Our 4 Year Old’s Experience with Tonsillectomy, Adenoidectomy, and myringotomy
May 10, 2008
If you have a child who is about to have a Tonsillectomy, Adenoidectomy, Myringotomy or any combination of the above procedures, and you’re looking for some information on what to exepct, this article might be for you.
This is NOT medical advice, and we’re not making any claims about what may or may not happen with you, and you should NOT base any medical decision on what you read here. I’m not a doctor. I just wanted to share our experience with you.
Oh, also, if you read this whole thing, and youfound it interesting, please take a moment to post a comment and let me know. Or even better, if you’re about to go through the same thing, post, and let us know, and then be sure to follow up and post the results. Ok, lets get to the article.
Before the procedure we did a lot of research on the topic and found lots of information about the actual procedure, what are tonsils, what do tonsils do, why do we have tonsils, where are the adenoids, etc. But there wasn’t a lot of information that described personal experiences with the actual procedure and recovery. That’s what this is about.Our son had three procedures done; a Tonsillectomy, an Adenoidectomy, and a bi-lateral myringotomy (incision in the ear drums but without tubes).I’m not going to talk at all about any of the events that led up to the decision to have these procedures, and I’m not going to have any discussion about whether it’s right for you or your children or whatever. The purpose of this blog entry is simply to share our experience with others, so that you can have a personal experience to relate to. Maybe it’ll make you feel better (or worse) to read what the experience was like for us.So here we go:
1. Before the procedure – Our son’s surgery was scheduled for about 12:00 noon on a Wednesday. The procedure took place at a childrens outpatient surgery center. I think the name of it was “Childrens’ Outpatient Surgery Center” and it is located in Gwinnett county off Satellite Blvd. The instructions we got from the facility told us that he was not allowed to eat or drink anything starting from like midnight until after the surgery. I think they told us he could drink something in the morning like some water or gatoraid. He was ok with that. We would have preferred to have the procedure earlier in the day so that he didn’t have to be hungry (and ornery) for so long, but he did fine.
We also struggled as to whether or not to tell him what was happening. Some people said that it would be better to not really tell him what was going to happen. I don’t know if it was right or not, but I thought it was better to tell him was was going to happen. I jumped the gun a little and told him they were going to give him a shot that would make him take a rest and that when he woke up, his throat would be sore. Then we read the information, and learned that they don’t give shots for kids younger than like 12 or something, They use some sort of gas that makes him go to sleep. So I altered my story for him and told him they would put a mask on his face and ask him to take a few deep breaths and then he would go to sleep. He seemed fine with is mostly. He’s a tough little fellow. Every once in a while he would seem to be nervous or scared, which of course is understandable. But 99% of the time if asked about it or asked if he was scared or nervous, he would say “Nope!” It’s obviously a personal decision, but I thought it was better to prepare him and give him time to mentally digest the deal.
I believe children are much more capable of handling stuff that adults give them credit for. Just like when they were much younger and we would leave them with grandparents or something. At about 2 years old or so, we learned that there would be much less crying if we would tell them ahead of time that we were going to drop them off and leave them. If we would try and distract them and sneak out, the would be a lot more tears than if we told them was was going to happen. I thought it was best to take the same approach here. And for us, I think it was the right decision.
2. In the waiting room (Wednesday) – We got there, and it was obvious that our son was nervous and a little scared. He even said that he was nervous or scared and was generally kinda quiet and shy. Which of course was totally understandable and not unexpected. The nurses brought in two sets of “scrubs” or gowns or whatever it is you wear in the operating room. We had been told that the patient and one parent can be present in the OR when the anesthesia is administered. My wife and I talked about it, and we decided it would be better for me to go with him rather than her beause I was more likely to be able to keep it all together than my wife. She would probably be an emotional wreck and that wouldn’t be a good thing for our son to see as he’s drifting off.There was a video playing in this waiting room that shows what was going to happen, and it was fine, nothing interesting or scary about it. So the nurse told us to put the gown on our son (striped down to just underwear) and I put the gown on over my clothes. Oh, they also administered an oral dose of pain medicine to our son while we were in the waiting room.
Also, a couple nurses came in and aked us a couple “quiz” type questions, I imagine for safty sake. She asked us if we knew what procedures our son was having. I think it was some kind of saftey precaution.Then the anestheisologist came in and asked a bunch of questions about what he had for dinner, what time that was, whether he had anything for breakfast, or what he’s eaten. Then he explained how it would work in the OR with the gas mask and all that, which we had already read about in the papers they set home with us.
3. In the Operating Room – The nurse came in and said it was time to go. My wife gave the little man a big hug and kiss, and I picked him up and carried him to down the hall walking behind the nurse. He was hanging on pretty tightly with his arms around my neck, his legs wrapped around my waist, and his head on my shoulder. I was pretty nervous for him, and I was nervous that he would cling on and not let go.
When we walked through the doors into the “theater” as they called it .. it was overwhelming for me. I’ve never been in an operating room, but the amount and size of the equipment in there was intimidating. I think it affected me more than our son, cause he didn’t say or do anything.We got to the table / gurney where the procedure was to take place and I told him it was time to lay down, and I leaned him over the bed and he let go without any incident laying down. I would say there were about three people in total at the bed in the OR. The anestheologist was standing behind a machine, a nurse was sitting at the head of the table, and maybe one or two other nurses standing to the side.
So he laid down with no trouble, and I told him this was the part with the mask that would make him go to sleep, and he just nervously said “Ok.” The nurse put the mask on him and asked him to take a couple deep breaths, which he did.
He looked around in a really nervous and uncomfortable way, and then his little eyes rolled back into his head and he was out. I saw the nurse brush his eyelashes, I supose as some kind of test that the anestesia was working.
Of all the things that I’ve experienced, that was by far the most uncomfortable and difficult part of the whole procedure and post experience. It was just so un-natural or something. I don’t normally get wierded out by that kind of thing, but that totally freaked me out, and when I got back to the waiting room, I could just barely keep it together. I had to wait a good while before I could tell my wife about it. I’m not a cryer, and I imagine that in 10 years of marriage, my wife has never seen me cry (probably because I haven’t cried). I knew that if I cried, she would turn into a blubbering blob of crying mess. Anyway, I would just say that you should try to be prepared for that to freak you out. Although, there’s nothing you can do really to prepare.4. Waiting in “Stage 2 Recovery Room.” – It was explained to us that there are two recovery rooms; Stage 1 and Stage 2. I guess Stage 1 is in the back somewhere, and that’s where he is when they first wake him up, and then after they do that, they wheel him in his bed to “Stage 2″ where we had been waiting.
I would say that it took about 45 minutes, and then the Dr. came in and explained that everything went well, and there were no complications or anything, and that he would be out in a few minutes.5. When he first came out – When they first rolled him into the room where we were, he did not look good at all. He really looked like he had been run over by a bus. I was not prepared for how badly he looked. It was obvious that he had been crying, and he was clearly a little confused and disoriented. I’m pretty sure that at that time he didn’t really understand what was going on and he was pretty confused.He also still had his IV (which I guess they put on after the gas), and I wasn’t sure what to do with him .. like whether we should leave him there and try to comfort him while he was in bed, or if we could pick him up or what. Finally the nurses suggested that mom pick him up and cuddle with him a little. They helped us get him situated in mom’s lap with the IV and all that. They said that a lot of times, they like staring into space and watching a little TV.6. Staying with him in the recovery room - We stayed with him in the recovery room for about 1 hour. Maybe just a little more maybe a little less. The nurses were pretty quick to start offering him fluids and stuff, and pretty much right away, he was wanting to have a “slushy” which they prepared for him. I think it was a cherry popsicle they crushed up into a cup. We spoon fed that to him over the course of about 40 minutes, and he ate it up nicely.
7. Going home (Wednesday). – Gave him his gift. I had read somewhere where another family that had gone through this, purchased and wrapped a small gift and showed their child the gift and told them that after they wake up they can open it. I thought that was a fabulous idea and we did it too. It wasn’t until about an hour after he came into the waiting room that he was aware / alert / strong enough to even think about opening his present. But after about an hour in the waiting room, he was ready, and we gave him his gift. He opened it and was very excited. We got him a cartridge for his Leapster video game thing which he absolutely LOVES. He was very excited about it, and really wanted to play it in the car on the way home.
So we got him all set up with his pillow and blanket (which we brought from home) in his car seat, and reclined him a little bit and he played his video game. I would say that about an hour and a half after he got out of surgery, and he was sitting back there in his seat playing his game, he was starting to resemble the little guy that I know. He was starting to look like himself, which was sure nice. Even though he was looking more like himself, he was very politely and calmly suggesting that he thought he needed his medicine, because his throat hurt. Unfortunately it was going to be about another 1.5 hours until he was able to take the second dose.
8. The first day (Wednesday). – When we got home, we distracted him with TV and popsicles. Every once in a while he would ask if he could have his medicine, but he wasn’t like in terrible pain or anything, he just knew he wanted / needed it. So at the right time, we gave him his first dose of the medicine.
About an hour after that first dose, he was dancing and doing cartwheels. That medicine definitely sent him into outerspace for a while. Over all his experience the first day, was not bad at all. We were pretty nervous about the first night, thinking that he would be uncomfortable and wouldn’t sleep well. Other than the fact that we set the alarm and gave him his medicine every 4 hours (even through the night) everything was just fine that first day and night.
The doctors said that he might not want to eat for at least a couple days. That was not the case with our son. He was having popsicles and ice cream and pudding pretty much right away.
He would say that his throat felt “funny” but that it didn’t really hurt. So that was good.
9. The second day (Thursday) – All things considered this day was pretty easy too. Although, it was apparent that the surgery had really worn him out. It was on this day that we really realized that this little 4 year old had undergone a real surgery and it had taken it’s toll on him.
It was probably about 10:30 or 11:00 in the morning, and my wife was looking around for the little guy, but didn’t see him anywhere. Finally she found him in his bed. He took it upon himself to walk upstairs and crawl into his bed and rest. This is when we knew that he was just worn out.
I also think the medicine was really making him feel strange and maybe even a little uncomfortable. I think at first the medicine made it difficult for him to sleep. Sometimes I would go into his room and he would just be lying there quietly staring at the ceiling. But he wasn’t in any pain, so that’s good.
He was still just eating soft things like soggy cereal, pudding, popcicles, and other stuff like that. He had a nice bowl of homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner!
Oh yeah .. Thursday night was kind of tough on the house in general. The Sunday before the surgery my little guy had some kind of stomach bug and had thrown up that Sunday night. On this night (Thursday night) that bug hit my wife and older son and they were both in the bathroom throwing up that night. Somehow I managed to avoid getting it, and so I was taking care of all the sickies in the house. Fortunately it wasn’t a severe bug, and basically 12 hours later everyone was fine.
10. The third day (Friday) – On Friday, it was mostly just more of the same. I think taking the medicine every 4 hours was really starting to take a toll on him. Both because he’s tired of floating around in outerspace and because he’s never able to get more than 4 hours of restful sleep at a time. His disposition was good in general. I think that when it was getting close to the 4 hour mark from having taken his medicine, he would get a little groggy and uncomfortable. It’s really important to make sure you give them that medicine EVERY 4 HOURS withou fail, or they will get uncomfortable.
11. The fourth day (Saturday) – Things are really looking pretty good, and we’re beginning to think that he’s a little superman, and that this whole surgery thing was no big deal for him. He still complains from time to time that his throat feels funny and he’s not too interested in eating things that are too spicy or crunchy or whatever. But all in all, he seems to be doing great. We went for a nice long walk through the woods looking for bugs and snakes and whatever. He really seems to be doing well.
At about this stage of the game he started deciding that he didn’t want to take his medicine. Although until now, we had been pretty adamant that he take it, even if he didn’t want it. But I was starting to think that we should consider starting to ween him off the strong stuff, and maybe start alternating the prescription medicine with some OTC tylenol or something.
So far he’s been doing so well, that we were thinking we might send him back to school tomorrow.
So at bed time, we didn’t force him to take his strong stuff, and we gave him a dose of regular childrens Tylenol.12. The fifth day (Sunday) – At about 2:00 in the morning he woke up, pretty much screaming in pain. It was quite clear that not giving him the strong stuff was a big mistake. It was easily the most uncomfortable that I’ve ever seen him. He was crying and sobbing so much that we couldn’t get him calmed down enough to take his strong medicine. He was also still resistant to taking the medicine. Finally, after about 45 minutes of crying and sobbing, we eventually got him to take the strong stuff, and I would say that within 10 minutes, he was calmed down and starting to get ready to go back to sleep. In a sweet little voice he said “I guess that medicine will help me go to sleep.”
13. The 6th day (Monday) – He woke up from that terrible night feeling pretty good. He remembered that he woke up and was in so much pain, but I guess in the morning light, it didn’t seem like a real big deal to him. He was pretty perky and generally feeling pretty well. Obviously today we were pretty adamant about making sure that he took his medicine every 4 hours, and he wasn’t very resistant to it anymore. All we had to do was remind him how much it hurt when he didn’t take it, and he would decide that maybe it’s not so bad to take it.
14. The 7th day (Tuesday) - Again, he’s doing very well. All in all, with the exception of the episode on Sunday night, everything has been pretty good. He has been alert, generally happy, and normal. His breath is pretty terrible. The Dr told us that would happen. I guess it has something to do with the scarring / scabs that develop at the site of the procedure. But all in all, he’s doing great. I think we’ll send him to school tomorrow.
We start stretching out how long we wait until we give him the prescription medicine. Basically at this point we’ve decided the right approach will be to give him a dose first thing in the morning, and then wait and see how long it takes before he decides that he needs some medicine. Up until this point it wasn’t uncommon for him to wake up in the morning or wake up from his nap or something and say “I think I need my medicine.” So we figured we would wait to see how long it takes for him to say he needs it.
The 8th day (Wednesday) – So it’s been 1 week since the procedure and everything is looking good for him to go to school today. The poor fellow loves school and it’s been torture for him to see his older brother get up and go to school every day while he has to stay home and be bored. So today we sent him to school and he was just fine. We gave him is strong medicine at about 7:30 in the morning, and my wife picked him up from school at 1:15 or so (his normal time to get out), and he was pretty ready for his medicine when he got out of school.
The 9th day – Thursday – Well, he’s pretty much turned the corner, and I think he’s good to go. At this point, it’s just a matter of waiting until the healing is done.Over all, the whole deal was not difficult and we didn’t have any complications other than the episode on Sunday night, which was clearly my fault, and if we had given him his medicine like we were supposed to, there would have been nothing to talk about.
At this point, it was really just a matter of stretching out the time between doses of medicine. By day 8 or 9 we were getting pretty close to the point where we could dose him in the morning, and then not does him again until bed time.
The last dose of big medicine we gave him was the morning of Friday (about the morning of day 10, if the day of the surgery is day 1). We sporradically give him a dose of childrens tylenol if he says he needs, it, but pretty much he’s done.
So overall, it was very easy and the results are excellent. He doesn’t snore anymore and his hearing is GREATLY improved. His favorite phrase used to be “What you said?” and now his favorite phrase is “What’s that sound?” The improvement in his hearing was almost instantenous, and I think he’s hearing things now that he’s not used to hearing. Little things like the fan on the refridgerator, or certain birds chirping, or the house creaking. We have absolutely no regrets, and I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to do it again. I was clearly the right thing for us.
Well, hopefully that’s helpful for you!
Chris Hackett
Posted in Adenoidectomy, Myringotomy, T & A Procedure, Tonsillectomy
May 21st, 2008 at 11:37 am
Nice to read another families account of this surgery. My daughter just had it done last Friday (May 16th), and the doctor did not give her any prescription pain medicine. She’s been on Tylenol only for the recovery, and it’s been very tough to watch. She’s in a lot of pain most of the time and still isn’t eating much of anything. What kind of medicine was your son taking? Our doctor said it wasn’t safe for a 4 year old with a history of sleep issues to take a pain suppressant.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Hi Mindy,
Of course I have to preface this with “I’m NOT a doctor, and nothing I write should be interpreted as medical advice, and you should not make any medical decisions based on what I write.” … blah blah blah ..
Gosh. That’s really surprising. I can’t believe they didn’t prescribe something. I’m not sure how we would have managed with the meds they gave our son. I think it was called “Loritab” or something like that. It was explained to us that it’s a combination of Tylenol and Codeine.
Our son didn’t have much of an appetite for a while. Our Dr. said something like “Keep him hydrated, and other than that, I don’t care if he doesn’t eat for three weeks.” I think he was being a little funny, but I think his point was that we shouldn’t be too concerned if he doesn’t eat much for a while.
Just for informational purposes, our son is 4, and he was born in late July.
May 28th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Thank you so much for writing this. My two year old son is going to be having this and I am really nervous for him for it and nervous what to expect.
May 29th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Hi Bridget! I’m glad the article was helpful. I’m sure it’s different for a 3 year old versus our 3 (almost 4) year old. But I have to say that it was really not a huge deal. There were specific parts of the tonsillectomy / adenoidectomy that were not a ton of fun. But there is NO DOUBT whatsoever that it was the right thing to do. He sleeps so much better, he feels better, and his hearing is so much improved. It used to be that his favorite saying was “What you said?” and now his favorite saying is “What’s that sound?” I really think that he’s hearing things he’s never heard or has forgotten that he heard. THey’re small things like the house creaking, or the air conditioner kicking on, or the fan on the fridge or something. It’s really cool. And really, the entire recovery only took a week, and it was easy.
Good luck with your son, I hope things go as well for you as they did for us!
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Thank you! I found this thru Google because I found out today my 7 year old is having the exact same thing later on this month (down to the bilateral myringotomy without tubes). Thank you for writing this! I’ll share this with my husband later.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Hi Tina! I’m glad you enjoyed the article. I enjoyed writing it. When I found out that our son was going to have the tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (as well as the myringotomy), I was really frustrated with not being able to find much in the way of personal information about the procedures. Found lots of scientific jargon and sterile factual articles and documents, but couldn’t find anything that was a little more personal. Hopefully this can be that for others.
Good luck with your 7 year old. Hopefully things will go as smoothly for you and your family as it did for ours!
June 20th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Thank you SO much for sharing your experience. My little Luke (2 3/4) will be undergoing both a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy in 4 days and I’m really nervous! My husband had his done (he’s 30) about 6 months ago and had a HORRIBLE recovery so I’m hoping Luke does much better. He snores SO loudly and has Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea. I’m mostly excited to see the end results and hope that my little guy sleeps better and sounds better. Did you notice a change in your son’s voice after the procedure? Luke is a very noisy eater as well and I was wondering if your son was the same and if you noticed a difference.
Thanks again!
Joy
June 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am
Hi Joy!
I hope things go well for Luke! I know it’s nerve racking, but for us it was all very much worth it, and it really wasn’t that bad. My mom had her tonsils out when she was like 18, and it was really awful for her too. Everything I’ve read lead me to believe that it’s MUCH MUCH more difficult for adults than for children.
I had heard there might be a change in his voice after the procedure. If there was a change, it was very very minimal, and not really noticable. If anything, his enunciation improved significantly. My wife says that he was pretty noisy eater. Mostly that he was eating with his mouth open. We eventually decided that he was doing that because he couldn’t breath, so we stopped getting on to him. This was very much improved for us after the procedure.
