OT: Tonsils and Adenoids removed

[Oceana]

after his surgery he did vomit once in recovery.

I wish I could recomend a doctor and surgery center but you are not likly in Atlanta. My kid did not come out on a stretcher like all the other kids. He in a half dazed state woke up enough to notice a brunett nurse nearby and said to her "mommy hold me" so she carried him in her arms to me in the recovery room where DH and I were waiting he did his recovery in my arms and not in a cold sterel bed

IN the next 2 weeks we had some whiney days... some days where he would tell me his throat hurt.

He has never slept better... it is like for the 1st time in his life he is sleepiung and getting rest. He now gets cranky when he is tired. He didnt before, his body had been sleep deprived since birth he had been running on a second wind since his body could remember so suddenly it found rest and sleep

he only barfs when he is sick now... before his tonsils made every bite of food a possible gag issue

goodluck

julie

 

[NC_Momto2]

Anyone have a child that has had these removed?My DD3 is having them out and I was just looking for some experiences.

My son had his out when he was 8. We scheduled it for Good Friday since he'd have the following week out of school. His brother went to stay at grandma's to prevent any rough housing between them for a few days. He did best with very cold drinks, no ice but ones that had sat in freezer for a few minutes. People always say kids love ice cream after a tonsilectomy, but even ice cream hurt his throat afterwards.

Just keep an eye on him. They warned us beforehand that bleeding happens with 1% or less postop patients. Mine would be one of the few that it happens to, of course. Not to scare you, but 5 nights later, he started bleeding (huge clots). I rushed him back to the ER and he was admitted. It stopped before they surgeon arrived to take him back to the OR, but it was a scary two hours. He did fine after that and they said a clot had probably loosened when he was coughing and started the bleeding.

Hope everything goes well with your son.

Forgot to add, he did get dehydrated because he hurt so badly and felt sick if he tried to eat or drink. Even his favorite cold drinks didn't help much, although worked better than anything else we tried. While he was in the hospital for the postop bleeding, they had him on IV for dehydration. It took 2 more days before he was able to eat soft foods.

 

[ChrisAlli]

Wow, I'm so glad I asked. I now know better what to keep an eye out for.

A little girl about 8 that lives in my neighborhood is recovering and her mother said she was throwing up a lot, but they think it was the pain medicine making her sick and she was miserable, since they changed pain meds, she's been better, but the poor thing, you could see she wasn't comfortable speaking, mabye afraid it would hurt.

We went to a highly recommended ENT and the local hospital is a very good one. I had both my kids there and it's highly rated.

We do have Childrens Hosipital in Philadelphia, but I don't think that's necessary for this. I feel comfortable at St. Mary's.

 

[eh24fan]

My 7 year old had his out this past December. He did great with the surgery and all that, but for the first 4-5 days, he never spoke. He was so afraid it would hurt and in fact, it did when he tried. He would drink stuff, but not eat it and wouldn't take the oral meds because it hurt too bad to swallow. We had to use suppositories. I knew it was bad when he refused the oral stuff knowing I would have to use the suppositories!! He got sick quite a bit the first day/night, which just made it even worse. The anesthesia didn't sit well with my guy. He got sick 2 or 3 times before we even left the hospital. Even after all that, he said the worst part was that he could go to karate for 2 1/2 weeks! LOL He didn't go to school for 9 days because there was a lot of strep throat going around his classroom and his Dr. t hought it wouldn't be a good idea for him to exposed to that so soon after surgery.

 

[Hayloburger]

My daughter just had hers removed June 18th..She is 6 1/2 years old. Everything went great.....She was up and around that afternoon, we took it easy for a few days (rented alot of movies, read books, napped, etc) , the doctor said to try and keep her quiet (which may be more difficult for a younger child)and then by day 4 we ventured out to movie theaters and shopping (trying to keep her entertained but out of the swimming pool and playgrounds).

The only problems we had were coughing. At night she would cough and cough (I guess drainage), so I slept with her and handed her a sippy cup every hour and she went right back to sleep....then I called the nurse and we were able to give her over the counter cough med. and that worked great.

I was also amazed by her voice. It didn't seem like my little girl talking (it was kinda sad...I was worried that her voice would change forever)...but, sure enough, after 3 weeks, she sounded normal.

The doctor said her tonsils were "whoppers"...4 times the normal size! Ouch.

Another tip: Keep your child drinking...you want to keep the scabs wet (so they don't come off to early), just keep offering sips to your child. Others have told me that straws make it more difficult to drink (my daughter agreed), so we just used her little sister's sippy cups.

