Any Advice for a 6Yo Tonsillectomy?

My kid did not have this...my husband did. He had his tonsils, adnoids and deveated(sp?) septum removed. (he is 48)
It is not pleasant. When they say ice cream, they mean it!!! They cant have anything that will hurt when swallowed. I came up with a REALLY good tasting, vitamin filled, soothing chicken soup that he could manage to "drink"...if you get to that spot, let me know...I'll send the recipe.

My son had his tonsils and adenoids removed when he was 5 1/2. No regrets whatsoever. He actually gets a restful nights sleep vs. snoring and gagging all night.
It was an outpatient procedure done in ENT's surgical facility. Our ENT had us alternating ibuprofen and tylenol every 2 or 4 hours - can't remember for sure and for the first few days he was on a prescribed medication for pain.
My best advice is to keep up on medication, be diligent about it. And be sure they drink their water!! The water helps keep the throat moist therefore less painful when swallowing. Be ware of the odor on that begins on the 4th or 5th day - it smells like death. Seriously.
I took mine to the store the day before and let him pick out some of his favorites like yogurt, pudding, apple sauce, etc. but when he was ready to eat he wanted toast. Sounds crazy, I know. But he ate it and said it actually felt good on his throat.
Our doc said it would take about 10 days for recovery and on about the 8th day he started to feel good. He was still tired and his throat would get dry at night and that bothered him a bit for a few more days. The first few days weren't too bad but about the 4th day he regressed a little but it was b/c his Dad got a little behind on meds and water while I was at work.
If you have any ?'s feel free to PM me. It was scary when they took him away for the anesthesia but he was very brave and I took his favorite blanket and stuffed dinosaur.
Best wishes!!

Had mine removed last year in January. As a 22 year old I was told the pain is less intense if the tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy is done as a child.

It hurt. I won't lie; it really hurt consistently for 3 weeks.

The doctor will tell you to make sure he is drinking water. There are PLENTY of days where even water made me break down crying.

Stay on top of the pain medication. Pain is easier to prevent than it is to control once it's gotten out of control.

I got to this question by clicking "Sierra Vista" so if you are in SV, know that the surgical staff at Sierra Vista Regional is top notch. They were very kind, very gentle with the IV catheter and sweet as pie with the recovery.

Waking up from anesthesia is hard, hard, hard. It's like trying to wake up but someone has taped your eyes shut. It takes a full day to shake off the effects and it isn't easy when your throat hurts.

Just go slow. Stock up now on popsicles! They say jello, but there was no way I was going to eat Jello...WAY too painful even at week 2 and 3.

My 8 year old had it done at Children's Hospital in Boston and we stayed overnight 1 night and paid for it since insurance only covered outpatient. The tonsil beds can bleed right after surgery and then you have to go back to the hospital. They can also bleed about a week later when the scabs fall off. Neither happened for my child but I am not a nurse and just preferred paying the extra few hundred dollars to be certain. I slept in her room in recliner. She was better at taking the yucky Tylenol with codeine at the hospital and at home did not want it anymore. We switched to regular Tylenol and she was fine with that. You do need to keep him home for about 10 days to watch for the bleeding. We schedule it right before a week long school vacation for that reason. She is soooooo much better now, no snoring, no dry sore throats in the morning, better rested, happier disposition. Good luck.

My DD had hers taken out at 14. She did better than I did when I had mine removed at 17. The younger they are the better it is for them. I echo the post that said to keep up on the pain meds. If you don't it makes it harder for them. It is better to keep the meds in them so they don't feel the pain rather than have to wait for meds to start to work. I would also recommend stocking up on the foods that he would want to eat before the surgery so that you don't have to worry about going out to buy them. I would also suggest when you get the foods, stay away from things that have the red dyes in them because as Teenmom says they can bleed....and if he has been eating red popcicles all day, it would be hard to tell if it were blood or just red from the dyes. Foods that are great to have on hand are puddings, chicken noodle soups, jello, ice cream. Something that I remember eating a lot of is mashed potatoes and ramen noodles. Just work with what he likes and get things that are soft and don't have to be really hot to eat. The tempature of the food can make a difference as to whether or not he wants to eat it too. Also make sure that he stays hydrated.....the pain gets worse if they are dehydrated. Good luck.
J.--SAHM of 7

When my son was 18 mos old, he had to have tubes put in his ears because of the number of ear infections he had. They also took out his adenoids at that time. His hearing improved quite a bit after that minor surgery. They said that he needed to have his tonsils out, but refused to do them until he was five yrs old. They really needed to come out! Two weeks before he was five, I took him back to the dr and they scheduled the surgery. He did well with it and healed quickly. (I told him it would hurt to talk and swallow, but that it would be worth it. He could have popsicles, etc., and would be well by about 2 wks later. He stayed overnight in the hosp & I stayed with him.) After his tonsilectomy, he - all of a sudden - had 100% hearing! It improved so much his speech and communication and hearing and he felt so much better! He had been waking up with a sore throat every morning that he could remember before that, so he was happy not to have a sore throat and to be able to hear. :)

My son who is 4 just had his out last November. The doctor said the tonisils would be painful for him because they lay on muscles that are used more than we realize. He said adnoids wouldn't be painful as they don't do much. My son was in horrible pain the second day through the fifth day with his tylenol with codine. He ran a fever, threw up once, slept about 8 - 12 hours a day, and even lost about 3 pounds which is a lot because he only weighs 38 pounds. The doctor said to give him anything even straight sweets to get him eating again and that is what we did on the 5th day of not eating. They said it all was normal and after the fifth day he was perfectly fine. Good thing we got them out too because he had an abcess in one that would didn't know about. He also said the older you get the worse the recovery is. But I have to say the worst part was absoluetly his breath!! Made me gag for about 10 days!