Tonsillectomy/Adenoidectomy Post Op

When my dd had hers out (4 yrs old at the time), it was about a week, especially at night. She would cry because it hurt. She would drink Pediasure, really cold, and it helped a bit. I also made popsicles for her. She did not want to eat much at all because it hurt to swallow. I do not recall the pain lessening and then getting worse though.

Oh no.. My son is 5.5, having tubes put in his ears, tonsils/adenoids taken out on June 1st.. I've heard days 5-7 were the toughest..
I hope she feels better, REALLY soon :)

My son had his out right after he turned 4.
The first few days were a little rough but the pain medication worked well for him.
After that it was hard to keep him from jumping on the furniture.
Don't worry about gum (or even soft foods), just keep up with the fluids.
Keeping hydrated is the most important thing.
In a few more days she should be fine and it just keeps getting better after that.
For my son, not snoring anymore and being able to swallow (his tonsils were huge and had become an obstruction) was such a relief.
Having it done was the best thing we ever did.

I am so sorry. It is so hard to see your child in so much pain.
I had my tonsils out a few years ago as an adult, and I can honestly say NOTHING, not even hard labor during childbirth compares to the pain I was in with my tonsillectomy.
Now, I know kids bounce back WAY faster from things than adults, so I would expect you will see some progress pretty soon with your daughter.
Yet, and this is not to worry you, but give honest experience, I could not eat anything solid for 20 days, yes, 20 days, the pain was so bad. I will never miss taking 2 hours to try to eat the smallest piece of turkey and mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving, so sad.

Here are some of things I was able to tolerate and proved to be helpful. Eating crushed ice was awesome because it brought down the swelling and numbed the pain. I actually made my husband find a store that sold crushed ice instead of regular ice. Popsicles were not do-able for quite some time because the sugar and/or juice would irritate my throat.
The other thing I could easily eat and soothed my throat was chicken broth, with those slippery noodles. I am pretty sure it was the salt that soothed the area for some reason. And the noodles would just kind of slip down my throat.

Two things I would have THOUGHT would feel good, but did NOT, were any dairy products, including ice cream. The dairy causes swelling and burns the throat. Other thing that was excrutiatingly painful was bananas. The banana actually has little barbs in the fruit, and we don't normally notice, but when your throat is raw and burned from cauterization, those barbs are super painful. In fact, I was actually progressing okay from the pain, but on day 3 of my recovery, I tried to eat a banana and it ripped the scabs off the site, and I started all over with healing, and it took way longer to feel as good again as I did on day 3, I'd say it took until day 12. Such a nightmare.

I can't remember exactly, but I was in so much pain the and the tylenol with codeine was doing nothing for me really, so I started taking Advil at some point after the first 5 days when things got unbearable, even though they say it can cause bleeding. So maybe that made my recovery process longer, but at least I was able to function and feel okay when I wasn't eating.

And definitely do not let her eat nuts for a LONG time. I don't think I could eat nuts for a few months, they felt like I was swallowing thorns.

I'll pray for quick healing for your daughter!

What does the doctor say? Have you called and talked this through? She cannot take any ibruprophen because of bleeding (at least for 10 days) but perhaps there is another stop/gap measure they can recommend. Please call them and find out - I know that hour is a monster.

Let us know, okay? Sending you both strength!!

Dawn

Hi.
I am so sorry your little one is going through this. My son had the tonsil and polyp removal procedure.

The pain was not like yours. I can say, from what our dr told us....is to keep taking the pain reliever as needed -- according to dr's instructions.

I would also consult with the dr/nurse before the week-end about her progress.

Moreover...ice cream :) and more ice cream :) and milkshakes and back to back cd's. anything to get her mood up while she goes through this.

our healing time was 2 weeks, although after 1 week we were in nursery school.

This too shall pass.

Hang in there.

Jilly

Updated

Hi.
I am so sorry your little one is going through this. My son had the tonsil and polyp removal procedure.

The pain was not like yours. I can say, from what our dr told us....is to keep taking the pain reliever as needed -- according to dr's instructions.

I would also consult with the dr/nurse before the week-end about her progress.

Moreover...ice cream :) and more ice cream :) and milkshakes and back to back cd's. anything to get her mood up while she goes through this.

our healing time was 2 weeks, although after 1 week we were in nursery school.

This too shall pass.

Hang in there.

Jilly

My little guy had his out at 3 years old just last summer. I do remember having a few days that seemed to be better after surgery then, boom, 1-2 weeks got worse for us. It was hard for us to get him to take the pain medicine. I agree with other posts that say keep the fluids going! We were also told we could swithc from the lortab to ibuprofen every few hours, so you might check with you doctor on that. Good luck to all! It will so be worth it!

Meg