what to expect from a tonsiladenoidectamy in a 2 yr old .
DD is getting tonsils and adenoiods out in april (10ish weeks from now ) for those who have exp with their little ones having this op , what is the recovery like ?
she is having them out due to sleep apnea and loud snoring . her tonsils are massive too so they are coming out to avoid more troubles with tonsilitis etc . its a scary thought to know shes having an op . so how did you cope . ?
my DD has a history of health issues so this is not some "lets just rip them out " case . im aware of the "wait and see " aprroch many drs are taking these days seeing wether the child grows into their large adenoids and tonsils which would be my prefferd option. so im not taking it lightly .
im predicting a clingy child ... but i have been warned about a "smell" ... tell me more lol
DS had his out the week before his third birthday (some birthday pressie, huh? At least he got to eat lots of ice-cream). He's autistic, so communicating it with him was problematic. I'll come back later and give a more detailed run-through, but the most important thing for a good recovery is pain relief = ability to eat/drink = better recovery. On the second day DS brought up most of a dose of endone - you can't redose with opiates - and spiralled to not being able to take meds, then no eating or drinking, and wound up back in hospital on IV fluids. Even if you have to wake her for them, don't delay or miss a scheduled dose of pain relief, that was what started our problem, we delayed his endone by an hour.
The smell is usually from the anesthetic and any anti biotics. It's a bit gag worthy but doesn't too long.
Some children awake from the anesthetic as though they are having a tantrum. Don't be too concerned by this - it is a very common reaction to the medication and is experienced by all ages. If you are allowed in recovery, just do your best to reassure them.
Children are encouraged to eat and drink very soon after this surgery. Usually after around an hour.
This procedure is usually done as a day procedure. If the surgery is scheduled for the afternoon, then they are kept in over night.
i had my tonsils out when i was 4, and apparently when they gave me the "pre-meds" i went crazy, i started screaming and ran away and wouldnt let anyone near me except my mum lol
point being is apparently its common to have a somewhat similar reaction to the pre-meds, so although i hope its not anywhere near as bad as mine, i just thought id let you know in case!
oh, and i completely agree with the PP about making sure your little one eats and drinks, i didnt (not sure if it was couldnt vs. wouldnt scenario) and ended up back in hospital for a week due to dehydration and something else (cant remember what, but it was related) and that was FAR worse than the inital hospital stay. i still remember hating the nurses coming around every day and giving me the anti-biotics in the IV, they hurt so much that i'd scream and beg them not to put it in.
dont want to scare you at all, but just giving experience to hopefully help you hun
no pre-meds these days. many hospitals allow 1 parent to go into the anesthetic room with the child. once they're asleep you leave and wait for them to call you into recovery or the child returns to the ward (depending on the hospital)
My little girl had the exact same op (+ grommits) for the exact same reason its scary listening to them stop breathing then coughing to regain air about 11 months ago she was just 3 it took 45mins but without grommits would take around 30mins my DD was up 30mins after op eating sandwiches and jelly and drinking lemonade and when she went upto ward had to hide the ride on car cause she was trying to laps around the ward she was that good kicked her out at 8am the next morning she does have a high pain tolerance but kept up painstop the night one cause she didnt complain at all just thought i would post dont know if it helps at all
my DD had the best night sleep in months after it was done to cause she was struggling to breathe started to wet the bed and was tired all the time and we found it got worse as the weeks went by it will do her great when she gets it done
My Ds had this sam op 2 months before his 3rd birthday. He was alot braver than i expected!! he was eating/ drinking pretty much as soon as he woke up and trying to keep him calm and relaxed was near on impossible!!
The only thing we had to be aware of was he thought everythign was REALLY loud and it hurt his ears.. apparently that is because of his adnoids being taken out.. not 100% on it but he was complainign about that for weeks. they kicked him out of hospital the next day and we jsut kept up the pain relief for about a week... ( from memory!!)
It is really scary to think of your baby going under anesthetic but they are in the hands of people that do this every day! Try not to stress about it cause kids pick up on these things.. oh and explaint to DD what is happening give her plenty of warning that seh will be having it done.. talk about it till you are sick of hearing yourself say it! that was what the Dr told us to do.. he said many parents dont say anything cause they dont want to scare the kids but it works the other way round!!
good luck~
if you have any questions you can PM me i will be happy to answer anything i can!!!
thanks for all the replies . i know its a common proceedure but im still nervous about it . i have seen DD on medazzalan before when she had to have plastic surgurey on her face after a fall. on the day of her fall she was fixed up sent home but the next day went down hill had ended back in hosp for 3 nights really unwell . so shes used to the hosp but im mainly worried about her pain . her and i had a dose of medazzalan in the same week ( hers due to a fall and cutting open her face ,mine a boob job ) BUT we both had the same reaction to it . which was it didnt really work on us , my surgeons quote to me was " i gave you an elphants dose and you were still awake" and when DD had her dose she was wide awake and kept trying to eat the needle stitching up her face :0 so i hope they dont use that on her to do the op .
and all her blood tests are done through a her fingers or feet via ultrasound as they can never find a vein so her IV will prob go in her foot again , so painful i hear .
she hates needles too .. she will be in overnight .
how long was it before they were back to kindy etc ?
If she's had a bad reaction to the Midazolam before, let the nurses know when they are admitting you, so if necessary they can make sure the Anaesthetist is aware.
Also, if she has had trouble with access before, make sure you let the nurses know that as well. They may be willing to contact the anaesthetist or registrar and have them come over and assess the best spot for an IV in advance, so the numbing gel can go over the right spot. Or if you see your anaesthetist beforehand, let them know.
at our hospital they put DS to sleep before they put the IV in.. i hope they do the same at yours!
the littl eboy who had it done last year at my son's school had to stay home for 2 weeks incase of bleeding ect..
thanks guys , thanks schmickers ... that info helps . totally unrelated but last night she was in hops for eating a couple of panadol ( unsure of how much she did eat so i took her in JIC) and they couldnt bleed her and tried 3 different places and got 1ml out . they were talking about getting blood from her bone . is that normal practice to to that in a kid hard to bleed ???
i will be seeing the ANTH. ( when i pay him *rolleyes*) so i will let him know then.
2 weeks off kindy ...her and i will be climibng the walls ! lol
The "wait and see" approach isn't just a new thing. I was born with adenoids the size of a teenagers and I wasn't able to breath through my nose at all. It was never suggested that I should have surgery so I just grew into them over time. If surgery had been offered I'm sure my parents would have definitely done it. I didn't have trouble breathing at night through my mouth, but I had a hellish time of feeding apparently. I wasn't able to do the normal "suck suck breathe" technique of feeding that babies generally do, because I couldn't breathe through my nose. So I used to suck and suck and suck until I finally pulled off the breast and gasped for air. That sort of action causes babies to ingest a lot of air, so I then had major "wind" issues. Add all of this to my nasty painful ear problems and I made for one rather difficult baby.
So, I guess what I'm saying is that as the parent, you are obviously the best person to know what is best for your child, and the "wait and see" approach is not always best.
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