Tonsillectomy and children?

[chobie]

MY DS(9) has to have a Tonsillectomy in a couple of weeks and I was wondering if anyone else had this done on their kid and what I can expect as far as pain and recovery. I read the literature, but I would like some feedback from parents who have gone through this with their kids.

 

[snowwhitesmom]

My DD had a tonsillectomy and adnoidectomy when she was 7. The recovery took about two weeks total.

 

[chobie]

My DD had a tonsillectomy and adnoidectomy when she was 7. The recovery took about two weeks total.

Did she feel awful the whole 2 weeks or was it tolerable after a couple of days?

 

[clh2]

My DD had her T/A's out when she was 4. The pain was pretty intense the first couple of days, and got more tolerable. Took her about 2 weeks to fully recover.

The one thing I would highly recommend is to really stay on top of the pain meds for the first couple of days. EVEN IF IT MEANS SETTING YOUR ALARM CLOCK FOR THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.

We were told this by someone whose DD had their tonsils out before my DD did. We know someone whose DD had her tonsils out, and they had to go back to the hospital because their DD got too painful, wouldn't eat or drink and got extremely dehydrated.

Good Luck!

 

[snowwhitesmom]

Did she feel awful the whole 2 weeks or was it tolerable after a couple of days?

The first week was pretty hard on her, especially the first couple of days. ITA w/the above poster - KEEP UP WITH THE PAIN MEDS. Good luck to you both.

 

[aprilgail2]

my daughter had her tonsils and adenoids out and her tongue tie fixed all in one surgery when she was 5. It wasn't as bad as they had said it would be. She was back at school after 5 days and back at karate after a week, though she couldn't do any contact sparring for 2 weeks. She was in pain the first 2-3 days after that it subsided a whole lot. I didn't give her pain meds around the clock, only when she asked for them and that was only about 6 times. She was eating the night of the second day after her surgery and she had chicken nuggetrs from wendys, they were soft and her Dr said they were fine.

 

[tluvstink]

My DD had her tonsils and adnoids removed when she was 6. It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. The first few nights I did give her pain meds as scheduled....even in the middle of the night. We were very careful about what she ate. We had to avoid anything spicy or that was acid...like tomatoes, tomato sauce, orange juice etc. Plenty of apple sauce, ice cream and her personal fav...mashed potatoes. She had to avoid any physical activity for 2 weeks....that was the hardest part. After 4-5 days she wanted to get on her bike I hope this helps.....


Terri

 

[golfgal]

DD11 had her's out when she was 5, we did it after school got out. She was a little groggy the first day, our dr keeps kids overnight in the hospital for tonsils so she pretty much slept. By the middle of the second day was starving and we struggled to find her something that would fill her up, mashed potatoes worked great for that. She had her surgery on Monday and by Wednesday was bouncing off the walls wanting to play with friends, etc.

I remember having my tonsils out when I was 4 and the pain the first day was horrible, I don't remember getting pain meds, but who knows about that. After that it wasn't too bad except that they had REALLY bad popsicles in the hospital.

 

[Tinks]

My DS was also 9 last year when he had his tonsillectomy. He was sore for the whole 2 weeks. I really thought he would be so much better after a week, but it took longer. He was still hurting after 1 week (still eating soft foods, still needing pain meds). He actually cried one week out because he was tired of feeling lousy.

A week after that --so 2 weeks post surgery-- he was much better!

He also hasn't had strep since.

 

[chobie]

Thanks everyone. My kids have a low tolerance for pain, so I will definately keep the meds going around the clock. I have a feeling he will be one that is miserable for the whole 2 weeks. He only has 2 weeks from the surgery until when school starts.

I'm hoping this will end his strep days too. He had it about 6 times last year and missed a lot of school.

 

[Desnik]

DS(3) just had his tonsils and adnoids removed in May. He had a low fever the first day. He wouldn't eat or drink anything the first day. Not even his meds, so we had to give him supositories and I gave them to him around the clock the first 3 days. I was finally able to get him to eat an ice pop on day 2. For the next week he lived on drinks and ice pops. He did want to eat by the 3rd day but it hurt too much. I would say it took a good week for him to start eating normally.

