Any Experiences with a Child Having Tonsils and Anenoids Removed?

My daughter had her adnoids out and she did ok. My brother had his tonsils out and did ok, i think he just like the fact the doctor told him that he could have all the ice cream he wanted. LOL. I think it will go smoothly and as they say kids bounce back faster then we do. As for not liking the doctor, i think after he gets this done he will feel better and since he probably wont have to go so much to see him he will do ok. Good Luck

Hi B., Wow, all of these kids that are having their tonsils and adenoids removed are so young!! My son had his out at age 8 which was 10 yrs. ago. I was more scared than he was, he was in and done in 20 minutes! He went home that night. The big thing is that they will probably throw up (blood and whatever else is in their stomach) and soft diet, take the paid medicine RX or at least ibuprofen and any antibiotic given. They will experience a sore throat and poss. pain in the ears for about a week. I had mine out at age 8, 30 yrs. ago and it pretty much went just the same way, I remember it hurt pretty badly afterwards. They will give him some type of sedative before surgery so he's relaxed and then take him to surgery, put him to sleep and he's done pretty quick. The scary thing is that my son was bloated from the anesthesia and he had a few red bruises around his mouth from them stretching his little mouth all out and they are kind of "weird, out of it" until the drugs wear off, this was the difficult part for me because I had never seen him this way before. But this went away in just a couple of hours and the nurses were really great about reassuring me and checking on him regularly.
Try to get some good sleep the night before (tylenol PM works)
and plan on just babying him for a few days, lots of fluids too. Hope I didn't scare you, good luck!!
M.

How funny! My daughter just had this same thing done the day after Christmas this year! She turned 6 just a week later, so I would say our kids are similiar in ages, so maybe I can help you. My other girls had a bad experience with this also, so I was prepared to spend the whole day/night at the hospital, imagine my delight when 2 hours after surgery she was eating chicken noodle soup and only 6 hours later we were on our way home! I would say that the hospital had a huge impact on how this went, also her surgeon, we live in a small community with a local hospital, but she has really bad asthma, and I didn't feel comfortable having it done here, so we went to a larger city to do it, with the same surgeon. I would say also that YOUR attitude will greatly impact the outcome. I didn't play it down, because when you're little it IS a big deal, I was just honest with her, answered her questions the best I could so I didn't frighten her and if I didn't know an answer we asked the nurses or doctor. After we returned home, a almost 1 hour and 15 minute drive, I made sure we kept up on the tylenol, in fact, she never did need the prescription that the dr had given us, although I had it filled just in case. She ate just about everything she normally did, but not chips the first 2 weeks. I was really apprehensive about having all of this done, I just went through a really nasty divorce/custody battle with her father, so I wasn't sure how this stress would affect me, but I just kept my head up. Let me know how you do. I also bought a new backpack for her and filled it with coloring books/crayons, new FLOAM(the newest coolest stuff!), some new lipgloss, and little things to keep her occupied in the hospital and on the way home. It was fun for her to get a suprise, and made it go well. Hope this helps!

E.

my daughter just turned two when her tonsils and adnoids were taken out. They took her back and called us about 20 minutes later to be with her when she woke up. She was really out of it and when she could drink half of the juice cup, they said it was ok for her to go home. We got her to the house and she was vomiting blood (which freaked me out). She was so out of it she didn't even notice. She slept a lot (keep something washable under your son at all times until he has "come to" fully) The dr. said the vomiting blood was from the blood she swallowed during surgery. They said it was normal. Very soon she was up and talking very squeeky and horse at the same time and acting fine. She was mad that she couldn't eat what the other kids were eating but turned out fine.
Good luck with this, it broke my heart to see her in pain but now she's healthy and we don't hear her snoring from across the house anymore (which took some getting used to).

Hi B.!

From a medical aspect, I would suggest no dairy products (they tend to cause a lot of mucus in the throat). And do not give your son any jello or ice pops that are red, just in case he should have any bleeding you will want to distinguish between the two. The first few days he may have very little appetite, and generally that is ok, but try to encourage fluids as much as possible. As long as he is urinating several times a day, that is a good sign that he is staying well hydrated. Good Luck!

