tonsils out for DS who's 4

[melbrodhi]

Hi, my DS has been diagnosed with sleep apnia caused by massive tonsils. they have recommended he get them out. im am very nervous about him having surgery. can anyone tell me their experiences with their kids getting their tonsils out? how was their recovery? was it very stressful?

thanks

[Raupe]

My little brother had them out when he was three. He was such a little trooper. He managed the surgery fine, but he was not feeling well after (understandebly). If I recall right, my mum stayed with him for the night in hossy for observation. Normally he was all chatty and would NEVER stop talking, but after surgery he was all quiet for a couple of days. The throat does hurt alot after and obviously the doctors don't want to pump the little ones full of drugs, so instead it was icecream as painrelief! Every kid loves that!

I'm sure the surgery is going to be fine, but be prepared for some recovery time. My brother was better after about a week, but he had a little fever the first two days. Maybe someone else can give you more details, my memory is not always the best.

I wish you and your little one all the best!

[Mother Goose]

these days it is really a non-event. Most hospitals do it as a Day Surgery - a 12 hour stay in hossy and off you go home! So if you're done in the am, you should be home that night!

We encourage children to eat fairly soon after the surgery as it is proven to aid in the recovery. Usually soft foods but they can eat anything really (well, except sharp foods like potato chips or fish with bones!). Some children may experience discomfort but it is usually managable with panadol or neurofen and jelly or ice cream is always soothing as well.

Your DS may be more tired than normal on the day of the surgery or even irritable - that is normal and a common side effect anesthetic.

In many instances, surgery is more distressing for the parents than the child. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.

MG

[Hannahbanana]

My DD had her tonsils and adnoids out last year. She was almost 3 1/2 and I was 10 days off being due with baby #3 and had an almost 2 y/o to look after as well. So yes it was stressful .
The hardest thing was watching her go under the anasthesia as they had me go into the theater with her while they put the bung in her arm and knocked her out. I held it together long enough for her not to see me crying and it took me a good 10 or so minutes to pull myself together in the waiting room.
After she came out of theater I could hear her screaming and crying and it took the nurses 10 minutes to come and get me so I could calm her down....I should have been in there when she woke up but anyway.....
The day of the op she was good and eating a bit. My DH stayed overnight with her in hospital and she had a rough night and the next week was a battle to get her to eat although she did drink a fair bit cos we told her that it would make her throat feel better. She spent two days on the couch doing not much but after that she was doing her normal thing. After the first week she started eating without being 'forced' to.
It was definatley stressful and I felt so sorry for her but I am glad we got them taken out when we did. She sleeps so much better and doesn't snore anymore, she doesn't get sick as often, and doesn't cough during the night as much as before which was the reason we had them out in the first place.
Hope you all get through it ok. Good luck!!

[Raupe]

In many instances, surgery is more distressing for the parents than the child.

MG

:yeahthat:

LÃ*ke Mother Goose said, nowadays it's no biggy. My little brother had his done 13 years ago ( OMG that's a long time ago!). Things have improved a lot since then! I'm sure he'll be just fine.

[Party-of-five]

my DS had sleep apnea too...he had his tonsils and adinoids out just after he was 2. It was not very pleasant but they gave him good drugs like the others have said its worse on the mummy he was fine after a few days and the difference it made in the quality of sleep he got was amazing he was like a new little boy...not so tired and cranky all the time
wishing you all the best

[Mother Goose]

After she came out of theater I could hear her screaming and crying and it took the nurses 10 minutes to come and get me so I could calm her down....I should have been in there when she woke up but anyway.....

I'm sorry to hear your DD was so distressed . Unfortunatley it is a common side effect of anesthetic - especially on little people. Often children also wake distressed because they have woken in a strange place with strange people and they usually have equipment attached to them which can be scary for adults, let alone children.

Unfortunatley, you can't always go into recovery as a parent - it's not about the parent calming a child down; it's about the nursing staff making sure the child is safe and stable first and the first 15-20 minutes after waking are our most critical. Hearing your child in distress is very unnerving, especially when your gut reaction is to be a Mummy and comfort them. But it can be as equally distressing to see them unconscious, or hooked up to wires, or to see another very ill patient in the recovery area who might have a lot going on. So, from a nursing point of view, we have to think about the safety of all our patients before bringing family into a recovery area. Peadeatrics is the only area (with very few exceptions) a family member will ever be allowed into a recovery area and even then it is at the discretion of the nursing staff, if we don't think a patient is stable enough for family to be present or that we have a critical situation or a situation that we consider too risky to have non-staff present, we won't send for you.