 

[2goofykids]

My ds, 6, had his adenoids out on 6/28. They were huge and causing infection, snoring, and difficulty breathing. My ds did really well for the most part. We were able to have my dh go into the operating room while they gave ds gas, then dh left, and they did the IV and the surgery. They were supposed to have us in the recovery room before ds woke up, but we didn't get there quick enough. He was screaming for us, but I think it may have happened even if we were there because it seemed to be more the drugs wearing off and causing confussion. That was really hard, seeing him so upset, but once the anesthesia wore off he was pretty good. He did not like the IV though. After 2 hours in recovery we went home. We had to keep telling him to stay settled down. He was back to his normal self by that afternoon. Now he is such a quiet sleeper, I find myself checking to see if he is breathing because he sleeps so still and quiet. It is so different then before the surgery.

 

[canwegosoon]

First of all I am SOOOOO jelous...My DS had his Adenoids removed at 2 1/2 due to sleep apnea...at 3 he had major speach problems(due to twinshi/palatte/throat problems)...I truly believe that if he had not had his tonsils it would have opened up his airway(he also suffers from many allergies). I wish you and your child the best. His recovery for his Adenoids was very easy, I just remember that there was no jumping and no trips the beach. But the recovery was quick and he did great for the surgery.

 

[tina 73]

My daughter is 2 1/2 and having her adnoids and tonsils removed, and tubes put in tomorrow. I am glad to hear the recovery is pretty fast. This is her 3rd set of tubes. I had my tonsils taken out when I was 22 years old, definately didn't want her to go through what I did.

 

[brooklynheights]

My Dn had his out last month His tonsils were huge just like his moms and the doc said they were like rocks they were hard to get out i came by the next day to drop off his new meds and some custard he took me in the kitchen and told me "LOOK AT ME MY MOM AND DAD ARE STARVING ME TO DEATH I NEED FOOD REAL FOOD NOT SOME ICE CREAM" I had to laugh I told Bear you can't even eat pudding how can you eat real food you have to wait it took 2 weeks before he could swallow real food he lost 12 lbs but has been making up for lost food much better than his mom did the surgery today is a big improvment from way back when hope your kid does great let us know

 

[dementia412]

My son had his removed when he was 3. It was terrible right after. He wanted something to drink so bad, and I couldn't give him anything. After he was getting liquids and the pain meds kicked in he did fine though. He did throw up once because he swallowed blood. That is some gross and scary puke to see.
What was odd was the amount of medicine they gave us. I think it was a mistake. He was only suposed to take a small amount a few times a day, but they gave him a huge thing of Codine and Tylenol. He used all I could give him for almost a week, but only used about a tenth of what we were given.
He wasn't fully back on regular foods for about two weeks.

 

[abrownfamily]

I been through this twice! My DD,now 5, had adnoids and tonsils out and tubes in when she was two years and three months. I wasn't prepared for how hard it would be to see her little body in recovery. As far as when we got home, she did great. No problems at all. Our DS, two and a half, just had the same procedure a month ago. He is a real bruiser (takes a tumble and keeps on running). We were predicting the same recovery. Boy, were we wrong! After the first two days, he woke up every night screaming. The Doc said that it was all due to the hydration (or lack of). Then he would cry and stretch it out, causing pain. Also, both my kids WOULD NOT take the codeine. We couldn't disguise it in a way that either would take it. We voiced our concern to the doctor (same doc did both operations). He told the nurses to make sure that our son would take a dose before they let us go home. Sure, groggy from the operation, he took the dose without fuss. That was the only time. But, now things are great. DD had a seizure disorder driven by illness. That is why the early removal. DS had a speech delay. He was never sick like his sister, so we never paid attention to his ears. When we went in for the hearing test, they said there was so much fluid behind his ears that his eardrums were not moving. Now he is speaking so much more clearly. Even his speech therapist has remarked on the improvement. All in all, it has been worth while.

 

[LUVMYTINK]

Anyone have a child that has had these removed?

My DD3 is having them out and I was just looking for some experiences.

My DD was almost 4 when her's were taken out. She did fine, was even acting like her old self a few hours later. The day we left the hospital was the only really bad day she had, painwise.

 

[LUVMYTINK]

Thank you all so much for sharing. Her tonsils are so big they just about touch. Her speach sounds like she's stuffed up and talking from the back of her throat.