Hey B.~

I want to let you know that I have a now 5 year old little boy and he is doing great. He had his surgery about a year ago. The doctor that did his surgery was great. They explained to me and my hubby that we need to feed him "junk" for the next two weeks. This includes pop, ice water, slushies, frozen pops, ice tea, etc..... The doctor was not worried about him eating at all. Just as long as he stayed hydrated. I will admit he did lose some weight, but he has gained it all back and then some. He is healthy, and alot better off than he was a year ago. I want to also let you know that anything he drinks or eats "should NOT" be red!! You don't want to get it confused with blood. They made that clear to me. He did not really start eating some sort of solid food until about the fourth day after. He was starting to suck on some jello and applesauce. I didn't push it. He went about a month of not really eating anything good for him. I do want to let you know, make sure you keep his throat wet at all times. If his throat goes dry he will be in alot of pain. We kept ice water with him 24/7. The surgeon made it clear that he needed to keep his throat moist. If he doesn't you could be back in the hospital. I don't want to scare you, but you should know. If you have any more questions just holler at me. Good luck to you.

~S.

Have lots of popsicles on hand! I had my tonsils out in college, and that's all I wanted, so I'm sure it goes triple for a kid, heh. I was actually told NO ice cream, because it creates too much mucus in the throat. I just remember that the pain med was very important to me, and all I did was lie in bed, read, watch tv, eat popsicles, and sleep. So for a lil guy, maybe have his favorite cartoons on tap, and let him pick out a special movie to rent before surgery, so he can have that to look forward to if he's a big brave boy for the doctor. And popsicles. Did I mention posicles? :P
Good luck to both of you!!

J.

My daughter has her tonsils out at 2 1/2years. It went ok since she was under 3 we opted for her to spend the night in the hospital, although they told us she could go home.It was for my benefit on being nervous about it. The one thing we were told was nothing red no red juices popsicles ect...That way if the child does throw up then you know for sure if they are throwing up blood. The worst part for us was coming out of the anestia-(bad spelling) She was VERY fiesty and tried to take the i.v. out. Since she was so little she really had no clue what was going on as far as the surgery. We tried to talk about it but I don't think she understood until afterwards. But they did allow her to bring a blankie and a baby doll into the surgery with her for comfort. As far as healing she did very well and was eating within a few days more of a solid type food. It really depends on the child though. Good LUCK!!!!

B.,

My daughter had her tonsils and adenoids out when she was 4 years old. It was much worse on me than on her. We went in in the morning, the took her to surgery, and a little later, she returned to the recovery room. She had an IV placed in the surgery area, and she was still a little groggy. We stayed around recovery for another hour or so. She finally drank some sprit. We waited and waited for her to throw up, but it didnt come so they sent us on our way. At the pharmacy I was waiting to pick up her pain meds, and she decided to save it for then.
I had a lot of soft stuff at the house ready that I knew she loved, like jello, juice, icy pops, and progressed to creamy peanut butter, apple sauce, and stuff like that. It was a pretty easy experience thank goodness. She told me her throat felt better after the surgery than it did before.

B., My youngest had both out. it was not bad at all. Except she had alot of trouble eating for a while. other then that she was bad at all. I know some kids who had no problems at all with eating. every kid is different. But it only a few minutes in the surgey room. She did get sick on the way home. when they do it is blood. I know sounds nasty. but it was just that one time. Who has he sent you too to get them done by??? let me know what you decide.

my daughter had it done when she was 4 or 5 and she is now 11. It was more scary for me and her dad then her. It was the first time we had gone thru ne thing big like that.. The one thing we had a problem w was she ended up having a reaction to the med that they gave her to knock her out. This scared us very bad as she couldnt stop throwing up and we thought it was from the surgery its self. All in all she felt just fine other than that right away and we were shocked at how the whole thing went so quickly.The way they do it all now is surely even better than it was 6 or 7 yrs ago.. Good luck and have some extra popsicles ready for when your child gets home.