All in all, it was really not too difficult, and now that a little time has passed, it’s really just a little blip on the radar. He sleeps better, feels better and hears better. It was really the right thing to do for us, and the recovery wasn’t that bad, with the exception of that one night. But that was our fault!
Good luck!
July 1st, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Thank you for your story. My 2 1/2 year old is scheduled for this on 7/8 and I am a nervous wreck. I was even frightened to read your blog as I thought it was going to be a doom and gloom kind of tale. I really hope our little one can get through this as well as your little one. Thanks for the information, I truly am grateful.
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Hi Vanessa,
Well, I’m glad you found the courage to read the story, and hopefully it was helpful rather than frightening!
I hope things go well for you and your family. I really think the anticipation and nervousness that pre-ceeds the ordeal is worse than the actual ordeal!
Good Luck!
July 8th, 2008 at 1:01 am
An update on Luke’s surgery: My little guy (almost 3) has had an amazing recovery! Tomorrow will mark 2 weeks since his tonscillectomy and adenoidectomy and surprisingly he has handled the pain so well! The doctor prescribed Tylenol with codeine and that was the only thing he really needed. I was prepared to wake him in the middle of the night (especially that first night home), but he slept an entire 16 hours and only after I woke him at noon the next morning did he begin to cry in discomfort. I guess he really was making up for lost quality sleep time! During the day I pretty much kept up with dosing his med. every 4 hours, but he slept soundly at night. The most crying he did was waking first in the morning and after naptime. After a week, he didn’t need the med. every 4 hours and he hasn’t had any at all for 5 days now. I was also prepared for him not eating solid food but right after we got home from the hospital he ate scrambled eggs and a fruit and grain bar! He pretty much kept with his regular diet with just eating a little less than usual. I bought him a couple of “special” SpongeBob Squarepants sippy cups that he kept with him at all times so he no problem with keeping hydrated. All in all, I can honestly say my worries FAR surpassed the actual problems with pain, etc. Luke is a fantastically laid back little boy and has always taken sickness, teething, etc much better than his siblings. I’m guessing this played an important role in his recovery. Oh yeah, his voice changed tremendously! I was shocked to hear how much higher pitched his voice was and how much more clearly he spoke right away. He is no longer snoring and is no longer a noisy eater! I’m so happy with his results and am SO glad we had this done now. I almost wish we would’ve done it sooner! Good luck to everyone out there who is about to undergo this same thing!
July 17th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Thanks for updating us on Luke! I’m so glad to hear that it all went so well for you and the little guy!
July 25th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Thanks for the blog. I wish I had read this earlier, just because there is a total lack of family/children experiences on the web. My almost three-year-old son had his tonsils/adnoids removed on July 18th (a week ago today) and has been a little down-and-out, but nothing like what I thought he’d be. He never has been a big eater (I chalk some of this up to the fact that his giant tonsils got in the way), so he doesn’t have a big appetite yet, but he grazes a bit throughout the day. I’ve found the toughest part to be the nigths – either he wakes up once or twice and cries in pain or he sleeps through the night and his throat really hurts in the morning. Today is the first day (day
that he hasn’t been getting tylenol every 4 hours. We dosed him at 5am and haven’t yet (it’s midafternoon). I figured I’d wait until he tells me he needs it. He hasn’t returned to daycare yet, but I think Monday we’ll give it a try. I have noticed a bit of a voice change (high pitched, but clearer), so we’ll see if that stays the same. Overall, I’m thrilled with having the procedure done. Our hospital stay nearly mirrored yours, although we didn’t get to go back to the OR with him. After reading your post, I’m actually glad I didn’t. I was pretty calm about the whole thing and I think seeing him go under with the meds would have freaked me out! I can’t wait until next month when we don’t have ANOTHER bout of tonsilitis! (He was regularly getting sick every 4-8 weeks.)
Again, thanks for the post.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:19 am
I’m glad to hear that things went well. I noticed ini your post that you mention dosing the Tylenol every 4 hours. Did the Dr. prescribe something or did you just dose with regular OTC Tylenol? I was surprised to read somewhere that someone had this procedure done for one of their children and did not get a prescription pain med. I’m not sure that would have worked out for us, I would have called in and requested something.
Anyway, so glad to hear things went well!
July 30th, 2008 at 1:07 am
Thanks very much for this account of your son’s (and your experience) with this surgery. My daughter is 4 and is having a tonscillectomy and adenoidectomy this Friday, 8/1. The Pre-Op nurse called today and I really have been second guessing the decision we’ve made.
Her Pediatrician told us when she was 2 that we should plan on the surgery and I just couldn’t do it.
Her behavior the last few days has been much like your son’s. Reading your summary made me feel at ease with her questions (or lack of questions). We are opting to share with her what to expect and have been working at that slowly as she doesn’t really want to talk about it. We had a consulation at the Children’s Hospital here in Seattle, and they encouraged us to talk with her truthfully, giving us coloring pages and other pictures to use for the explaination.
I am going to call the nurse back tomorrow to inquire about the pain meds as that sounds like a make or break for a good recovery.
Thanks again. I look forward to a great update!
August 1st, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Hi Beth. Looks like today is the day! I’m sure it will all go well.
Our son in the days leading up to the surgery was pretty quiet about it. He was probably just pretending to be a tough guy
He kind of acted like he didn’t care, or that he didn’t think it was a big deal. He did eventually admit that he was nervous. But we told him it was ok to be nervous, and that everything would be ok.
it’s been a couple months now since the procedure, and if you ask him if it was a big deal, he would say no. If you ask him if it hurt, he would say no. If you ask him if he’s glad we did it he’ll say “Yes.”
For us, it was awesome!
August 19th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Hi!
Thanks for your account of what your little man went through. My daughter who’ll be 3 in October is booked for an adenotonsillectomy next Friday 29/08 and I’ve been a bit freaked out. She has OSA and when her ENT took a look at her tonsils and adenoids he said there was no other course to take. I’m feeling alot better about everything after having read your account – my husband and I also feel it’s better to let her know what’s going to be happening – she appears to be quite brave about it all – sweet thing!
Thanks again – great to know that there are lots of other parents and toddlers going through the same thing.
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:06 am
Hi Lorna,
It’s been a good while since our son had the tonsilectomy and adenoidectomy, but just the other night I was looking at him sleeping and remembering how brave and tough he was. It’s amasing how resiliant they are. They’re so much stronger that adults normally give them credit for.
I hope it all goes well for you and your family. Be sure to come back and let us know how it went.
Thanks for taking some time to post! I’m glad our account made you feel better.
Chris
September 11th, 2008 at 12:55 am
Thank you so much for sharing your story!
Our son, Jackson, had a Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy 2 days ago and I wish I would have found this before! Oh well…a few days late! You’re right, there was just no info out there on this procedure and what to expect.
We did tell Jackson about the surgery and took him to Build-A-Bear to get a new Dr.s outfit for his bear as a fun present. And when you pushed the button on the bear, we recorded ourselves on there telling him how much we loved him and that God is always with him. They let him take his bear in to surgery with him, so that was nice and comforting to him. Our hospital did not allow us to go into the OR with him. I was upset at first, but after hearing how traumatic it is, I think it was probably best. I hear it’s way worse on the parents than on the kids. The doctor said he did great – they laid him down and put a “bubble gum” scent on the mask and asked him if he could smell it. They said he just smelled himself to sleep.
Jackson just turned 4 and he typically has a very high pain tolerance. He has had stitches with no numbing beforehand, and is quite brave with pain. But he has really struggled with this recovery! The anesthesiologist said that some kids, especially those with this particular procedure, tend to “freak out” when they wake up. They are swollen, can’t breathe, and are in pain. I had no idea what to expect, but when he woke up, it was horrible. Like you said about your son, Jackson also looked like he had been hit by a truck. He was moaning and crying and his nose was bleeding and was miserable! I couldn’t handle it. Once that wore off, he was more himself, but has really been in pain. I have to beg him to drink or eat a popsicle. He doesn’t want to talk because it hurts him. I really wasn’t expecting the recovery to be this tough. He is on Tylenol with Codeine and that has helped a lot, but he still is timid with drinking and eating. Has anyone out there had a similar experience with pain afterward? Today he did have some jello, and that was a huge achievement. But I have to really stay on him to drink or have a popsicle. Bummer.
The doctor told us to keep him indoors for at least 5-7 days, as there are many germs outdoors and the mouth is quite susceptible to infection. Did anyone else have to do this? I’m getting a little stir crazy!
Well, thanks for sharing your stories. We’re only 2 days in, so we’re still learning as we go. It helps to know others are going through the same stuff!
Deanna
September 26th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Thanks for sharing your story with us! It’s amazing how strong kids are. I’m convinced they’re much stronger and resilient than most adults. So how he doing now? I’ve not heard of the “stay inside” approach. I’m all about being safe, but seriously .. don’t go outside?
October 2nd, 2008 at 3:05 pm
I was very glad to find this article. It has really helped me cope with the fact that my son is going to have surgery. He is 2 1/2 years old and is having a tonsilectomy and adnoidectomy done next week. I found your article through google and was very excited that I did. We have been dealing with fevers and vomiting and strep throat for almost 2 years now and he also snores. I have never witnessed him having sleep apnea but he does wake up at least once a night and drinks a lot. He hasn’t gained any weight for almost a year now but he is getting taller. I don’t know if his weight is related to his tonsils or not. He gets the fevers about every three weeks and he usually has them from 3-4 days and the fevers are anywhere from 102-104 degrees. The poor kid is so used to going to the doctor that when we get there he walks right up to the scale and height chart. And then we we get into the exam room he sits on my lap and turns his head for the doctor to check his ears and then opens his mouth and says “ahhhhhhhhh” without having the doctor say anything to him. I hope that this surgery helps him with all of these problems.
