child post tonsillectomy recovery age 6

Hi Jacki. My 2 1/2 year old is scheduled for surgery on February 23rd. I feel like cancelling because I'm so scared for him. Please let me know how your daughter does. I hope everything goes smoothly.



Thanks, Ann

my daughter is 6 and just had her tonsils and adenoids removed on 2/17/11. Day 1 of the surgery was the worst day...she slept most of the day but when she would get up it was horrible. She is a very strong willed girl but she hated every minute. Meds helped but the most frightening thing was she wasn't drinking anything. I could get a teaspon of liquid down her at a time. Finally, later that evening after her bath..I blended some ice chips (like snow cone). She wanted it mixed with jello..and she was able to get it down. I struggled with meds as it was painful to swallow. I was told to make sure the keep the meds down every 4 hours. Day 2 was a better..her energy level was back to normal but swallowing was still very painful. she lived off of jello and gatorade for the day. Today is day 3 and it is turning around...she still feels pain but is able to tolerate it a bit better. she at bananas and drank apple juice. I went out and bought Ensure to make sure she was getting enough vitamins. The struggle is to keep her calm, trying to keep her from over excerting herself. she is a trooper and I'm glad I had warning ahead of time. Others told me the first 2-3 days are the worst. For us it was the first day...even though we were prepared I'm glad that we got through days 1 and 2. Best of luck to others and thanks everyone for sharing your stories.

Hi Ann,
Kaylee's surgery is now changed to March 7th because she had an asthma flair up two days before the surgery date. Hoping all goes well for your little guy. I have been told it is hardest on the parents and the kids do fine. Please post how he is doing. Hang in there!
Jacki

Thanks for sharing, just trying to do my homework, next Thursday my 4 and 6 year olds are both getting Tonsils and Adenoids out...praying for an easy recovey. Thanks for all the tips.

The surgery was held on the 7th. Post surgery, her biggest issues were throwing up and pain management. After staying one night in the hospital, she was on the mend quickly it seemed....until about day 3. She then struggled with just being exhausted and pain for almost a solid week. She was off of school for almost 2 full weeks. At that time we turned the corner and she is now back to normal, no pain and no throat issues. I would do it again even if I knew this info, just would have been more prepared for two weeks of healing. We had to scramble to fighure out who was staying home, so I wish we had made a two week plan, just in case. Best of luck, I hope it goes well for both of your little ones and is quicker for their healing. Take care!
Jacki

My 6 1/2 year old son had his tonsils and adenoids removed 9 days ago. I was nervous as well and was angered at people who tried to minimize the operation as a 'simple procedure'. Placing your child under general anesthesia and worrying about post op bleeding, should not be minimized. I got two opinions from different ped ENTs and chose the one I liked. My son had airway obstruction due to HUGE tonsils. My son's operation went very well. We were home from the hospital about 4-5 hours after arriving for the procedure. We took my son on a tour of the facility a few days prior to the surgery and that helped with his nerves. He told me the only time that he was nervous was when he had to blow up the 'green balloon' (when they put the mask on him to put him under). My son came out of sedation quickly and quietly. We were told to expect a very upset or very calm child. Disposition/personality does not affect this, instead it's just the childs' individual reaction to coming out from being under. We were sent home with an antibiotic and tylenol with codeine. Day 1 was a piece of cake. My son came home from the hospital happy and eating all sort of Popsicles and ice cream and juice. Day 2 was a bit more uncomfortable for him, but I kept him on the codeine every 4 hours around the clock (even waking him for doses if need me) for the first 48 hours. I think this really helped. I then gradually weaned him down. Now he takes the codeine only at night and regular tylenol first thing in the am. That is it. He ahd the ear pain that was expected, but I don't think his breath is that bad. All in all, it wasn't as bad as I expected and when my son said to me, the same day we got home, 'Mom, I can breathe SO much better', it made it worth it. He doesn't snore at night anymore either. Post op appt in next week.

