Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy

hurts real bad. kept myself drugged and sleeping for two weeks. still hurt after that too.

get as many popsicles and ice cream that you can. i was starving and couldn't eat anything except popsicles.

He is a brave little man with many questions. He wants to know exactly what the doctor will do.

We have explained the procedure, why he needs it, what he will eat afterwards, that his throat might hurt a little for a few days, etc.

He's looking forward to watching Bugs Bunny while eating ice cream and popsicles in bed. I'm the nervous one but wont let him know

When I was 6 or so.. I had mine out.. got to pick a toy out of the toy chest at the surgery center .. picked a bear out and named him Surge like the drink... he's still at my parents house somewhere ... that was 21 years ago.. your child will be fine.

Don't know the age of your child, but the anesthesia can temporarily (couple hours) do a number on young babies and children. They can either be extremely pissed and screaming, or they can lose motor control (like not being able to hold their head up). Like I said, it only lasts for an hour or two, but it helped me to be prepared for it and not think something went wrong in surgery...haha.
Good luck to you and your child!

J e l l o

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I took mine out at 30 and I would not wish that shite on anybody (although after its all said and done, it really was worth it).

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Same experience here. Got mine out at 22 and it was total hell. The kid next to me in recovery had gotten his out too. He was maybe 6 and was talking, laughing, asking questions. It's so much easier on the younger kids.

I had mine out when I was 15 or 16. It was pretty painful. It was the week of the "Bluegrass Miracle". I remember because I was trying to drink powerade during the game when my scab fell off.

My son had his out about a year ago. He was 3 last summer, and took it in stride. The hardest part is getting them to drink, like many have said. They don't understand the need to keep the throat wet at all times, and will flat out refuse. Giving the pain meds was probably the worst part, because their throat is hurting and they don't understand why you're holding them down over the sink and forcing them to take liquid pain meds.

The first few days, stick to the medicine schedule religiously. Even if it means waking them up to force meds. That was actually the easiest time to give them for me because he was still out of it and I could get the dose in pretty quickly before he was conscious and knew what was going on. With most surgeries you will hear things like day 3 is the worst. Not the case with this one. The worst days are when scabs start falling off, around day 5-7. So you may think your kid is making an awesome recovery and dial back on the pain meds on days 3-5. So don't keep forcing it at that point. Use Motrin or Tylenol instead. Alternate between the two. Be sure to save some of the prescription meds for those later days. They may also give you a steroid for them to take as well, which helps reduce swelling. I forget the timing on that but I think it was once or twice a day, not every 4-6 hours like the other stuff.

I also had this done back on Memorial day weekend, so I know what they're going through and it is still fresh in my mind. Don't force things that are too cold. It hurts. Cool is way better than cold. Don't make them drink stuff with ice in it. Pour stuff up in cups and leave it in the fridge so you can just grab a cup and hand it to them cool. We did Apple Juice, water, and smoothies. Smoothies are mainly for nutrition, and we didn't make them frozen because of the cold. Yogurt, juice, bananas, maybe some berries. We'd blend up a pitcher full and it would last two days.

If they can eat regular stuff, it is going to be about 45 minutes after the pain meds kick in. When I had mine done, I tried to eat anything I could in this timeframe. I still couldn't eat for 3 days, and lost 12 lbs in that time. Jell-O, smoothies, and tons of water. Some friends brought me a huge frozen smoothie, and I would scoop some out into a cup and eat it with a spoon. Just let the semi-frozen slush sit at the back of my tongue and then slide on down. That cold wasn't as bad as drinking ice water.

We do, and that's a good suggestion. I'll be sure to ask for a prescription for neb saline just in case he won't drink.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone