Advice - DD (5) getting tonsils removed

Hi mums (and dads!),

DD (5) is getting her tonsils removed on Monday, and I was just wondering if anyone had some advice to share? I'm really scared for her :(

Should I stock up on icecream? Or should I encourage normal foods?

What did you do?

TIA

Icecream, yoghurt, custard, jelly, mousse.

Books and DVDs.

Cuddles.

I had mine out a month ago (very different in an adult I know) but even now I find any dairy makes my throat feel yuck and kind of 'thick and coated'
I went through bags and bag of plain ice, and Ice water, these were my life saver.
I was exhausted tired and slept lots, but slept propped up on the couch cause lying flat felt awful.
My biggest surprise was the nausea and vomiting, so be prepared for that.
Keep pain meds up, keep hydrated.
The pain (even as an adult) for me was not nearly as bad as I expected, and after the second day I stopped the endone and oxy and just took panadol.
I used ice packs on the outside of my throat to help with pain and swelling.
If she doesn't want to eat don't force her, as long as she is getting plenty of fluids. She'll probably lose a bit of weight but don't stress about that.
I couldn't speak for 6 days, yet the lady next to me wouldn't shut up!
Everyone recovers differently, and kids usually bounce back very quickly, but I cannot say enough about the Ice!!!

Wishing her a speedy recovery after her surgery xx

DS had his out November last year. Although there were a few rough days it is the best thing we have ever done and DS hasn't looked back since.
* Be prepared for her to be disorientated and in pain in recovery. For me this worse the worse part. Thankfully it didn't last long.
* Keep pain relief up to her regiliously even if she says she doesn't want it. Mainly for the first few days. If you miss a dose it can be really hard to get on top of the pain.
* Plan to have a week a home as they can be quite sleepy as they recover.
* Tell her exactly what is happening in correct terms so she isn't afaird of what is happening. We told DS (3years) that he was staying the night in hospital with mummy. A doctor was going to put a mask on his face make him all sleepy and he will fall asleep. While he is asleep the doctor is going to take out his tonsils and when he wakes up is throat is going to be sore but the nurses will give him medicine to help it feel better. Also tell her that she is going to have a drip in her hand which will be bandaged as that can be quite scary for them. In the morning daddy & DD & DS2 will come and pick us up and take us home.
* We brought him a special toy for being so brave and he took spiderman into hospital with him and spiderman had everything that he had. Spiderman had the mask first and went to sleep and got put on the operating table.
* Practice your brave face so they can see that you aren't scared when they go to sleep.
*As they drift off to sleep they fight the mask, go pale and floppy which is quite scary even though you know what's happening.
*In the morning DD brought him in a spiderman balloon for being so brave.
*Encourage normal food and drink as it's very important to keep food (roughage) to keep passing the surgical site so it doesn't go all sloughie. We weren't allowed to leave hospital unless he ate at least half of what he would eat normally for breakfast.
* Expect that night in hospital to be very disrupted.
* Within 2 weeks DS was back to normal, well better than normal.
* The operation is super quick. I didn't even get through 1/2 cup of tea before it was done.
*Overall DS was really good just a rough few patches where the pain relief wore off.
Seriously best decision we made for him. He is a different kid.

Best of luck and wishing your DD a speedy recovery.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Thank you so much ladies! I'm so bloody worried about the whole thing, it's nice to hear your experiences.
I have been pretty honest with her, told her we'll be going to the hospital, the doctor will put her to sleep and take out her tonsils. This isn't her first operation (she's been under anesthetic twice before, for a badly broken arm, and a bead up the nose), so she understands the whole going to sleep thing...

I like the idea of a "brave" gift too. I hadn't thought of that! We actually did something similar after her broken arm last year.

Liviam - the doctor and hospital we're going through is actually day surgery, so we'll be home that night. I not sure if this relieves me..or worries me! Argh.

Our ENT recommended dry toast from day one to help prevent the build up of clots on them. Apparently if they aren't stripped clean they can develop infections more easily. I had mine out in the era of ice cream and jelly so I'm a tad concerned how my DS will take that when he has them out because I remember how sore it was, but it's not the first time I've heard that post surgery treatment.
I'd call the ENT to see that they recommend for you!

I found eating impossible because of the nausea. It simply made me sicker to contemplate eating than it was worth.
I found it doesn't matter what you eat, it hurts just as much to swallow water as it does food, so just keep meds up and it helps alot. I actually found it easier to eat salada biscuits than soft food cause you don't have to force the harder food down. Hard to explain, but salada's were good.
As much as they told me to eat to keep the tonsils clean, when I was nauseated the surgeon said if ice and water are what helps me then stick to that. Hydration is way more important than food. All of us will eat something when we are ready. For me it took 6 days to be able to stomach anything - even flavored icey poles were too much.
Here's a little tip though, and it sounds awful but when I started throwing up in the second day it was clear the first few times, then all of sudden I was throwing up dark blood. I panicked and freaked out immediately, but my calm and rational partner pointed out it was old dark blood from in my stomach from the surgery. You only need to worry if it's bright red fresh blood.
PLEASE don't let that alarm you, I had no tonsil bleed outs or anything like that - just better to be aware of what may happen so you don't panic like I did.
Also - I was 32, shouldn't be as bad for your DD.
Thinking of your family tomorrow!! Xx

My 5 yr old had hers out in dec last year (also adenoids too)

She was pretty much back to normal after a week and that surprised me. She had two weeks of day care and we stayed home and kept things calm.

