midnight & we just left them till morning. She moaned & whined some during sleep, but I felt the rest would do her the most good. Sunday am, she was able to take a few sips of sweet tea & I finally got her meds back in her. She is doing ok, but still not eating or drinking a whole lot. I think I am just going to have to force the issue.

To add to things, DH got the bug yesterday afternoon & stayed over the commode/trashcan all evening, even passing out from dizziness twice. I didn't sleep much last night trying to force liquids on him & making sure dd was ok. Around 5am, DS8 came to our bed saying he just threw up in his bed so I had to get that cleaned up & proceed to watch him continue to throw up/diarrhea. Stubborn DH still insisted on going to work today (he isn't around many people on his job to infect) & DD16mos. got up super early. So when DD16mos. napped today, I put on some cartoons in my bedroom for the other two & just crashed for an hour to reenergize from the loooooooooong weekend.

Sorry that I wandered OT, but just showing you what a mess our experience turned out to be. Plus I know that I am next in line for this bug & not looking forward to it. I took an immodium when I woke up this morning just to be on the safe side, although I know if it hits nothing can help.

BTW - our doctor told us no straw use (rule we broke) & no red stuff like jello or popsicles, which might be confused with blood IF they throw up (glad we heeded this advice)

Good luck & here's wishing you no stomach bugs along the way!!

 

[mom2faith]

Hi there,

Just got mine out 8 months ago and I can still remember the pain!!! LOL!! On a plus side my cousin's DD had hers out on the same day and was eating cheeseburgers - kids are more resiliant than adults!!

Here are my tips:

1. Stick to the pain medication regiman - do not skip a dose because they feel OK. Give it to them anyways. This is for the first 10 days at least! Wake them up in the night to give them their pain medication. This is important.

2. LOTS of water, non-acidic juices, etc - but nothing through a straw!! That can pull the scab off too early and cause bleeding.

3. Lots of popsicles - this is what I ate for most of the 3 weeks. (Yes 3 weeks!!)

4. I could only eat Cream of Wheat - Oatmeal hurt! I do not like Jello I also ate Rice Porridge (my grandma's specialty) which is rice boiled for hours in milk.

5. Stay away from Milk and Milk Products. I brank Boost for the first 2 days thinking it would be good for me, but the mucus that built up almost choked me. It just sticks there in your throat. All milk products will do this for the first week or so.

6. Do NOT do a Sambuca shot within 3 weeks of your surgery!!! OK I know this is a kid - but for you adults out there, I did that one night and regretted it!! It burned like acid all the way down!! (It was Christmas and it was a group shooter and....well I paid for it!!) On the plus side, the alcohol cleaned everything out and that is what made me feel better. It was from that point on that I felt normal again.

Remember this will end - at around the 10 to 12 day mark. I feel so much better and am so glad I did it!! I sleep through the night and I do not get sick as often (I had strep every 3 months before the surgery).

Good Luck!!