Good luck!
The operation itself was very quick, about 20 min for both. I'm sure your DS will do just fine!

Stock up on ice pops and Jello, but no dairy(creates too much mucous)and nothing red. At least that's what we were told! The Dr also stressed it was more important to get him to drink plenty of fluids and let him eat when he was ready.

 

[kami2199]

I'm truly not trying to scare you here but I tell everyone I know whose child is about to have a tonsillectomy and adnoidectomy - my daughter had this done last August. Please demand bloodwork be done prior to surgery! They did not run any bloodwork prior to hers and about halfway through the surgery the doctor came out to ask if we had any bleeding disorders in our family. Apparently they couldn't stop the oozing. We don't that I know of.

So after the surgery and while in recovery they took blood and ran numerous tests one of them being the PT/PTT test and also did the bleeding time test. While the bleeding time test came out ok the PT/PTT was not within normal (sorry I don't remember exactly how that test works). Anyhow, they kept her overnight and then sent her home the next day.

About 8 days later (she was still feeling somewhat lousy but wanted to get out of the house) we were at a Home Interiors party. She started coughing up blood - a lot of it it seemed. I called the doctor and he told me what to do. It seemed to stop and she didn't have any problems the rest of the day.

She woke me up about 2 AM and told me she was bleeding again...she was so pale. I took her downstairs and gave her the ice water then she fainted. When she came to I sat her down and she told me she felt sick. She then vomited and filled an 8 oz cup to the top with blood (they told me to meaure it). Then she fainted again. I called the doctor at home (per his instruction, no matter the time) and he said she would have to be brought in for surgery to control the bleeding. We live 25 miles from the hospital.

She spent another 4 days in the hospital after that. Her hemoglobins(?) were so low they were talking about transfusing her. They took several more tests and sent them to Mayo. Here ANA test came back positive but the pediatrician told me not to worry so much about that unless she tested positive again...I think it was a low titer speckled pattern? Nothing ever showed up in her bloodwork to point to any bleeding disorders, etc though. The next ANA came back negative.

When I asked in recovery the first time what the chances were of her bleeding to start again...they said with the doctor we had they couldn't remember ever having a patient come back with bleeding...but it can happen.

So...again, please ask that the routine blood work - PT/PTT be done prior to this and let them know ahead of time if your child or family has any bleeding problems or bruises easily. If you have any problems with bleeding after the surgery, go straight to the ER. I can't even imagine what would have happened had my daughter not woke up that night to tell me she was bleeding again.

Now, like I said before, I'm not telling you this to scare you, no flames please. Many people told me that their child was fine within a week or two and it is such a common procedure that there is nothing to be worried about. Obviously from my lack of knowledge about the blood tests, etc., I am not a medical expert. But, that being said, every surgery has it's risks. Please talk to your doctor about the bloodwork. Some hospitals, it is policy to do it, in others its not. Good luck and I hope your child breezes through with no complications.

 

[aprilgail2]

Please talk to your doctor about the bloodwork. Some hospitals, it is policy to do it, in others its not. Good luck and I hope your child breezes through with no complications.

Wow, I never heard of a hospital/dr. not doing presurgical bloodwork before an operation. I have always had blood work, ekg and chest xrays done before any surgery.
Didn't her yearly physical bloodwork show up any irregularities?? I would have been freaking out!

 

[aprilgail2]

He also hasn't had strep since.

My daughter hasn't had it since either...its been 13 months!! That year of school she missed 30+ days due to strep, fifth disease, strep strep and more strep!

 

[jenimay]

Apparently we lucked out. 2 years ago, my boys had theirs done on the same day(they both had chronic strep that even the antibiotic shot couldn't cure), they were 6 and 5, and was so worried because dh is a pilot and was leaving 2 days later for a trip. The night of the surgery the boys were feeling so good they wanted to go to the video store to rent movies(I even caught my boys eating the free popcorn even though I told them they couldn't). They did take their pain meds routinely for 2 days and then they didn't want to take them during the night. THey complained one morning about pain, but not enough for me to get them to take meds during the night. They were off pain meds in less than a week and were eating normally about day 4. I guess we lucked out big time!