Again thank you for the article, it was very educational from a personal standpoint. I am a little more relaxed now about the whole thing.
October 4th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Hi Michelle! I’m glad the article was helpful for you. I enjoed writing it, and I’ve really enjoyed reading the comments from other parents who have gone through the same thing, or are about to go through the same thing. I can remember the generally sick feeling I had in the weeks, days, and hours leading up to the procedure. There’s not doubt it was pretty tough, but in the long run there’s absolutely no question that it was worth while. I’m guessing that in your situation it will turn out to be even better for you than it was for us. Our son was really just not sleeping that well, and he was getting sore throats and colds all the time. He wasn’t having the more severe symptoms that it seems like son is experiencing. Our recovery was pretty easy with the exception of that one night, and like I mentioned, I think it was our own darn fault. The hardest part was watching him go to sleep, and the hour or two immediately following the procedure. He was in pretty rough shape. But I’m telling you, these kids are tough cookies, and within a couple hours he was really much better. Overall the tonsilectomy and adenoidectomy was exactly what our son needed. He sleeps better, doesn’t get sick as much, he feels better, and overall he’s just a happier little person. I hope everything goes as well for you as it did for us!
October 25th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Hi. Like so many others before have said….thank you for writing this article. Our son, 4 yrs old….is having this same surgery on Oct. 28th, 4 days from now. We haven’t really told him anything other than the fact that he is going to get his ears and throat “fixed”. I want to find the best way to explain it without scaring him and that’s how I came across this article. The difference for him is that this is his 3rd time having his ear tubes replaced, his 2nd time having the adenoids removed, and the first time for the tonsillectomy (which they are calling a partial tonsillectomy because he is having them “shaved”). They said it is less invasive and painful than the complete removal. But, I have heard such horror stories about the pain that I am still freaking out about his recovery. This kid has been through so much in his 4 years of life that I just want this to work so bad and I want it to be the end of all of his problems. I’ve heard that no matter what, the end result is worth all of it and that’s all I’m grasping onto at this point. Last time we did the tube replacement with adenoid removal, my husband wouldn’t go into the OR for the anesthesia with him (he’s a little more sensitive than I am), but I don’t know if I can do that again. He is now 2 years older and now he’s going to understand a little bit more that I am helping these people do this to him. I’m sure my anxiety is all for not, but I just want him to be OK. Anyways, with all of this, I am so thankful for your writing about your experience so that I could put my mind at ease with some “real” experience rather than just “doctor talk” which is all you can find on the internet. You have been a real Godsend for not just me and the parents who have commented before me, but to those who haven’t commented as well. Thank you!!
October 29th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Angie, you exactly the person that I wrote this for. I’m really thankful and grateful that this article has helped you. It’s really amazing and fulfilling for me to read a comment like yours. It sure is tough to put your children through something like this. I’ll tell you what though, these kids are so tough its almost difficult to comprehend. They’re so resilient and I’m convinced you can take any 4 year old and put him up against any full grown adult, and that child will “school” any adult when it comes to coping with or handling something like this.
If you ask our son, who is now 5 what he remembers, it’s not much. And surprisingly, he doesn’t have any negative memories about it. He’s not afraid to go to the Dr., it wasn’t traumatic for him. These kids are tough!
Today is the 29th, so I guess you’re all done with the procedure. I’ll pray that your recovery goes well, and that this is the last time you’ll have to fool with all this.
November 15th, 2008 at 2:14 am
Thank you for this post! My daughter had the same surgery, with ear tubes, on Wednesday, and I keep reading all of these different articles about how long healing will take, so it is good to hear it from someone with “real world” experience! She has been ok, except in the mornings, I think her throat just gets to dry sleeping all night and hurts a lot worse!
November 17th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Thanks for the post. My son had his tonsils and adnoids out exactly one week ago. He is slowly getting better each day and our experiences are similar. The recovery is really no joke….and I am glad to return to normalcy. My son is almost back to his energetic, happy little self. Now I just have to get him to eat again.
I will say that I do not think I will ever recover from the anesthesia part. My son was very resistant to the mask and fought the doctor off a little. He was crying and yelling for my help. Finally they held down his arms and forced the mask on him. I was literally in pieces. I sat in the waiting room sobbing. I was no way prepared for seeing that. His surgery lasted about 45 minutes and we were brought to recovery. He came out of anesthesia disoriented and thrashing about. The nurse gave him a small dose of morphine which chilled him out. Due to the fact my son had diagnosed sleep apnea we stayed in recovery for 6 hours. Late that we were able to take him home. One thing to now is day 3 after surgery can be a bit of a hurdle. My ENT warned me this was usually the hardest day and he was right. We kept giving him the tylenol with codeine avery 4 hours and he slept a lot.
I hope every little one and big one that has this surgery has a smooth surgery and speedy recovery.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Wow Jodie. It sounds like you had a pretty tough go of it. My son was totally fine with the mask / anesthesia part of it, and even with it like that I was almost a mess. I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it would have been had he resisted. That’s just so not fun.
I’m glad to hear that you’re out of the woods now and that things are getting back to normal!
November 20th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Wow, you guys are all so lucky! We are on day 8 here and I still can barely get my girl to eat or drink anything at all. I took her back to the dr today because I was concerned and she’s developed a case of thrush!
November 21st, 2008 at 1:14 pm
What did the Dr. say? I remember our Dr. saying something like “Don’t really care too much if your child doesn’t eat anything for two weeks as long as you keep him hydrated. He’s got to have the fluids (lots of them), but he’ll be fine if he doesn’t eat much for a while.
I know it’s tough when you in the middle of it, but I can tell you that once your out of the woods, time flies and next thing you know you’ll have forgotten all about it! Except of course to comment on how much better the sleep and that they don’t snore or sound like they’re suffocating when they sleep!
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:32 pm
He gave her medicine for the thrush and said she was healing normally. The next day she was almost back to normal! I couldn’t believe how quickly she turned around! I think she was having nightmares and that’s why she kept waking up screaming, but as I said yesterday all day she was good and she slept all night last night.
January 16th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Thank you so much for writing this. I found your site about a month before my daughter’s surgery and came back to re-read it the day prior. We’re on day 2 right now, and this is our story so far.
A couple weeks before the surgery, I started telling my 4-year-old daughter Jordyn what was going to happen. I let her know the doctor was going to put a mask on her face and she would fall asleep, that he would take out her tonsils, and then she’d wake up with a sore throat. After that, I told her, she could go home and eat ice cream and popsicles and spaghettios. There were times when she looked upset, but I’d just smile and remind her about the vacation we’d be taking as soon as she got better and how she’d get medicine so her throat wouldn’t hurt.
About a week before Jordyn’s scheduled surgery, I got a call from the hospital because they wanted to pre-register her for surgery. Then again the day before the surgery they called and got her completed health history. That same day I also went to the doctor’s office and got her pre-surgery information packet. They had me sign some release forms and gave me two prescriptions to fill, Lortab (Hydrocodone), a narcotic pain medication, and Amoxicillin, an antibiotic. They gave me a folder with some info for us and for the hospital and told us to show up at the hospital at 5:30 am the next day and that the surgery would start about 7 am. Jordyn was not to have anything to eat or drink after midnight. Not a problem since she was in bed by 8.
I woke Jordyn up the next morning about 4:45 am, got her dressed and into the car. We arrived at the hospital right at 5:30 and took advantage of the free valet parking. When we went inside, I was surprised to see 4 or 5 other families there already. We went to the admissions desk and checked her in and took a seat in the lobby. One by one the other families were called back, and we were the last ones to go, at about 6 am. We went to the day surgery unit and checked in at their nurse’s station. They took some of the forms the doctor’s office gave me the day prior and then showed us to our room. Once inside, jordyn had to take off her shirt and put on a hospital-gown type shirt and remove her earrings. Her nurse came in and talked to us a little about what was going to happen.
We watched a little TV until about 6:40 when she came back in and brought jordyn some medicine to help her relax. I don’t know what it was, but it made Jordyn loopy as heck. She acted sort of drunk, started mumbling and kept grabbing into the air at what she said were jellyfish. (Too much Spongebob??) When she wanted to get up out of bed, I made sure to hold on to her and it’s a good thing I did, since she had no balance whatsoever.
She was in that state for about an hour, and during that time two anesthesiologists, a couple nurses and a priest came in to check on her, ask questions about her health history and tell us what to expect. About 7:50 am the nurse came in to take her to the OR. I gave her a hug and the nurse told her they were going on a parade and she should wave to everyone in the hallway. I’m assuming it was the medicine they gave her, but she had no problems being wheeled back to the OR and barely even looked back at me.
At 8:10 am I got a call from the OR and they said Jordyn was asleep. I went down to the cafeteria and got some breakfast and then took it back to the room. At 8:45 the surgeon came in and said the procedure went well and there were no complications, and she was in recovery. At 9:20, they wheeled her back into the room (while I was in the bathroom—of course!) and I could hear her coughing. I came out and saw that she had been crying and was coughing a lot. She started dry heaving and the nurses told me she wasn’t supposed to do that because it could break a clot loose. They said they would take the IV out of her hand as soon as she finished the cup of Sprite they gave her. Jordyn’s never had Sprite before in her life and she definitely didn’t want any now. She took one sip and said she wanted to lay down. A couple minutes later she sat up and threw up all over the bed. It was a mixture of blood and mucus. I called the nurse, and she came in and helped us clean up. She said that was normal, and they always feel better after getting that out of their system. I’m pretty sure the Demerol had a lot to do with it, since it made me sick the one time I had it as well. I put Jordyn in my lap and she fell asleep. After a few minutes I put her back in bed and she slept until the nurse woke her up at 10:50 to check her vitals and give her some water. 20 minutes later, she had drank most of her water, so the nurse took out her IV and said we could go home. About 10 minutes after that we were in the car.
