Advice please! Scared

[parisianprincess]

DD, 11, had a tonsillectomy 7 days ago. Recovery seems to have been fairly standard. They warned us that day 5-7 can be tricky and it has been.

Less than an hour ago she woke us saying her throat was really sore - crying with the pain. She was prescribed morphine as well as paracetamol/ibuprofen so we gave her painkillers and I checked her throat, which she found very painful. Thank god I insisted - she wasn’t happy about it.

There was quite a bit of blood - I need to be honest and say I couldn’t tell if it was trickling or pooling but I called the ward and they said ambulance to a&e or take her ourselves. It was very painful for her to open wide enough for me to properly see, but I think it’s primarily at one side.

DH has taken her as we are about 25 mins to the hospital when no traffic, therefore we thought might be quicker. I’ve stayed home with our older dd. Now regret staying! But he flung his clothes on while I got her organised with a hoodie/water etc. I’ve just tracked them and they are about 5 mins away from the hospital building and I called the ward at 4.10 so hoping we made the right decision about taking her ourselves rather than by ambulance.

Any experience?

My health anxiety isn’t helping me at the moment - going through a bit of a blip with that after a few years of being great.

Im thinking worse case scenarios here.

The were of course emphatic about seeking medical help if her throat was to bleed at any time - we’ve been checking her throat daily due to this (we were told to). I checked it before bed late last night about 10pm and it was ok then I think - I noticed some little raw red bits but absolutely no blood.

Hospital is absolutely the best thing place for her, she will be in good hands there. No point worrying, pretty much everything can be well dealt with and a hospital is not the place for another bored young child.

Worrying is like a rocking horse. Gives you something to do, but you won’t get anywhere.

It will be ok, she is in the best place, being seen. DS2 had the same thing and was fine once treated. Cant even remember what they did now, it was so long ago.

I had my tonsils out as an adult and it was honestly the worst thing ever, after about a week I had blood, I went and got checked, all was normal but a bit infected so was given antibiotics.
my friends little one had tonsils removed last year and the same as your little one he had a lot of blood after about a week, he did end up back in hospital for a day or 2 for monitoring and his throat was infected so they gave a course of antibiotics. I think after having tonsils out some blood is fairly normal but you’ve done the right thing taking her to be checked. I’m sure everything will be ok and I hope she’s feeling better soon 🩷

Older dd is 15 so could have been taken with us but it felt quicker to just get DD11 and DH out the door.

We have a second car so I can easily go up if they need anything but she has her water bottle and iPad in case there is lots of waiting around.

I can’t google as it will send me in to a spiral - I have a strict rule about that when I am feeling this way. But I assume this happens and isn’t hugely unusual? I keep imagining her bleeding so much that she passes out.

Im a bloody nightmare.

Ok thank you that’s reassuring that it’s happened to others.

Even last week with the operation I had convinced myself the surgery would go wrong…thankfully I am able to be strong and reassuring for my children but it’s not how I feel inside!!

It seems normal and completely within the ability of hospital staff to sort. If you can’t sleep, at least rest your eyes. You could be waiting ages for an update.

My DD had tonsillitis for years.finallu operated .I think you did the right thing ,roads clear and an ambulance can't always get there quickly enough. You will be worried obv ,no point waking other DD though .make a cup of tea and you will hear news any minute. She's In the best place

@dottiedodah DD has been the same with recurrent tonsilitis. At the start of the year she was on antibiotics constantly. Sometimes only a week between prescriptions. This went on until late March. She’s missed quite a bit of school with it hence why she was referred for surgery. We waited, I think, 3 years until she was at the top of the waiting list.

They’ve arrived at the hospital in the last 10 mins - I was able to track them and saw them park and now in the building.

Why does my brain always think the worst!!

It’s a children’s a&e so hoping they get seen quickly.

Dh bas messages do say children’s A&E quiet so they were seen straight away ”by A&E doc, she can see very small bleed so giving tonsil docs a shout to come down and look. Says usually they’d just keep you in for observation to make sure it doesn’t get any worse. But she’ll let the tonsil docs decide”

So it doesn’t sound like they are panicking…unlike her mother here at home

Your brain thinks the worst because you have anxiety. So the brain prepares for the worst case scenario as in that case at least the worst has happened (in your mind) and now you can deal with reality which in comparison is not that bad.
Hospital is the place to be for her atm and you're able to look after older DD. :)
(I used to have health anxiety so I understand how you feel).