She has too much energy and sleeps pretty well, but is mouth breather, snors and and had been having throat infections.

Being put to sleep really is what has me worried. She had a pretty high tolerance for pain, she has never cried since she was a baby when she has gotten shots, she cries when you tell her no, but not a shot!!!

I know it's minor compared to what some parents/child goes through, but I know I'm going to lose it once I have to leave her. They said it should only take 45 minutes, so that's not too long.

That's exactly how my DD was before her were taken out. She had snored since she was a baby, always sounded like she was stuffed up, always got numerous colds during the winter and would always wake up in the middle of the night screaming. I knew from my own experience that I wanted to get it looked at and taken care of right away ( got mine out at 14 yrs. and that was after a year and a half of getting sick every month and the doctors only checking for strep and mono). The ENT she saw sent her first to a sleep clinic to check to see if it was just sleep apenea. Found out she did have sleep apenea ( she had 12 episodes of where she would stop breathing, that was when she would wake up screaming). It was from her tonsills being so big though ( ENT said they were 3-4 times larger than normal) that they would "collapse" while she slept.
After she had them taken out she hasn't had an episode since, even stopped snoring too.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

My DS was 14 months old when he had his tonsils and adenoids removed.

He'd been a sickly baby, catching every cold or other virus that came along, and it always turned into some horrid respiratory problem. By the time we finally got around to seeing a specialist, we realized his illnesses, breathing difficulties, snoring and sleep apnea were all connected, and would be alleviated by the surgery.

We had to cancel the surgery once (because DS was sick, which he was more than half the time.) But we made our rescheduled date. DH says the hardest thing he's ever had to do is hold DS while the anesthesia took hold and he went limp. Amazingly, the surgery lasted maybe 15 minutes, and my baby was resting in my arms. He was uncomfortable, but was able to nurse and take medication.

We did wind up hospitalized the next day with a high fever, and he did have several (respiratory-type) illnesses in the following year, but ever since then he's been healthy as a horse and all around a happier kid.

 

[MandM-Mom]

Great to hear most had a quick recovery! We scheduled my dd 6 surgery today, tonsils and adnoids out and tubes put in....hers are so enlarged they are not allowing her to hear well because lack of air behind the ear drumm. Her surgery is scheduled for August 10th, my youngest DD 1 is having tubes on August 9th.... all of this 2 weeks before we leave to see the mouse!!! Hoping for some quick recoveries. Kids, it is never easy

 

[cookies]

Both my kids had there tonsils and adnoids out at age 3. They were great, they bounced back really quickly (a few hours) but had some discomfort about 10 days post-op. The scabs the in throat were bothersome. But, a wonderful procedure if needed.

 

[vllygrrl]

Great to hear most had a quick recovery! We scheduled my dd 6 surgery today, tonsils and adnoids out and tubes put in....hers are so enlarged they are not allowing her to hear well because lack of air behind the ear drumm. Her surgery is scheduled for August 10th, my youngest DD 1 is having tubes on August 9th.... all of this 2 weeks before we leave to see the mouse!!! Hoping for some quick recoveries. Kids, it is never easy

Well, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one cutting it close with this procedure - DS3 is having his tonsils and Adenoids out August 8, 16 days before our trip.

 

[MandM-Mom]

Well, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one cutting it close with this procedure - DS3 is having his tonsils and Adenoids out August 8, 16 days before our trip.

Looks like we are going at the same time, lets hope we all get to enjoy our vacation!

 

[weldon1]

We have quite a bit of experience with this at our house.

My first bit of advice is make sure your child is ready to go home before leaving the hospital. My son had his tonsils & adenoids out at 5. When the dr. started the surgury he had green puss(sorry) coming out of his adenoids. He had already been on antibiotics for over a week in order to get the surgury. After we got home he threw up for 2 days and it was the infection that had drained down his throat into his stomach. I felt terrible for him having his throat cut on and then continuously throwing up.

My daughter has had 3 surguries:

Tubes @16months - no problems
ears patches @3 1/2 - no problems
tonsils & adenoids @ 5 - no problems

I do agree with the previous poster who recommended presurgury bloodwork. My children had this with every surgury.

 

[MandM-Mom]

Well, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one cutting it close with this procedure - DS3 is having his tonsils and Adenoids out August 8, 16 days before our trip.

Hope everything is well, we go in tomorrow for my DD's surgery......and was just remembering that your son was due to go right before us! Hope he is recovering well, sending the pixie dust your way!