We pulled out of the parking lot and a block later Jordyn said she was going to throw up. I was at a red light and had nowhere to go, so I gave her my jacket to throw up on. Unfortunately it was a waterproof-ski jacket, so everything just rolled right off it and onto the upholstery of my 2-day old Nissan Sentra. We decided to just head straight home and clean up there. And luckily I was able to clean everything up. Thank goodness the dealership still owes me a free detail though.
Jordyn crawled right into bed and I put in a movie, then turned on a humidifier I bought just for this occasion. She fell asleep right away and woke up about 12:45. I gave her a dose of Amoxicillin and a dose of Lortab (3/4 tsp). For the next 4 hours she sipped on water, ate 3 bites of strawberry yogurt, had a lick of chocolate popsicle and a taste of chocolate pudding. About 4:45 pm she threw up all the water she’d been drinking, and immediately wanted a chocolate popsicle, which she devoured. About 6 pm she said her tummy hurt and we gave another dose of Lortab, and 20 minutes later she vomited again. I called the on-call doctor and he said it was most likely due to the Lortab, but was exacerbated by having an empty stomach. He said I could give her up to 3 tsp of Children’s liquid Tylenol, but to start out with 2 tsp. As soon as I gave that to her, about 6:30 pm, she fell asleep. So every 3 hours or so all through the night we did the Tylenol thing. I decided it would be better to wake her up and give her the medicine because I didn’t want her to wake up screaming in pain later—and I knew she’d go right back to sleep. She woke up around 12:45 am and said she was hungry. She had a bowl of whole wheat spaghetti with butter and tried a little strawberry Jello. I guess now is not the best time to be trying new foods though—she wasn’t exactly impressed. I was exhausted so I told her I was going back to sleep. We put on Tinkerbell and she stayed up for a little bit and eventually fell asleep.
All through the night I only slept for about 90 minutes at a time, between giving her medicine and her ringing her little bell to tell me she was hungry or thirsty or she needed a new movie.
Day 2: We eventually got up for good about 6:45 am. She had a little oatmeal, tried a bite of toast which turned out to be too rough to eat, had some more buttered spaghetti and drank some more water. She was starting to act like her normal self, talking a lot more, smiling, and even dancing in her room. About 9:30 am she said her throat hurt, so I decided to give her a half dose of Lortab. Not 10 minutes later she was curled up in a ball and telling her her stomach hurt. Shortly after that she got up, walked into her bedroom and got in bed. I followed her with the trash can and she vomited into it the second I brought it in. 10 minutes later she did the same thing. By 11:30 she had thrown up 4 times. I’m definitely saying no more Lortab. We’ll have to go the rest of the way with Tylenol.
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:35 am
Goodness. It sounds like you’ve had a bit rougher of a time with your first couple days than we did. I’ll have to check with my wife to see what they gave up for the pain, but I don’t think it was Lortab. It sure seems like the Lortab they gave you was upsetting your daughters tummy in a bad way. I guess we were really fortunate that our son didn’t throwup at all. I fully expected him to since I’ve heard that the general anesthesia can make you sick, plus having all that mess in your throat.
I have to disclaim this of course and mention that I’m not a Dr. and I’m not giving medical advice, but I would call the Dr. and ask them to prescribe something else for the pain like Tylenol with Codeine or something. I know that our son was better during the first couple days than further into it. I don’t remember which day or days it was but just when we though we had turned the corner, it clearly got worse for him.
Anyway, I think it would be worth a call to the Dr. to tell him that she just can’t keep the Lortab down and that you’d like to see what alternative there is.
Good luck. I know it’s tough, but hopefully in a couple weeks it’ll all be behind you!
January 31st, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Thank you for sharing! My son had the triple surgery yesterday (tonsils, adenoids, tubes). He is four years old. He was running around once we got home yesterday. Today is a whole different story. He won’t eat, barely drinking and has to be talked into taking his medicine. I sure hope he feels better soon. Meanwhile I am going to do everything I can to keep him comfortable and hydrated. Again, thanks for posting, great idea.
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Hi Jessica,
I’m glad you found this blog and the comments here helpful. Hopefully your procedure went well and so will the recovery!
February 8th, 2009 at 10:43 am
I eventually lost count, but Jordyn threw up probably about 8 times total on day 2. About 5:30 she woke up from a nap feeling much better. I realized I hadn’t given her her mid-day dose of the antibiotic, and when I read the bottle it said the side effects were nausea and vomiting. Wanting to avoid this, I called the on-call doctor and told him what had happened. He told me the Amoxicillin was more for pain relief than anything else and it would be ok if I didn’t give it to her, that it wouldn’t cause or allow any infections or anything like that. Phew! I asked Jordyn if she wanted some Tylenol to help her throat feel better and she said it didn’t hurt. She ate a few bites of a few different things, drank some water and some milk, and looked like she was feeling a lot better. She took a bath around 11 pm and went to bed while watching a movie.
Day 3: Jordyn didn’t wake up (or at least she didn’t wake me up) until about 6:45 am. I know her throat has been hurting her, especially when she’ll only take a couple bites of her most favorite foods in the world. She is still refusing to have any Tylenol though. I think she’s afraid it’ll make her vomit like the Lortab did. She’s almost back to her normal self though, and drinking plenty of fluids. If she doesn’t want the Tylenol, I figured it’s best not to force it on her. I don’t know how bad it really hurts but she seems to be dealing with it just fine. She’s not crying or screaming about the pain and she’s been laughing and playing. This little kid is just amazing.
Jordyn fell asleep on the floor of the living room around 4:30 pm. Her sleep schedule has obviously gotten a little messed up, so I tried to wake her up at 6:45 pm and that’s when she complained of a headache. After quite a bit of pleading, I got her to finally take some Tylenol, and she fell right back asleep.
Day 4: Well, going to bed at 4:30 in the afternoon on day 3, I shouldn’t have been surprised when Jordyn got up at 2 am. She asked for some mac and cheese, which I gave her and then went back to bed. When she woke me up again at 6:30, I noticed that she’d barely touched it. She asked for some milk though, and she’s had 2 cups so far. She has talked about eating pancakes later, but I still think she’s avoiding having to eat because her throat hurts. She did sing this morning for the first time since her surgery, which is a great sign. This kid normally sings from sunrise to sundown. I always said if she doesn’t become a famous singer I’d be surprised.
Day 5: I know her throat still hurts but we really have to bribe her to get her to take any Tylenol. I got her a pizza and she ate 4 or 5 bites and said she was done. The only thing she really wants right now is milk.
Day 6: Just more of the same. Taking it pretty easy around the house.
Day 7: Every time Jordyn wakes up in the morning or from a nap, she’s extremely cranky, and many times she actually cries. When I ask why she’s crying, she tells me she doesn’t know. I can only assume her throat still hurts. This morning she told me a headache though, so it was a good excuse to get her to take some Tylenol. We have her post-op doctor’s appointment today at 2:15, so we’re hoping for a clean bill of health.
We had a trip planned to New Jersey a week after her surgery, so that morning we went for her post-surgery check up. The Dr said she was healing just fine, but when I told him about our trip he was a little worried when I said we’d be out playing in the snow because he said there was still a risk of bleeding and the dry cold air might affect her adversely. Once we got there (a day and a half later–we drove), there was no way I could keep her inside with all that beautiful snow just calling her name. Against Dr’s orders, we sledded, made snowmen and had snowball fights every day for the next week, with no ill effects.
Day 10 seemed to be the magic number for Jordyn. That’s when she started eating again and running around, singing, jumping and playing like her normal self. However, she still woke up once a night screaming for the next couple nights. I don’t know if she was in pain or having a nightmare or what, because she was so groggy when I went in her room, she didn’t know what was going on either. I just told her to lay down and go back to sleep and she was fine after that.
February 18th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Dear Admin;
Our son is 2 and is on his 3rd day after surgery for adenoidectomy and tubes for his ears.
The first 2 days he was almost like nothing happned and was doing fabulous with over the counter pain meds. Today, his breath is HORRIBLE and isn’t eating well, or drinking. I have a prescription pain med. and from the sounds of it, I will be waking him tonight to give it to him. Mornings are horrible as the OTC meds have long worn off and he is suffering badly. Did your son have really bad breath?
February 18th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
He sure did. I can’t remember how long it lasted, but that’s a very common symptom and nothing to be concerned about. It’s not something fun to think about, but I think basically the odor is a result of the scabbing.
We did the prescription meds for like the first four to seven days.
I hope it does well for you and your son!
February 21st, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Thank you for your answer. Today is day 5 not counting the actual surgery day and he’s having quite a time with pain and crankies. He keeps saying his throat hurts and he’ll eat in the morning and by late afternoon, hardly eating and hardly drinking. I think I’ll call the Dr. on Monday and see if there is something else I can do for him, unless you have any suggestions. I feel so badly for him, and am TOTALLY burnt out because all he wants is Mommy, not Daddy, so I haven’t slept in nights it seems and I’m feeling like new mum all over again!
Thanks again for your help!
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Hey There,
Sounds like things are pretty tough at your house these days. I’m sorry to hear that. I think you’re probably in the middle of what’s the more difficult part of the recovery.
My only suggestion is to make sure you give the prescribed medication on the schedule, even if your child seems to be feeling or doing ok. One thing our Dr. told us was that some of these pain meds require a few scheduled doses to sort of “build up” in their system to be fully effective. I think one of the reasons that our recovery was relatively non-problematic was that we were very diligent about making our son take his prescription medications on-time every-time. Even when he didn’t think he needed it.