Hi B.,

My daughter was 3 1/2 when she had her tonsils and adnoids taken out at Children's Mercy. Her tonsils were abnormally HUGE, so she had a tough recovery because the majority of her throat was affected. She originally went home after a few hours of recovery and did great the first night. But when she had to take the antibiotic the next morning (Bactrim....the worst tasting antibiotic out there...you wonder why they would even give it to a kid) she gagged and it hurt her something awful. Well, from that point forward she wouldn't take any pain medicine. Then when the pain got so bad she stopped drinking anything or taking anything by mouth. By the 3rd day we were back at urgent care for IV fluids. That got her thru the night, then we ended back in on day 4 w/vomitting (Seek immediate help if yours starts to vomit!). She was admitted for 4 days with IV fluids. It honestly was a horrible nightmare, but she had to have the surgery. She had horrible sleep apnea and now it's gone! If you ask her (now 5 1/2) she doesn't even remember! My nephew just had his done at age 2...rough first couple of days, but he bounced back pretty quick.
I don't want to scare you......I just wish I had known that it could get really bad so I wasn't so shocked. Most likely yours will do fine, but just be prepared to look for dehydration, vomitting, blood just in case he needs post op help. Keep his throat as moist as possible, I believe that's key for less pain. Don't do ice cream or other dairy..makes your mucus thick. Popsicles/slushies are best.
Good luck.
FYI......the surgery itself is super fast. I don't think I got thru an entire magazine! Ask if they will do a pre-op visit to help calm his nerves. It worked wonders for my daughter.
Take Care
S.

B.-
My 2 year old son just had his tonsils and addenoids removed on 1/27. He did great!!! He came home that evening and ate dinner. Just keep reminding him to drink, drink, drink even if it hurts! We got lots of slushies at QT and just let him eat and drink whatever he wanted as long as he was drinking. Nights were the worst because he was sleeping and his throat would get dry, but just be patient and encourage him to drink. Day 3 after surgery seemed to be the worst, but after that it was a breeze. Good luck and give him lots of extra hugs!

My twins had their tonsils and adnoids out last February when they were just shy of 3 1/2 years old. I was really happy with what the dr. told about the procedure and the post-op expectations. What worked for us was having popcicles and the individual ice cream cups. They just ate those up and didn't really complain at all about any pain. The nurses where the surgery was done let them have all the popcicles and juice that they wanted while they were waiting to get to go home. They had the procedure done by the same dr. back to back so my first daughter had to wait about an 1 1/2 while the other only had to wait an hour and then we were on our way home. Good luck and if you have any other questions feel free to email me: ____@____.com

J.

A friend of mine has two boys that have had the same surgery. They were 4 and 1 at the times of their surgeries and now her 1 year old daughter is about to go through the same thing. Her kids have come through the surgeries with flying colors and haven't had any problems since. I know surgery can be scary, especially when it is on a child, but God will take care of your son.

I had mine taken out just a few years ago, it was my first time ever having any sort of surgery. I hardly remember even waking up after the surgery in the recovery and I came home and slept most of the day. The pain wasn't too bad, I remember just having the feeling like something was stuck in my throat and wanting it out though. The instructions I was given worked for me, just watched what I ate and kept it mostly liquid. (Honestly I just wanted to sleep after taking the pain medicine, helped me the most.) Good luck with everything with it.

None of my kids have had their tonsils taken out, but my niece has. Here in Enid and Integris Bass it is outpatient surgery. She went in 2 hours before surgery. Then they gave her an IV and medicine to calm her. After the surgery, she had to stay in the hospital until she peed. Then she went home. She went in at 6am and was out by noon. I hope this helps.

At 1 my son had his tonsils and adnoids removed I was amazed at the recovery process they kept him in the hospital over night because of his age but he was up running around within 2 hours it never stopped him from being a kid. Getting him to eat again I would say was the hardest thing the doctor told me he would eat soft foods right away and he refused it so it was basically drinking for the first 2 days and not eating anything. They gave him Morphine in the hospital and then sent us home with Lortab. I wish the best for you both.

My daughter went through this two years ago. It was scary when she first went into surgery and seeing her "out of it". The good thing, being so young, they tent to bounce back rather quickly. She was doing so well she didn't have to stay the night in the hospital. And, after the tonsils and anenoids were removed, her health improved drastically. Best of luck!

L.