This was my experience. I'm nine years old. I had my tonsils removed April 3, 2011 because I had an abscess. This was right before my spring break, the night that my grandma was coming in from Wisconsin. I wasn't that scared even though everyone else was like "Oh No!" I actually needed that sleep. It did not hurt that bad because the abscess before that hurt a lot worse than the tonsillectomy.

I am on day 8 and I can't eat citrusy things because they sting my scabs, which means taking liquid Advil form hurts but it's hard to swallow the pills. Before I was drinking Gatorade for days1-4 but now that stings so chocolate milk feels good so does water, but when i am at the height of my medications a can drink Gatorade. Liquid Tylenol with codeine stings too. Nights and early mornings are the worst because I breathe through my throat, drying the scabs. Talking sometimes hurts but not as bad as when I had my abscess. My mom is going to put a humidifier in my room tonight. The two easiest things to eat are: Soft French Bread with the crust cut off and Ice Cream. Today I am going to try to go to school for a half a day.

Reading these recovery stories is really scary...am I completely crazy to have both my 3-year-old and my 6-year-old scheduled for tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy & tubes in ears the same day??  Should I try to space them out so I'm not dealing with recovery for both kids at once??

My 6-yo son had his tonsils and adenoids out last Monday (it's now Saturday, or day 6).  I had read all these posts and was really concerned about how hard the recovery would be -- I was prepared for the worst. I ended up being VERY lucky -- our son (so far) has had an extremely easy recovery.  He had ice cream and milkshakes throughout the day on day one, and had cream of mushroom soup the night of his surgery. On day two, more ice cream & jello, and we had meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner.  He chowed down on this, eating more than he normally does.  By day 3 he was eating mostly normal foods (he wanted sushi for lunch -- his favorite -- my child is weird), day 4 and 5 were mostly normal foods -- just avoiding anything crunchy.  Yesterday (day 5) he ate a bunch of strawberries -- against my advice, as I feared they'd be too acidic -- and said they didn't bother him.

I think the key to our success was never letting his pain get ahead of him.  We did the Tylenol + codeine religiously every 6 hours, including during the middle of the night, for days 1-3.  My son HATED taking the meds -- particularly the amoxicillan -- so we'd start by him by coating his mouth with something he liked (either chocolate pudding or ice cream), then he'd take the medicine and immediately chase it with a big glass of gatorade.  After a couple of days he started fighting this really hard, so I resorted to frank bribery (giving him $1 a dose) and that has worked since.  On day 4, we switched to just Tylenol for the daytime dose, but gave him codeine for his before-bed dose -- and let him sleep through the night uninterrupted. As of yesterday (day 5) he was just on tylenol, and had three doses.  He woke up this morning pain free so we're not doing any pain meds today unless he complains his throat is starting to hurt.

We also used a humidifier in his room every night, to avoid his throat getting too dry.

As I said up front, we lucked out and this recovery has been remarkably easy so far.  I wanted to post this just to give a contrasting viewpoint to a lot of the horrible experiences that have been posted here.  Tonsillectomy recovery can be really, really hard -- but occasionally it's also pretty easy.  I do believe that there's a bit of a selection bias when you read accounts of recovery on support-boards like this one.  Most people that have a very easy time of it do not bother to seek support or post to a forum such as this.  I wanted to be the exception.

My best advice is to go into this surgery with eyes open and prepared for the worst.  You never know, it might actually be easier than you expect!

That is a great point!  My son had his adnoids only out at age 3.  They warned us that he would have a hard time and to take eating slow.  My son was eating pizza the night of his surgery.  We also did pain meds for a few days, but he never once complained.  His speech and sleeping improved on that first night.  Though there is a huge difference when the adnoids are taken on their own, i is important to show the positive side.