I don’t remember what day it was, but whatever night it was that we didn’t give the medicine, we paid for it!
Hopefully thinkgs are going better today for you.
Chris
February 26th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Hi,
I just read your article and it makes me feel better about the decision to have my 2 year olds tonsils and adenoids removed. It seemed that it went fairly well for you and your family and I hope it’s the same for mine. I’m definetly nervous about my daughter being put to sleep, but in the long run I think this surgery will benefit her for a better, more restful time!
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I’m glad reading the article helped. I enjoyed reading it and I enjoy even more reading that it’s helping folks like you!
It’s been a good long while now since our son had the surgeries, and I can still say without a doubt that having the procedure was the right thing to do. Our Son Matthew sleeps much better, he’s less prone to ear infection and sore throat. All in all, the two weeks or so that it takes to recover are well worth the long-term pay off.
Good Luck! I hope everything turns out well for your and your family!
Chris
March 11th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
“I believe children are much more capable of handling stuff that adults give them credit for.”
I believe that 100%.
I can’t believe they let you watch him go under. Our hospital would not for that very reason you experienced. WEIRD!
Day 5 (yesterday) was also our worst recovery day. We are no Day 7 now.
thewelchfamily.blogspot.com to see what we are going thru day 7 post surgery of our 4.75 year old daughter Hana
March 12th, 2009 at 1:20 am
Thanks for posting about your experiences. I am actually searching for real life experiences to learn how to help a student since getting tubes in his ears and his adenoids removed. I am his special needs aide.
He is 7 years old and it has been just over 2 weeks (15 days) and though the itching is messing with him he has another problem. He says his ears hurt but then complains it is to loud. I am wondering if anyone had issues helping them adjust to hearing so many sounds and much louder now? When I put a set of earphones on him at school to block out some of the sounds he said his ears were not hurting anymore. He cant focus worth a flip now because of too much audio stimulation.
He had seen a Dr that believed he was just misbehaving and ignoring his parents for years. They finally got a referal to an ENT specialist and they said he has a 25 decible hearing loss before surgery. Also that he was probably in serious pain all that time.
So now the issue I have at school and am desperately looking for answers to is how do you help them transition? This is overwhelming to the poor little guy. He is unable to do much of anything because the sounds around him bother him to much and he just keeps saying it is “to loud”. Any ideas from anyone that had a child that had this issue?
March 18th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Thanks so much for your blog. My four year old son is having the exact procedure done, though he’s getting the ear tubes, and even though he’s had two minor surgeries in the past I have been beyond nervous about this particular one (probably doesn’t help that his baby brother is getting tubes tomorrow, too!!). I had my tonsils removed as a child and still remember the pain and just toiled over the decision to put my own son through that. I am glad you made the point about giving your son his medicine every four hours. I am going to do the same and hope my little guy does as well as yours. Thanks again!
March 18th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Sharon, I just read your post. My son had tubes at the age of 2 and shortly there after began complaining about little noises like bubble gum popping and bubble wrap. I was told by the ENT that this can be a side effect from the many ear issues he has had and that it will only improve with time. We had our son in occupational therapy for several months as they said he had “Sensory Processing Disorder” but the therapy did not seem to help at all. We try to eliminate situations that could cause a flare up; no bubble gum, fireworks, bubble wrap, etc. and if we aren’t in the position to remove him from the situation, he is able to cover his ears and bury his head. I hope that information is of help to you, it can be quite scary. I knew my son had some major issues when he refused to go outside because the neighbor boy was playing an innocent game of golf. Just know that it takes lots of time and nurturing to help the child through it.
March 18th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Hi all,
Thanks so much for all the great comments and posts. I’m so glad this post has been so helpful for so many folks!
Holly, I know it’s tough. How old were you when you had your tonsils removed? Everything I had read online before we did the procedure on our 4 year old indicated that the recovery and just general discomfort is much much worse the older you are.
Our son Matthew really didn’t have any trouble with it at all, and if you ask him about it today, he really doesn’t think it was any big deal at all. It will be interesting to see what sort of memory (if any) he has about it when he’s older.
Sharon. Our older son is mildly annoyed by noises and stuff like that. There are some restaurants that we have to be cautious about going to because he’ll complain about it being too loud. He gets it from his mother
She’ll often become overwhelmed by too much “sensory stimulation.” I.E. me talking to her, the phone ringing, the kids screaming, the washing machine beeping, the doorbell ringing, the tv on in the background. She’ll literally just about put her hands over her head and just say “I CAN”T TAKE IT!” For me it’s pretty easy to just ignore all that noise.
But our older son Nick is very much the same way. If there is too much noise he just doesn’t like it. We took him bowling once with the neighbors and for a while ge had a good time but shortly after we started bowling he just had enough and said it was too noisy and wanted to leave. It’s interesting that he rarely says “It’s too loud” he’ll alway say “It’s too noisy” which I think is different, and important. I think it’s the number of different noises that are going on at the same time, more than having something to do with the volume of the noises.
Anyway, good luck everyone. I hope everything goes really well for you and your families!
Chris
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Well it has been four days since the surgery and my guy is incredible. He rarely complains and when he does it’s over as soon as the medicine gets taken. He was back to his old self the very next day. I look in his eyes and he still looks worn out but he is happy as ever and way better than I could even imagine. I was a little younger, a few months from my fourth birthday and I was miserable. I guess the medication is much better these days
It was hard, especially with our other son having surgery the same day, and the pain the poor child was in coming out of surgery back in the recovery area is something that is enternally branded in my brain. And my recommendation, look in your childs mouth every morning and night. It’s like a train wreck, it’s so gross but you just have to peek, plus you should be keenly aware of their healing process. Good luck!
March 27th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Our 3 year old Daughter soon to be 4 (in May) just had her tonsils and adenoids removed on Wednesday. The Dr. told us her tonsils were the size of golf balls. She was diagnosed with obstructive airway because of how huge her tonsils were. I have to say that so far things have not been to bad I’m amazed how she seems to be handling the pain. We give her the pain medication first thing in the morning then every 4 hours we give her tylenol then at bed time the pain medication. That seems to be working so far for her. The Dr. called me the day after her surgery to see how she was doing and I said to him did you even take her tonsils out? She seems to be in a great mood. Today is Friday and I think she may have hit a curve in the road – she woke up saying her throat hurt her really bad we gave her more pain medication and tried to get her to eat some applesauce and she didn’t eat like she has been eating for us. She seems to be just laying around and not herself. I called the Dr. and he explained to me that she may have a good day and the next day could be a bad day and it’s kind of like a roller coaster with the recovery period for tonsils. I hope this is the only time that she has a bad day it’s not fun seeing her not herself = (
March 30th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
THanks for your accounts of your experience. My 4 year old daughter is going in for pre-op this week and surgery on Good Friday… I am such a nervous wreck already but reading what you went trough helped
March 31st, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Thank you for sharing your experience with everyone. We went to the ENT today and he said that my 2 year old has to have his tonsils and adenoids out. I am worried but reading your experience helps ease my fears a little bit. Thank you again for giving your insight.
April 14th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Thank you for your stories. I am in Australia and my 3.5 year old son just had his tonsils out a week ago on tuesday 7th april. Your description was the only one I could find that helped me understand what we would go through before the operation – I cried as I read it but it helped me get readu for what would happen. All the subsequent posts from other people also are very helpful and were worth reading prior to the operation.
Our story mirrors those already listed here. We very anxiously entered into the procedure after having our son suffer bouts of ear and tonsil infections every month for about 2 years. We had the operation booked for a year ago but pulled out at the last minute due to our concerns. He has had so many antibiotics his teeth are becoming discoloured.
Day 1: operation at about 8.30am. Dr said his tonsils were chronically infected and when they came out the dr squeezed them and pus came out. We felt so relieved that those tonsils were now out and clearly the operation was very much needed.
Our boy slept for about 5 hours after the operation, then woke and ate vegemite sandwiches, custard, yoghurt and got his gift for being so brave. They left the hydration fluid drip in until about 7pm and they saw him eating and drinking well. I stayed overnight with him in the hospital which is fairly standard practice here in australia. He slept through that first night, cannot say the same thing for mum!
Day 2: checked out of hospital. at home, he seems ok, lots of DVDs and TV. We decided to use paracetamol without the codeine to avoid the constipation, he seemed to do okay on that every 6 hours. Wakes crying in the morning. mornings are the most painful but settles quickly with a drink of water and paracetamol. Started the antibiotics today too.
Day 3: he is still tired and weak, pain more noticeable, not wanting to eat or dring much, really had to work hard to get the water into him, i gave him some hydralyte in the end due to our concern about his low fluid intake on this day.
Day 4: wakes at 1am and vomits, little white bits come up – we hope it is not the scab! We think is becasue we tried him on the paracetamol plus codeine for the first time before bed to help the pain. No more of this for us!! Back to plain panadol and had no more problems with vomiting. complains of sore throat.
Day 5: he is still not much into eating or drinking. Although he will eat Macdonalds burger bun and fries. Our doctor said let them eat what ever they feel like. This was one of our hardest days. Complains of sore throat.
Day 6: a bit brighter today. playing for short periods and still lots of TV and quiet activies like story books.
Day 7: he slept all the night through last night, yay. he is looking brighter but has bags under his eyes – poor thing. This is the first night we did not wake him for a 6 hourly dose of paracetamol and he slept to 4.30am which was good. Gave him some paracetamol then and he went back to sleep.