Bless you OP. 💐

Yes you’ve actually given yourself some good advice - DO NOT GOOGLE ANYTHING.

I promise you everything will be absolutely fine❤

Hopefully some pain relief, antibiotics, rest and monitoring from the doctors/nurses will get her better in no time.

Not personal experience but know someone whose son had it done, was fine, then was bleeding heavily about a week later, can’t remember why but it was sorted with an overnight stay and he’s absolutely fine. She’ll be okay, I’m sure of it. 💐

This happened to my dd after she had her tonsils out. Like you, I knew that we had to take her back to hospital if it happened. We did and she was fine. I'm sure your dd will be ok now she's at the hospital.

She shouldn't be drinking water if there's any chance she may need surgery!!

I did, right before sugery, as long as she's just sipping its now seen as fine in some hospitals.

My son had the exact same thing. I remember him sitting over the toilet just spitting blood for hours. It was scary. It was an infection and resolved within a few days of antibiotics.

This happened to us, on day 7. Straight to hospital. Whizzed straight through the reception the minute I uttered the words “post tonsillectomy bleed” by staff at 100mph (much to the annoyance of the crowded waiting room of patients spending hours waiting on plastic chairs/the floor/stood up for hours on end waiting to be seen!)
Was seen by a paediatrician, who consulted with ENT etc. Kept in for obvs for a few hours and then discharged as apparently it was just a chunk of scab coming off and causing some minor bleeding (didn’t feel very minor to me mind: absolutely terrifying more like!)
For what it’s worth that was the begining of things really improving. The next day she declared she didn’t need any more pain relief and seemed to “bounce back” really quickly and was pretty much back to normal.
Hang on in there @parisianprincess I know how terrifying it is, and how stressful and emotional your whole week will have been (I remember begging the anaesthetist to look after my DD and keep her safe!) the op and recovery are tough but I promise you the rewards will be so, so worth it xxx

It's really not worth the risk 😕

Hi, I'm a nurse. I used to work in ENT. post tonsillectomy bleeds aren't all that uncommon but I appreciate how scary they can be. There are medications that can be given to slow the bleeding and help clot formation. We most often used topical adrenaline which is very effective. Worst case scenario is that she will be taken back to theatre and it will be fixed there but that's highly unlikely for a small bleed. They will likely keep her in for observation for a day or two.

Try not to worry. You've done the right thing getting her to hospital. And sips of water are fine before surgery so don't worry about that either!

I woke up in the night swallowing blood 😩
It was a mild infection and cleared up quickly with antibiotics.

I had my tonsils out as an adult and bleeding after a week or so is very common. It's when the scabs fall off bacically.

I had a very scary bleed on day 10 and was spitting up mouthfuls of blood, almost called and ambulance as per surgeons instructions but was trying to reduce the bleeding by chugging iced water and that was very effective so didn't go in.

I was told that about 5% of people have a bleed bad enough to be hospitalised (this is anything from a couple of tablespoons to half a cup depending on who you speak to) and then 20% of those need to go into surgery to stop the bleeding. I think he really it's better with children.

It all sounds normal recovery but you were right to go to hospital in ase the bleeding doesn't stop. It's a pretty brutal surgery.

Now you are at this point it should get easier for her. If only I've side has gone then it's possible the other side will go shortly too.

My daughter had a bleed a week after her tonsillectomy. Blood was pouring out, huge amounts of it. We called an ambulance and it took 45 minutes to come despite her being highest priority. By the time it arrived the bleeding had stopped, but the paramedics phoned the hospital who said she needed to come in anyway. They kept her in overnight and put her on antibiotics, they wouldn't let her eat or drink anything in case she needed surgery but she didn't in the end. It was all very dramatic and stressful but she was fine a day later.

Someone in my family had this happened and had to be admitted back so that he could go into theatre as a couple of stitches had opened. This was two days after the operation, not seven, so it could be a scab.