my 3yr old son in on day 6 after having his tonsils and adnoids taken out.  -he came out of the anestesia really cranky and confused....he cried for about 15 minutes. He stayed over night in the hospital because he had sleep apnea (due to his huge tonsils).  He actually ate some mac n cheese  3 hours after he came out of surgery! and he was drinking very well. When we went home the next day I continued giving him the pain meds which was recomended every 4 hours, ( the dr's told me to wake him up in the middle of night to give him his next dose) but I didn't do that I just gave him his last dose at 6pm, he went to bed an hour later and he didn't wake up till the next morning.  He does wake up every morning complaining that his throat hurts (I'm sure it's due to his throat being dry) but then goes on eating, drinking and even playing like nothing was wrong! I'm amazed at how well he is doing, he even had chicken nuggets and french fries yesterday....I actually checked his throat last night to make sure the dr's really took his tonsils out!  I'm so glad we had the surgery done, he sleeps so well now....before I could here him snoring from 3 rooms away, and now he doesn't make a peep.  Reading all the other post I guess we're pretty lucky and I hope he continues having a pretty good recovery.   I do have to add that his voice sounds so different right now...it's so darn cute! he sounds like alvin from "alvin and the chipmunks"

Hi, this information is very helpful. My 8 year old has the surgery tomorrow morning (tonsils only). I am soooooo nervous about the recovery period, but reading all of these comments was really helpful. Now I dont think I will panic as much.  Hopefully, we will be one of the folks with the easy recovery. I'll post on day 2 -3 post surgery to let others know what to expect

hi sorry to tell you all this but i think you should be told and to prepare as i was not and if i would of known i would of refused to let my 3yr old daughter have it done even though i no every child is diffrent i want all parents to no the worse that could happen! day of operation she was fine before and after i could not believe how easy it went to say she had two teeth out at the same time, come home with her for the first couple of days she was fine eating drinking and playing then she started playing up would not eat drink even move so on the 4th day i took her to see her GP and he said she was fine and everything was healing up as it should. that night i put her to bed she woke up at 12.15 screaming as i was told she was fine i went in in the dark and told her to lay down and go back to sleep she would not settle so i switched the light on and i had never seen anything like it in my life she was covered from head to toe in blood the quilt the walls even her younger sister who she sleeps with first reactions i ran out to phone an ambulance who told me to keep her still till they got there, when they arrive they took her straight away as she had lost alot of blood! when we arrived at the hospital they put her on a drip to give her pain killers and antibiotic an hour later we had another episode of blood pouring out off her mouth (not nice to see) turns out the scabs on her thoat had come off and with the hospital not providing any antibiotics to start with they got infected and all this happend so please parents be careful make sure you recieve some antiboics i would not want any mother to go though it thanks x

Mom with 2 boys again.

 My son had his tonsils out and we are at day 7.  It has been a pretty easy recovery for him.  I followed some of the advice from the other post (kept giving pain meds every 4-6 hours for the first two days, kept a humidifer in his room at night, forced the liquids). By day three he kept saying his pain was a 0 (on a scale of 0 - 10). So day three and four I only gave him the tylonel with codein at night.  We havent had to do any pain killers during the day. Except for day 6 he was holding his ear, I asked him if it was hurting and he said yes a little, so I gave him regular tylonel.  I begged, I bribed, I did everything I could do to get him to drink lots of liquids.  He complained about the mucus in his mouth that made everything taste funny. I think it really helped him that he kept drinkiing and was so hydrated. Today, day 7 he is finally talking in his regular voice.  Ritas italian ice and power aid drinks worked best, he liked that a lot and could get it down easly. He also ate some room temperature Lipton chicken noodle soup (box kind) the same day of surgery.  If your kids have the surgery, definately stay ahead of the pain, and use a humidifer at night. I was terrifed and expected the worst, but it really wasn't too bad for us. Advice for other kids from my son (8-years old) he said the surgery wasnt that scary, dont yell loud it will hurt your throat, eat soft food and drink lots of liquid, check you pee to make sure its not dark, if it is drink more water, if you are going to lay down put a towel under your face so you dont drool on stuff, you can help drooling.

 Good luck to parents and kids out there, I hope this helps.

I'm so glad I came across this site, my daughter (2) has had her tonsils and adenoids taken out 6 days ago, and she is still waking up 3 times a night crying. The dr said a few days, I never thought it could be so bad (I still have my tonsils).

Thanks for all the info, now I know what to expect next.