Day 8: (today) playing well, much brighter. actually asks for the TV to be turned off which is a sure sign he has way too much of that! plays with puzzles and animals – making an animal safari. Singing and dancing along to scooby doo. still fussy with food but drinking much more. says he feels better. he has lost about half a kilogram in weight. we plan to send him back to preschool on day 16, which we think he will be very for by then.
Have shared our story too, hopefully assists other parents with kids undergoing this surgery. It is such a worrying and stressful thing to have your child undergo a surgery.
Goodluck
April 17th, 2009 at 11:25 am
I really cant tell you how much I have enjoyed reading all the responses to this article. I enjoyed writing it, but not nearly as much as I enjoyed reading how it has helped so many folks. I really appreciate all of you taking the time to comment and leave your own stories. It’s great to see folks helping other folks make their way through life’s up and downs and deal with what live hands you.
May 30th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
My 2 year old daughter had this done on Thursday and I was prepared more so or not because I have been following this blog for a few months. I will say that on day 3 I am noticing that close to the 4 hour mark for meds you can notice her pain. We also spent a day and a half in the hospital because of her age….I will say that this is stressful for the parents and scary for the kids! Thanks everyone!
June 4th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Hey there. My 4 year old (about to be 5 in August) Dakota, is going to have a Tonsillectomy and an adnoidectomy on Tuesday, June 9th. His surgery is scheduled for 8am. I’m so nervous but this helped out a lot. I was worried that he would be in incrediable pain and stuff and the ride home and how he would react and everything. But, thank you for writing this. It helped, a lot! Hope your son is doing great!
June 8th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Hello-
My 4 year old son, Jonah, will be having his tonsils & adenoids out on Thursday, June 11th. I was a little worried about the pain he would experience post-surgery but this web site prepared me so that at least I now know what to expect. Thank you for sharing your experiences… I will have to come back in a few weeks to share ours.
Take care,
Jenn Wilson
June 11th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Well, Jonah just got home from the hospital today and he does not want to swallow anything, including his own saliva. He drank the required amount at the hospital (because we told him he could go home if he did) but he has hardly drank anything since we’ve been home. We have tried to explain to him that he will have to go back to the hospital if he won’t swallow but he just cries & spits most of it out. I am hoping that this is just because his most recent dose of medicine hasn’t kicked in yet but I have put a call into the doctor just in case. Hopefully, things will get better soon.
Jenn Wilson
June 14th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Today is day 3 and Jonah is doing much better than he was he day we brought him home. After the last post, I started giving him his medicine (Lortab) religiously every 3 hours and, since then, he has been acting like his normal self, just a little more tired. The only other issue we had was that he started saying he was itchy all over. At first I thought it was a side effect of the pain medication but then the doctor suggested that it was probably the antibiotic (amoxicillin). He told me to take him off it for a day to see if the itching stopped. It seems to be working so I guess he will switch him to another one today. He has been eating really well and now drinking doesn’t seem to bother him so much. The most amazing thing is that is is now such a peaceful sleeper! He used to toss & turn all night long because his breathing wasn’t very good. Now, he just stays in the same place & breathes through his nose so quietly. I am sure he will be getting much better quality of sleep. I am so glad we did this now. Good luck to others that will be going down this path soon!
Jenn Wilson
July 14th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Loritab seems to be the drug of choice1
Seems your little fella did well compared to my grandaughter (also 4) This is her 5th day post op…..she has spiked a fever and has had to return twice for IV fluids. Although she wants to eat and drink, she is having a problem! We almost have to force her to eat and drink! She is already so tiny…is hyper and she must have a metabolism like a rabbit…when she is able to eat, she can out eat me but doesn’t seem to gain an ounce!
I hate seeing her like this or any child for that matter. Glad your boy had more good days than not and thnaks for a great article!
July 21st, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Hi,
I have just been to see the consultant today who assessed our daughter, aged 7 and has said that there is no alternative to surgery! – her tonsils have been inflammed for about 8months and just in the last nine weeks has had 4 antibiotics!!!!
He said that he had a spot available on 29th August – however, we are on a longhaul flight at the end of September and I dont know if she would be recovered enough – 4weeks and 3days post op – incase of bleeding etc etc.
now that I am home, I am wondering if I have done the right thing – now it will mean, she will not get her tonsillectomy until mid-late October!
Any advise???
Anyone else travel as soon after surgery – an 11hour flight followed by a 2hr flight and staying away for 2weeks before the same flights home.
Thanks a million,
So worried!!!
July 30th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Hi Cailin,
We didn’t travel after Matthew’s surgery, but I can say that 4 weeks after the procedure he was pretty much back to himself. I can’t say whether or not that means he was healed enough to travel on an airplane or not. I imagine that with all the delicate tubes and connections in the ear it might be worth taking to the Dr. about.
August 6th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Hi All-
My son (20 months) had an adenoidectomy with myringotomy 10 days ago. I am concerned because he will not talk. He got the surgery due to hearing issues and the fact this is speech was delayed. He was making simply sounds and at a 1 year olds speech level. Now he just keeps his lips together and hums/points to things. He also will not swallow his saliva, but will eat and drink. I’ve spoke to a number of doctors/nurses and all have said that it is very unusual, especially since he did not have his tonsils removed, but none can give me any answers. The last ENT nurse I spoke with said that it is probably psychological and just post traumatic stress. This doesn’t sound right to me… Others have chimed in that he probably just hears himself differently and doesn’t like it. I think if this was the case, he would be over it by now. Has anyone else experienced their children not talking afterwards? Again, he didn’t have his tonsils removed so he would not have the sore throat associated with that. His pediatrician also checked for infection and didn’t see anything. I guess as parents we just had the expectation that he would wake up taking up a storm. It’s very frustrating that he is about 85% less verbal that he was before the surgery. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
August 6th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I forgot to mention….he plays and runs around like normal…doesn’t act in pain at all.
September 4th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Hey Angie,
Looks like it’s been a while since the procedure. How did things turn out? I would think you are all on the mend by now. Is there any update you can share with us?
I would have to agree with you that your situation sounds pretty unusual, I’d say your completely within reason to be concerned.
Let us know how things turned out…
October 4th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
My 26 month old daughter is undergoing the trifecta (adenioids, tonsils and new tubes) on tuesday and of course I’m a nervous wreck. So glad to have come across this blog. At 34 weeks pregnant, I’m already an emotional mess and was touched by each and every story on here. This has helped me tremendously in knowing there is life after living with tonilitis/double ear infections for the past year. I dont know that anything can prepare you for the heartache of watching your child go through something like this, but I can tell you that I am much more comfortable with the decision after reading these stories. If I learned anything at all it is to keep up with the pain meds. I will definiley post our experience and pray that all goes well on tuesday!
October 14th, 2009 at 10:38 am
thanks for the insite my two yr old got tubes in his ear at 20 months and now has to go in for his tonsils and anneiods in feb due to them being enlarged and never going down and some sleep issuses when he had his tubes it was a horrible experience they took him from me ide awake which scared him then when he woke up we werent there so that scared him the nurse came and got my husband to walk with them to recovery and wouldnt let him touch our son so he was even more upset so much so that i had to come back to recovery also im hoping that dosent happen again since my insurance hasnt changed we have to go to the same hospital again we will see the surgery doesnt scare me the dang nurses do i think im going to ask them to sedatie him before they take him this time any suggetsions
October 15th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Update: We are on day 10 after having tonsils, adenoids and tube replacement…can’t believe we’ve survived this long. SO many things that we were not prepared for and surprisingly never mentioned by anyone in prior blogs. 1.) Waking up from the anesthesia was probably the worst thing I’ve experienced. Of course the nurse kept telling us “this isnt her, its the anesthesia” and “she’s not going to remember a thing”. Well we sure do and it was horrific. 2.) My daughter used a binky at naps/at night and we were told only after the surgery that under no circumstances could she have it for at least 10 days. No straws, sippy cups or binks. Although we are binkless now which is nice, it would have been nice to know prior to the surgery to prepare her for it. 3.) Pain meds. Everyone is spot on when they recommend staying with the pain meds every 4 hours. However no mention of what to do when your child won’t take it and you have to force it in their mouth and they spit it out in your face/eyes and it burns like heck! Just be prepared with a wet washcloth near by. 4.) Our daughter was a great sleeper…bath, three books and bed. Now after her books, she has horrendous tantrums and we’re afraid she’s going to hurt herself she’s so out of control. We realize that this is going to make her so much better in the long run however, i think the more parents are prepared, the better for everyone. Best of luck to everyone!
October 30th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
I can’t tell you how blessed I feel to have found this article/site.
OUr Jakey has had trouble w/snoring and terrible mouth breathing. He has a wonderful vocabulary,but @ 4 years old his pronunciation is terrible and recently has gotten worse. I finally asked him to let me see in his mouth and his tonsils are so enlarged,w/o being sick,that they touch. Our doc said they have to come out b/c if he got sick we’b probably end up in the er w/breathing problems. He referred us to an ent,appt next week and then we’ll schedule the surgery.
I am so glad to have gotten to read all about everyone’s expriences. It’s such a helpless feeling when you hear your child had to go through this,but reading others experiences makes it feel less scary to me. I know not to go to the OR and let my husband go as I will cry so that’s good to know. I will make sure he is prescribed good meds also. I will check back with a surger date asap.
Thanks again for taking the time to do this and for keeping up and supporting everyone for so long.
November 8th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Hi again.
We saw the ENT. Jake goes in on the 16th,so a week from tomorrow for his surgery. They spared him the exam to see if his adenoids need to come out so they will scope him while under anesthesia and will take them if they are enlarged. He said he will be surprised if they aren’t.
We are going shopping next weekend for a gift for him. I’m not telling him much about the surgery. It’s just my feeling that it will cause him much stress worrying about it so he know’s he’s going to sleep,will wake up with a pretty bad sore throat and we will have a present for him when he’s ready for it. He’s excited about the gift:)
November 8th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Hi Chris,
Even before I took my 4 year son for Surgery, I knew nothing would help me more than this article.
Our son has been recovering exactly as you described. He is in day 5 and I am glad the difficult part is almost over.
Thanks again……..This is the kind of information parents look for and I found it nowhere other than here.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Hi All,
Since I was helped so much by this chain of messages, I take it as an obligation to share my experience with our 4 year old son .. We are in Day 6 now.
Summary:
1. You would be surprised how strong the kids are when it comes to tolerating pain. Infact, parents can only make it worse by being too worried. If Parents are positive, the child is even more positive. So Rule 1 : You dont have to talk of the pain, you have to talk of the time when it will be over.
2. Different kids react differently to anaesthesia.. some get up shouting and kicking..others get up as if nothing happened.. neways all you can do is take it in the stride. Doctors will take care of making him comfortable.
3. Gift: It does wonders. In my experience, the more you talk about it before the surgery, more they anticipate it and look forward to the surgery. We told our son that doctors will take him for sleep, meantime papa will go and buy some gifts. When he gets up, he will see papa with a gift. Tell him what gift you will buy for him and make sure it is something he loves. We had a promise: His promise was to be brave when it hurts a little bit and my promise was to get him the gift.
3. Day 2 is difficult in the sense that child has real problem swallowing. At one point we were ready to take him back to Hospital as he was not swallowing even the liquids including medicine. Just before we were ready to go, he drank a glass full of juice
so be prepared and anticipate it.
4. Medicine: Codeine does wonders and makes your child feel better immediately. My sense is it is too strong. Within 5 mnts the pain is gone and the child goes to sleep. I personally prefer giving it not more than 2 times in a day. During daytime we prefer giving just the Tylenol. But I would suggest that from Day 3 to Day 5, give him only codeine.. these are really painful days for the child.
5. Keep the room well lighted and tell him lots of stories.
6. Keep encouraging him and appreciate him for being so brave. Tell him you are there to help and based on the bravery he has shown he will get well sooner.
Will share more as the days pass.
Thanks All!! Take care.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Hi Tara,
I hope everything goes well. I’m really glad the article, and stories of the other parents and kids has helped. I have written a lot of articles and fooled around on the internet with all kinds of things, and this is by far the most rewarding thing I’ve done in a long time. It’s really great to read the stories of how it’s helped other families. Thanks so much for visiting, commenting and sharing your story!
November 9th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
It is truly my pleasure! I’m so glad it was helpful! I hope you and your son are doing great! We’ll look forward to your updates!
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:18 pm
THANK YOU for writing this up. My just turned 3 year old is having an adenoidectomy and tonsillectomy Dec 30th. I’m terrified and this completely put my mind at ease. I pray they give her meds with codeine like you were blessed with. Hopefully ours goes as smoothly as yours!
December 11th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
I’m glad the article helped you! I hope your procedure goes well. I think it would be ok to tell your Dr. that you’ve read the post-op experience can be improved by prescribing meds that have Codine and ask their opinion. If you have a preference for that, I think it’s ok to tell your Dr. and ask them what they think.
January 30th, 2010 at 2:23 am
I LOVE reading all of these posts. It really helps. My five year old daughter (Meena) goes in for all 3 (tonsils, adenoids and tubes) in 3 days and I’m a little freaked out. She’s a very dramatic little girl with some separation anxiety issues when she goes to preschool and she tends to obsess about things and dreads the worst. She doesn’t yet know about the tonsils because originally it was just going to be for tubes, but the ENT has since recommended that the tonsils and adenoids come out. The hospital did a great “Pre-Op Adventure” that we went to last weekend that prepared her for what to expect, on kids’ terms. She’s kind of excited to go back and get the “bubble gum” flavor for the mask (they let the kids sniff all flavors and pick what they plan to get). The day before I”m going to take her shopping for special foods (her choice of whatever drinks, popsicles, ice cream, pudding, etc she wants) after I tell her about the tonsils and that her throat will hurt. I will also need to run out and get her a toy of some sort that she really wants. I really hope this helps!
I dread the coming out of anesthesia part. She will cry just because I’m not there and then of course she’ll be in pain, so this kills me. I know the nurses will try to comfort her, but I don’t want it to hurt her (crying/screaming with the freshly removed tonsils). I am just planning to get no sleep over the next week (maybe more) and I hope to comfort her best I can. I just hope she doesn’t refuse to drink. The dehydration possibility scares me too.
thanks, Chris, for this enormously helpful blog!!!
March 19th, 2010 at 10:27 am
Thank You sooooo much for this blog. I stumbled upon it after googling stuff about adenoids removal. My 2yr old(will be 3 in a week) is supposed to have t/a surgery in like 1 1/2 mos. I have had sinus surgery & knew how much post op pain can be/ difficulty breathing/sleeping. So i am very nervous for my son. He too is a noisy eater. Snores at night especially when sick, which he frequently is. Started daycare at age 2. Since then he gets FREQUENT colds which turn into cough & green/yellow THICK mucus from his nose with congested cough. Been on antibiotics so much over the past year, his peds dr recommended an ENT consult because she(peds dr) wasn’t comfortable putting him on antibiotics again. Reading this helped ease some of my fears.
April 20th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
I was looking for something in the middle of the night last night in a act of desperate measure. I wish I had found it before our 4 yr. old, Austin, had his surgery. Last night was day 3 going into day 4. Our son is sensitive and a bit dramatic and a clinger to his Mama mostly but he is also very tough. Post op. into recovery, I felt so bad for the little guy. He did very well pre-op and our staff was amazing as was our doctor.
Day 1-home, tired, watched t.v. middle of his “pain spectrum” after anesthesia then with ty/codeine, pain gone and he slept and as others in this thread made mention, right around hr. 4, he’d need more. Drank pretty well and ate very little but none the less, still ate.
Day2- same. A bit more pain but controllable. I would like to make note, we thought the “keeping him hydrated” part was just because he didn’t feel like drinking or swallowing as much, he might get dehydrated, as when the vomit. I believe now, the very biggest factor is it keeps the scabs moist. Any adult thread I have read, where the adults had their tonsils removed, almost unanimously, they said “drink, drink, drink!” followed by, “I can’t state this nearly enough”. The biggest reason is it is actually a sort of pain relief by keeping the SCABS hydrated.
So the hydration, with water mostly, even little sips, especially in the middle of the night when they are groggy and in pain, is an excellent way to help get them to sleep.
The other thing, the ty/codeine mix. I do agree that for the first 2 and into the third day, for the tolerant little people stomachs, it is good. Last night, in the middle of the night, we ended up switching to over the counter white tylenol (they say the red can make it hard to tell if there is blood) and it didn’t take AS MUCH of the pain away, but took the edge off and the biggest plus for us was his stomach virtually stopped hurting and he began eating near normal, unlike before, when he would fight us just to get the meds in him cause his stomach ached so bad.
Biggest point here is he was literally throwing tantrums and spitting up and throwing up from being overly worked up, that is how much he didn’t want the codeine tylenol meds. Also, when they get in an extreme state where it can REVERSE the progress by crying and vomiting and the extra excitement, it is a worthwhile exchange, at least in our Sons case, to not have stress from him “freaking out”. Once we switched to the OTC tylenol, his mood, diet and everything, including, going number 2, (which he hadn’t done until about 10 minutes ago. He told my Wife he had to go poop and that she had to be in there and yell at his poop to come out. It worked! But as background noise while writing this, then realizing she was yelling, I actually had to stop writing and ask her why she was yelling! Funny but a bit strange. OK, back to my story). My whole point with the number 2 thing is, I believe in our Sons case, the ty/codeine mix was preventing him from going and he just walked by, I asked him how he was feeling and there was such a look of relief on his face.
Day4-Above was the start of day4 and I am not sure, but by changing to OTC and his going number 2, we may have came to a fork in the road. He seems much better. I will ad to this thread the next couple of days but to review, DRINK, DRINK, DRINK, and if they are having issues with stomach pain and the fit throwing, I would recommend the switch to OTC tylenol, in the white or clear, as they call it, and see how it goes. Good luck and more to come!
April 20th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
In the beginning of my post above, I said I was looking for something, I was referring to information to help as our Son was throwing such fits. This thread was our best help and thank you for starting it.
May 17th, 2010 at 8:37 am
Hi. I’m so glad this has helped you. I can’t believe that the blog is over 2 years old now! I think it might actually be older than that. My son is now almost 7 years old. It has been really rewarding to watch the comments and threads grow, and to see how many folks have been helped, not just by me, but from the folks who have posted and commented after me. -Chris
May 17th, 2010 at 8:38 am
You’re very welcome Keisha. I’m glad this post, and the comments / stories from other families has helped. I enjoyed writing it, but have enjoyed all the other stories more. Good Luck! -Chris
May 17th, 2010 at 8:39 am
Hey Michael. Thanks for the post, I’m sure others will find that helpful. It’s amazing how individual all these kids are. My son never had any stomach issues from the procedure or the meds. But then again, he’s really got a tough stomach and rarely gets sick. Thanks for sharing your story! -Chris
July 14th, 2010 at 8:28 am
This article was awesome! My daughter is scheduled for Firday for tonsils & adenoids. I am so nervous. She of course isn’t yet. The Doctor told her that hse could have all the junk food she wants for 7 days! She is six & keeps telling everyone that she is taking her tonsils out. I am a wreck. This really helped! Thanks again.
September 3rd, 2010 at 10:24 am
Hi Sara! Hang in there! I’m sure you and the family will do great! I’m glad the article helped so much!