On a side note, i felt back to normal a few days after my recent breast augmentation so I guess we may just be lucky when it comes to surgical recovery, although I don't want to press our luck!

Good luck to your daughter, my boys haven't had one infection since theirs.

Jeni

 

[cgcw]

I'm hoping this will end his strep days too. He had it about 6 times last year and missed a lot of school.

It worked for my DS who had repeated strep throats!

My son was 10 when he had his removed. The first couple of days were the easy ones. Towards the end of the week, his pain increased quite a bit. While he was able to tolerate just regular tylenol the first couple of days, he defintely needed the prescription medications the end of the week. Our doctor thought it was due to the scabbing process.

Our biggest obsticle was convincing my DS that it was good to drink and that the more he drank, the better he would feel. We were told to stay with sugar popsicles as juice popsicles tend to sting more. Dairy products (ice cream) were also discouraged as we were told they coat the throat.

Best of luck to your DS. I hope he comes through with flying colors.

 

[Fan2CSkr]

My Son had his tonsills and adnoids out last year. Initialy he was to come home later that day but due to his medicine allergies they wanted to keep a closer watch so he stayed one night. The Doctors and Nurses were wonderful with my son and me and allowed me in with him until he was put under.

I was also allowed to be in recovery before he woke up so he could see me first and put him at ease comming out of the anesthesia. The procedure went well. He woke with a terrible sore throat (expected) and he was given a shot for pain and again once more. Later they wanted to see him take his meds orally and he was given vicodin and handled it very well. He was not hungry at all untill the next day but he did drink that day.

The more important thing we found is to not wait until your child is in pain and then give the meds. More important to give the meds on a time schedule so that intense throat pain doesnt have to kick in. We found it so hard to get him comfortable once the pain meds wore off and he had to wait for them to work again.

Nothing red to eat or drink. Lemon anything was yummy and cold. Request glycerine swabs for his lips, they were great!

Overall my son benefited greatly from this procedure and it was short lived uncomfort in the long run.

Oh! I remembered one more thing the scabs that form where the tonsil was removed is icky, make sure he spits it out when he feels it. Thers also a little burnt charring smell in the nose I suppose from the cauterization.That went away quick enough too.

Good luck to your child and to you also!

 

[kami2199]

Wow, I never heard of a hospital/dr. not doing presurgical bloodwork before an operation. I have always had blood work, ekg and chest xrays done before any surgery.
Didn't her yearly physical bloodwork show up any irregularities?? I would have been freaking out!

My daughter was 6 and she has never had bloodwork other than the lead test at any of her yearly physicals. She has only had the ANA repeated once since (they told me to do it every six months) and is due for another one soon.

The hospital that I usually go to ALWAYS does the routine blood work, etc. prior to surgery. The ENT doctor we had retired and this new doctor came so highly recommended that we were willing to go to the new hospital. He is truly an awesome doctor and I feel very blessed to have had him. We had our ENT retire and then our pediatrician passed away (heart attack) while on a jog one morning all within a time frame of about 2 months.

We initially went to this doctor because my daughter has had a terrible time with ear infections. She had tubes placed at 13 months and amazingly at age 5 one was still in. He removed it due to tissue growing around it. She also had alot of strep throats. Missed a lot of school and it got to the point where they never really went away. I am happy to report that she has not had another bout with strep since and only one ear infection. (I do remember him saying that tonsils can sometime affect the ears.) Oh, and yes I was freaking out like you wouldn't believe.

 

[kami2199]

"Nothing red to eat or drink."

This is very important!

 

[chobie]

"Nothing red to eat or drink."

This is very important!

I hadn't heard this before, but it makes a lot of sense.

My DS will be having blood work done a week before. Thanks for your advice and for everyone's. I know it will be a rought couple of weeks, but it will be best in the long run. Besides the reapeted strep, we aslo suspect he might have sleep apnea which will can also be cured by having the tonsils removed.