My 6 year old son is getting his tonsils out tomorrow..I understand this to be a very simple procedure however I would love to hear any tips you could give for his recovery!
Thank you ladies for all the responses, very helpful! It is day 10 and my boy is doing very well. He was off and on a bit last week after the surgery but overall he felt pretty good. He does still feel a lump in his throat, not sure when that will go away. But thanks again and good luck to anyone who has to go through this procedure with thier little one!
Hi there... my son is getting his tonsils taken out next month. I posted a similar question before I saw your post. Let me know how your son does! I will say a prayer for you guys. :)
Angie
Hi, Becky! My son, who is 5, had his tonsils and adenoids out on June 6 of this year. We really had a good experience and I pray that yours will go as smoothly as Trenon's did.
Here are my tips!
#1. If you want them to give him something to "relax" him before they take him back, you have to do that as soon as you get there.
#2. If your doc has already given you your Rxs to get filled, take your pain med with you. The nurse at our Pre-Op appt at the surgery center failed to mention that and they didn't have anything they could give him but Tylenol while we were in recovery!
#3. The pain med that is commonly used for this type of surgery contains a small amount of alcohol, which means it burns when it goes down. If at all possible get him to eat ice or a popsicle before giving pain meds.
#4. Dust off your food processor. My son is not a sweet eater and since the liquid diet they are supposed to follow is mostly sweet, except for broth which he wasn't impressed with, he was begging for food by that night so I made some gooey Mac and Cheese and used my food processor to chop it up. It worked like a charm on that and several other things that sounded good to him but he couldn't have had otherwise.
#5. Most importantly, encourage him to DRINK DRINK DRINK -- whatever he will drink.
The worst part of the whole ordeal for us was seeing him when he came into recovery. My son's face was red and puffy, and his lips were swollen. He was awake but not really with it and nothing made him happy. I was just not prepared for that. By the time we left (a little less than 2 hours after he got to the room) he was so much better. Still not happy, but much more like himself. We even got a smile.
Some words of encouragement: My son had his surgery Fri a.m. by that night he was eating pureed mac and cheese. By Sun he quit taking the Rx pain meds and just used Tylenol. By Wed he wasn't on anything! We had NO bleeding or any of the other possible problems. Dr. Dyer in Abilene did his surgery but I'm sure that your son's will turn out just as well.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions! Good Luck!
<><
Just remember that it is easier on them the younger they are.
My brother was 15 (and almost fully grown) when he had his out, but because he was only 15 he still had to be in the pediatric ward. LOL :oD I can still see his face when they brought his dinner and it was a SINGLE wedge of pizza. He gulped it down practically in one breath and asked (in his perfect mock-British accent), "Please sir, can I have some 'ore?"
I hope this funny memory of mine helps you to get through your son's surgery. (Laughter is the best medicine.)
Blessings,
P. <><
I responded to another post similar to yours so here is a copied and pasted response.
Both of my children went through this at about age 3. They both did really well. I think by about a week they were ok to eat just about anything. The thing that really helped my daughter was ice. We bought a 10 pound bag of ice from Sonic, and she would eat a cup of it at a time. Once the ice was gone her throat was numb enough to have some soft (but still solid) food. Popcicles, jello, pudding, etc are all good to have on hand too. Honestly, I don't remember using the pain medicine much for my daughter. We just made sure she had ice to eat and all was well. My son was a bit harder, but I think if we had thought of the ice it would have gone much smother with him. He is the oldest so that's why we didn't think about ice.
Anyway, hope that helps. Best of luck to you.
Like everyone else said, give him his pain medicine and make sure he drinks a lot. My 5 yr old had them taken out and loved to have popsicles. Good luck.
give him his pain medicine every 4 -6 hours whichever they say.. dont miss a dose because he will feel it! stock up on popsicles and pudding etc. be sure to keep him hydrated or else it will hurt so much more. it will be a hard week maybe week and a half but well worth it! my daughter had hers out at 18 months, i had mine out at 22 years.. i was out of it for 2-3 weeks, she was totally better in 8 days.
My 8 year old step-daughter just had hers out last month. It was a lot easier than we thought it would be. Definitely give the pain medicine every however many hours it says. She would say she felt fine and wouldn't take it, then try and eat and she would start hurting pretty bad. So we did the pain medicine until she was finished with the antibiotics. She did great. The dr. didn't even want to see her at her follow up. She was more scared when the put the IV in her for the pain medicine. But she was a trooper. I think the first day make them rest. She felt ok and still wanted to play and did too much that day.
It should be a breeze hopefully. Every kid is different.
Good luck!