My now 10 year old was 4 when she had her tonsils/andnoids out. Make sure that he stays fever free before the surgery. My daughter was ill about 1 week prior and it was a headache to get her well enough to get her surgery. She was snoring so loudly, I could hear her outside. After surgery, she stopped that. She also has not been sick, or strep since. She feels great most of the time. She had chronic ear infections when she was little too. (From about 6 months to 2 years old). Tubes really helped.

Good luck..

I had a dr once tell me never to let anyone remove my tonsils because they actually aid your adrenals. They are also the 1st defense in fighting infections. That being said, my oldest son was almost in line for the same procedure 2 years ago...that is until I came across a dr that said we should investigate why the fluid stays in the ears, why the adenoid speech is present and why the tonsils get inflammed as well as why the lymph glands were always so swollen. I never had asked why before then, but I quickly discovered that food intolerances are largely the reason. When I asked the pediatrician about this, he said yes that is true, but most kids will out grow it by 6 or so (which today I believe is not entirely true). I found the food sensitivities my kids had, removed them and my once sick all the time kids were rarely sick. We are talking 9 months straight of 4 ear infections, constant cough to the point of vomitting sometimes, dark circles under the eyes mostly noticable under bright lights and even pneumonia once....talk about being sick and tired of being sick and tired. My son who had perfect enunciation started having trouble pronouncing words correctly because of the ear fluid and my younger son had a terrible adenoid speech that made most people unable to understand him even though he spoke real sentences full of words all the time that I understood being his mom. Removal of the foods causing the problem (in their case dairy including caseine and gluten) completely fixed the speech and like I said the illnesses completely vanished with no surgery. The dr that opened my eyes stated that unless there is a birth defect, nearly all children that get tubes today as well as most that remove tonsils and adenoids suffer from undiagnosed food INTOLERANCES (different from allergies because allergies are more severe, can be life threatening and can cause hives, etc.). Food intolerances present as frequent colds, infections, digestive issues including bloating, tummy aches, stools that fall apart or float in the water and are not necessarily "loose" which most parent miss because many of these kids are still in diapers or old enough that the parents don't see the bowel movement, dark circles under the eyes, hearing loss, bed wetting, inability to potty train, spectrum disorders including add/adhd, autism, etc. The list is pretty lengthy. Consider a 2nd opinion from a dr that is not your typical dr. A dr of internal medicine, preventive medicine, holisitic medicine, who is knowledgable about digestion - those are the types that are knowledgable for these types of things. It is difficult to find a good dr much less one that actually is willing to look at options that don't include medicating people and surgically removing their parts. I have been there, and it is no fun. I have 3 kids who are all now very healthy and have all their pieces in tact. My youngest is the healthiest because she never had a chance to get exposed to top allergens before 18 months. I nursed her longer and I stayed very strict with recommendations for 1st foods. Good luck and God Bless!

B. :)

My 10 year old had her tonsils and adenoids out last Monday, so this is a fresh subject for me. AMAZINGLY, she didnt want any pain meds after she left the hospital and wanted to eat that night! I was stunned. No bleeding, no fussing.
Now we're into the second week and she says her ears hurt when she eats. Ive given her OTC meds in the a.m. and she is fine after that. I truly hope your child has a great experience as well!
By the way, if you need a wonderful doctor, Dr. Perry Santos is the best. He'll pray with your child before surgery and make them feel like they are in safe hands. He preforms the surgery in a unique way that preserves more tissue and is less damaging. I truly believe this is what minimized her pain.

I'm echoing the "no dairy" - only CLEAR liquids (without straws). Encourage the act of swallowing OFTEN (it helps heal). The pain is indescribable for children - it's like the worst sore throat you can imagine for a few days. Expect vomiting (from the meds) - if they're given anything with codeine, know that often causes upset stomach, too - regular Children's Tylenol/Motrin is a good alternative.

As far as his attitude toward the hospital/doctor, sympathize with him - explain that you understand his feelings and that it's perfectly okay for him to be afraid/frustrated/nervous, but that this is what you believe will be best for him and help him stay healthier than he has been. (They should let him take a special toy/blanket with him for comfort if he wants to.) Promise lots of post-op pampering (favorite TV/books/movies, etc.) and popsicles and juice - and follow through.

Good luck!