Tonsillectomies - how hard is the recovery?

[giantpenguin]

Posting for a friend. Her DD is 12 is and is about to have a tonsillectomy. DF has googled and found some pretty grim stories about how painful and long the recovery is.

Anyone any experience? The hospital have mentioned making her eat crisps which seems a bit Dickensian....

[snozzlemaid]

Sorry no helpful advice here as I had mine out a hundred few years ago when I was 6 and I dont really remember much. But my mum says that the first thing I asked for when I woke up was a packet of crisps! Which the nurses said I could have, so I ate them.

[giantpenguinmonster]

Thanks snozzlemaid. Good to hear you weren't too traumatised!

[sunshinesue]

I had mine out at 14, they did make you eat something "rough" afterwards, I had toast. I can't remember why, maybe something to do with soft things getting stuck around the affected area and causing infection? Recovery was fine, no worse than a bout of tonsilitis. I ate my toast no problem and got my dad to stop for a McDonald's on my way home from hospital.

[giantpenguinmonster]

Thanks sunshinesue. The op happened yesterday and so far so good. She has eaten her hospital meal and is due to go home today. Phew.

[HeartOfDixie]

My DD had hers put when she was 7 two years ago. I found it was day 2/3 that the pain got bad. I guess the general anaesthetic had worn off? I gave calpol and nurofen routinely for the first week and then slowly cut down until she wasnot in pain, probably day 9 or 10. It is worth saying that she had a second emergency op the day after due to a clot so her throat was probably sorer.

[HeartOfDixie]

Out not put!

[cheekyginger]

Good luck OP,

My friend had hers out as an adult and she was telling me all about it!!!

Apparently the eating rough stuff is to encourage the healing process, liquid diet doesnt stimulate/scratch the throat enough. The pain can peak at about day 8-10 after the surgery when the scar tissue properly starts to develop.
Kids are tough little buggers though. And lots of distration and painkillers will go a long way im sure!!

[pooka]

My dd was 7 when she had her tonsils out.

She bounced back straight away! Had op, then about 2 hours later had tuna sandwich and crisps (supper). At that time she was drugged to the eyeballs (had had a suppository in theatre to provide pain relief in immediate aftermath after the op).

We had overnight stay and went home the following morning. She mooched for about 24 hours. I made sure she was having pain medication every 4 hours, day and night, so set my alarm. Slept in her room to make it easier. The aim was to stop the pain before it got started. Also to avoid the dry throat in middle of night - very painful - got a humidifier.

Lots of milkshakes, but also lots of crisps to help slough off the scab.

She was bombing round our garden the day after we got home. 2 weeks off school.

[giantpenguinmonster]

pooka- is your nn from Shadowmagic? I'm on book 3 at the moment!

[pooka]

No - was old nickname made up by a very drunk Irish friend at university! Not sure quite ow he managed to get from my name, then derivative, then really really derivative, then to pooka (via medium of rhyme) but he was very drunk. And then it stuck!

I think there's some mythical Irish reference though...

[StainlessSteelCat]

I had mine out in my twenties. pain relief was needed, but as a PP said, keep dosing to prevent it for a few days, then ease off as you can.
Rough food wasn't a problem, anything acidic was - I never knew how acidic melon was! - so avoid salt n vinegar crisis .

[londonchick]

Encouraging as much rough food as possible is advised. It helps get rid of any rubbish that builds up at the back of the throat as a result of not swallowing properly.

[giantpenguinmonster]

Ah, in the books I'm reading pooka are a race of magical people who can transform into animals. Some of it is set in Ireland though. Worth a read- I'm slightly obsessed this week.

The patient is home and feeling a little rough but battling through. She's a tough wee thing.