I'm surprised its only day surgery. The 1st night after the surgery was bad for us. I freaked out as she vomited dried blood everywhere and I needed the nurses help with it all. I would have flipped completely if we were at home. Doesn't happen often but still scary.

Hope I haven't freaked you out.

No thank you for telling me all of this. I would much rather be prepared, if that does happen to her in the middle of the night. I am sooo stressed out about the whole thing. DH couldn't get time off of work (he works away), so it'll be me and my girl (and DS!) for the first 3 days. My mum will help out looking after DS tomorrow, but it's just not the same is it?

We need to be at the hospital at 7.30am tomorrow. Wish us luck!!!

I just sat down and had a cuddle and talk with her. Told her tomorrow is the day (we've talked about it many times). Oh my.... Huge meltdown. She doesn't want to do it, why do I have to do it, why doesnt her brother have to do it. Just panicking. :(

Did your kids do this?!?! She's freaking out!

I'm 32 and I kinda did this too! So I don't blame her having a meltdown at 5 :)
Mum took me to the hospital cause my partner was doing the school run. We took a card game to play to kill time before I went in (I had to wait 2 hours) so take some favorite little toys or games to do incase there is a bit of a wait.
Maybe play a game with a favorite teddy today, pretend teddy has to get his tonsils out and play doctors. Show how he has to lie down and have a rest while the 'doctor' does the operation, then teddy can wake up in bed and get lots of praise for being so brave!
Or take her out and buy some icey poles to put in the freezer for her to have when she gets home from hospital so she has something to look forward to
Please let us know how she is doing tomorrow :)

Thanks for the reassurance Dee :)

Curious, did you get nauseous from the anaesthetic, or the actual operation? I remember when I got mine out (16), I was also incredibly nauseous.

I'm hoping we don't have to wait too long to get it done - will be bad waiting too long, building anxiety! The receptionist mentioned they do the kids from youngest to oldest - so hopefully that means she'll be one of the first!

I also had to use rectal Panadol for DS as he flat out refused medication orally.
DD was fine though.
Expect a lot of night wakes for the first week or so, and a bit of weight loss.
I had a gift for when they arrived.
Going under GA can be very confronting, as child just suddenly 'flops.'
Also they can thrash about coming out of GA. I ended up covered in blood, so don't wear white.

I too was very upfront with what was going to happen as I wanted them to feel they can trust me, consequently DD was not too polite to the aneathasist pre-op.

The hospital night for both of mine was HELL. Have someone else at home when you are discharged so yo can get a nap yourself when you get home.

Poor little thing - hope it goes well.

As others have said
ice ice and more ice (great for numbing)
Keep hydrated
Don't go nuts on the sugary soft stuff - think how yuck you'd feel eating all that let alone just having had tonsils out. Mashed potato, 2 min noodles, can be good too.
Stay on top of pain. Not being in pain isn't always a good reason to skip a dose - it means the meds are working!

Tellytubby, I'm not sure if it was the anesthetic, the op or the pain meds that made me sick, but I vomited about 8-10 times on day 2 until my partner got me anti nausea wafers and maxillon.
He just rang the surgeon to get a prescription. The nausea stayed for 6 days but the vomiting stopped with the meds.
The surgeon told me that non smoking, fit adult females often get physically sick after an anesthetic. She said they're not sure why, but for some reason non smokers and fit people tend to get sick. Strange!
They also had me on endone, oxy and panadol and by day 2 I stopped all but the panadol cause the others made me feel terrible. The pain was okay with just the panadol.
Set an alarm, and also record what time you give her medicine. It's so easy to forget when you gave it last.
Oh, and I was way more comfortable sleeping on the couch semi upright than flat in bed, so I stayed on the couch for 5 days and nights.
If there is anyway you can put a matress of the floor for you and have her sleep in the lounge it might help you get rest too, rather than getting up and down.
I made sure I had my meds, water, ice pack, cup of ice, torch and heater on low each night before I went to sleep, so when I did wake up for meds or anything I had it all right next to me.

How is your Dd going?

Hi ladies ! I can't thank you enough for your support during this, I really appreciate it :)

DD seems to be going well, she'll start complaining when she's due for pain relief, but other than that she is ok. Still not eating much, but that's to be expected.

When she came out she was very nauseous, and continued spewing for the afternoon. Her throat kept swelling up (much more than usual), so she had to have extra steriod injections, and overnight monitoring (it was originally planned as day surgery). DH had to get time off from work to look after DS while we were in hospital. But the surgeon wrote a medical certificate for him - so it should keep his employer happy.

Last night I tried to wake DD up to give her some painstop, but she refused to open her eyes. As a result went without - and slept through until 7am this morning! :) very happy with that!

Aww the poor little thing! It's just all so traumatic isn't it!
Glad she had a good nights sleep, before you know it she'll be all recovered and you'll be glad it's done :)

How long should it take to get better?? She is still sick :(. It's been a week now. She was up 3 times last night in pain. I don't want her to miss out on school holidays :(

By day 8 I started to improve a little bit each day. By day 16 I was back at work, still very tired and still taking pain meds just as needed.
It's a very slow recovery, but once you start to notice improvements it's gets better each day.
Keep her really hydrated with water and ice cause this is when the scabs start to come off and if the throat is dry there is more chance of it bleeding. I had no trouble with the scabs, but I had a water bottle with me ALL the time and kept sipping on it.
Also when the scabs come off he throat can be very raw and tender. Anything but water to drink hurt me for a few days and certain foods were too much for my throat.
Most people say the second week hurts more than the first - but for me day 8 onwards got better :)