tonsilectomy

My DD is getting her tonsils taken out in the morning! I'm so scared! She's never had surgery before! I know that they say it is USUALLY easier on kids but I can't help but think about how uncomfortable I was(had mine out when I was 20)...the dr says she still has to take it easy for two weeks though...Please share your children's experiences and some tips on food, drink, and activities to keep them entertained while they can't run around

Quoting lov'n Morgan:" My DD is getting her tonsils taken out in the morning! I'm so scared! She's never had surgery before! ... [snip!] ... your children's experiences and some tips on food, drink, and activities to keep them entertained while they can't run around"

I can tell you my experience as a nurse...

I've taken care of kids who had tonsils and adenoids out... they took tylenol with codeine after surgery... had very little pain and most went home within 3 hours, drinking fluids fine.

tips... liquids ... cold go over well. stay away from red so you know if she's bleeding. Watch for frequent swallowing when she's NOT eating or drinking anything... that is a sign there is bleeding in the back of her throat. 5-7 days after the surgery... it's not uncommon for her to gag/cough up a blood clot.. (basically the scab from surgery) as long as it's not followed by the above frequent swallowing when not eating or drinking.. it's normal.

My 4 year old had ear tube placed and his adenoids removed this June. He did FANTASTIC!!! I was all set up to feed hi jello and pudding and all soft things. We got home and he wanted to ride his bike and run around. He only ever needed regular Tylenol and that was only for 2 days. Kids are amazing.

OH and he ate more food in that day then I think he has ever eaten in one day before. He kept wanting hard boiled eggs, I think he ate like 5.

My son and daughter both had theirs out when they were about 7. My son did very well...he was down for about a day then started feeling better....we kept him out of school for a week, I think. My daughter is a bit more of a drama queen, so it took her about 2 weeks to recover.

Keep her quiet for the most part....reading. playing with small toys, watching TV/movies....no running or jumping for a few days. Cold things seemed to be tolerated better than hot things. Give her the pain meds if she seems like she needs them...we didn't wake our kids up to give them pain meds, but if they happened to wake up, then we made sure they got them so they could go back to sleep.

Good luck to her....she will do fine, I am sure. Getting our kids' tonsils out was the best thing we ever did....they were both constantly sick with strep throat before having it done....since then, they have both been MUCH healthier!

my son had his adenoids out, tubes in and tonsils out last year. The tonsils was by far (not to scare you) the worst IMO> Nothing else bothered him, but his throat did. He never really complained though, just didnt want to eat/drink anything...
Right after surgery he ate 2 cups of ice cream at the hospital, but after that day it was rougher. i would distract him with a video game and sit there with some pedyalite and would give him tiny sips or have him lick a popsicle every once in a while. Day 2 and day 7 were the worse... the crusts fall on day 7 so they are bound to have a rougher day. Stock up in popsicles, ice cream, pedyalite, broth, jello... whatever she may like! You can put a popsicle in a cup and in the microwave for 20 seconds and it will be like a slushy, if she likes that.
She will have TERRIBLE breath lol i remember that smell very well.
Her Uvula will also swell up after surgery which can cause her to choke on food and stuff easier. I gave my son an extra pillow at night so he could sleep more upright... i have a whole timeline that i wrote for my friend whose son was getting it a month later if you want i can pm it to you, but theres no sugar coating

Quoting Spidermans♥Mommy:" My son and daughter both had theirs out when they were about 7. My son did very well...he was down for ... [snip!] ... were both constantly sick with strep throat before having it done....since then, they have both been MUCH healthier!"

i second the 'getting them out was the best thing' statement! it was life changing for my son!

I know it was the best thing I ever did for myself and I think it will be what's best for her, I requested the surgery to be done and thankfully the dr's agreed with me. She has 10 days between having them out and when school starts so I'm hoping she will be ok by the first day of school! We have 100 popcycles, a gallon of ice cream, and a quart of sherbert so hopefully that will be good lol! I also go her some of the fruit baby food because she loves fruit and I figured that would be a lot easier for her to swallow than real fruit but we did get some diced peaches and pears also for good days.
Walmart has an 88 cents section right now for teachers but I got her a bunch of things to color out of there to hopefully keep her busy and she has a whole tote full of movies too! Thank you guys for all your replies! I'm just freakin out a little, which is what I did the night before my surgery too haha!

Quoting lilsoph:" my son had his adenoids out, tubes in and tonsils out last year. The tonsils was by far (not to scare ... [snip!] ... that i wrote for my friend whose son was getting it a month later if you want i can pm it to you, but theres no sugar coating"

I had mine out last year, by far the worst thing in the days immediatly following was the uvula LITERALLY hanging down my throat. I kept gagging   Then I couldn't eat anything for three days straight, and it was literally one of hte most painful things ever actually TAKING my medicine   Ugh.  

OP: When day 3-4 rolls around, try feeding noodles. Instruct your child not to chew. It sounds weird but they slide right on down and you don't have to gargle to get the junk out of the surgery site at all. Angel hair pasta with butter or ramen with only a teeny bit of seasoning worked well.

<blockquote><b>Quoting lov'n Morgan:</b>" My DD is getting her tonsils taken out in the morning! I'm so scared! She's never had surgery before! ... [snip!] ... your children's experiences and some tips on food, drink, and activities to keep them entertained while they can't run around"</blockquote>




How old is she?..i had mine out at 13 and it was horrible. Had it on the 28th of december and by January 2nd i was back in the hospital for the 2nd time having a second surgery because my tonsils broke open. The first time at the hospital was because of dehydration. All i could drink was water everything else burnt and all i could eat was nothing. The younger the better

Quoting lov'n Morgan:" I know it was the best thing I ever did for myself and I think it will be what's best for her, I requested ... [snip!] ... Thank you guys for all your replies! I'm just freakin out a little, which is what I did the night before my surgery too haha!"

its ok, I almost had an emotional breakdown when they took my baby for surgery, lol its normal.

Quoting Breanna(TITSORGTFO):" I had mine out last year, by far the worst thing in the days immediatly following was the uvula LITERALLY ... [snip!] ... the junk out of the surgery site at all. Angel hair pasta with butter or ramen with only a teeny bit of seasoning worked well."

that is one of those things that totally caught me by surprise, no one told me about the uvula until after and he choked on everything! even his own spit/blood

She is 5. we just got back home. It was pretty awful when I got to go back to recovery. she seems to be doing a little better now. she's drinking water and coloring. but she does have morphine and loratab in her system right now.