Sorry, me again. Some post tonsillectomy op q's...

[upjacobscreekwithoutapaddle]

We are on day 3 and ds is doing pretty well all things considered.

Can I ask when you stopped giving 'round the clock' pain relief, eg waited for them to wake up and need it rather than waking them? I'm sleeping with him at the moment so I can keep giving him water and meds but I'm wondering how long I'll need to carry on doing it.

Also, when did you let them see other kids? I've been told to avoid crowds, germs etc for 2 weeks but we are both going to have gone bonkers by then and his little brother is already bouncing off the walls! I'm expecting the next few days to get rough then hoping to see an improvement, does that seem about right? Tia.

Hi, I have had 2 dc go through this op now, so feel quite experienced!! My dd 5 now 3 at the time, had round the clock pain relief for a week she was in a lot of pain and it felt very hard to get on top of. My ds 2 is on day 4 post op and last night slept 12 hrs with a volterol suppository before bed. So it depends on the child. He's not drinking very much so that's my main concern. He doesn't seem in too much discomfort, just not wanting to drink. But he had adenoids and grommets at the same time plus he's still very young. So I think it's all been too much for him.
I kept my dd at home for 5 days then away from busy places for up to the 2 weeks post op. I will be doing the same this time around. She caught a virus from hospital and it made her unwell on top of the discomfort.

Hi, my DS (4yo) is now 17 days post op. The pain was worst about 5-8 days afterwards and we really had to keep on top of his meds but it never got really bad. We just tried to do fun stuff as normal and keep him distracted and that helped.

We kept the meds up for the first 2 weeks and now just give it when he says his throat hurts. One thing that has happened that no one warned us about is his voice. It's gone quite high pitched and nasally- sounds like he's been breathing in helium. Have your DC had similar voice changes? Hope they are all doing ok

Oh yes, and at night time we semi woke him up at 10pm to give both paracetamol/ibuprofen (as advised by drs) and that got him through till morning.

My 2 year old has this done 17 days ago and had a definite peak in pain around 5 days but has been off any pain killer since about day 9 and is now back to his normal happy self. He had tonsils adenoids and grommets I thought he would suffer for ages but is seriously better than pre op xx

dd was 5 and just got medicine when awake. Didnt seem to ever be in too much pain so I didnt wake her to give medicine. Unfortunately she had a bleed on day 7 but all fine after. Ds was almost 6 and was in terrible pain for a good week after. I had to give him medicine as often as possible or he got very distressed, especially at night. Just shows how different they can be, ds would normally suffer quite well and is def not a complainer usually.

Keep taking it, ds has recently ahd his out & was in agony about day 4-5.
keep him eating & chewing & drinking & swallowing.
As well as the pain relief using the throat musces is essential to keep pain down

Thanks all for replying. You kind of said what I thought you might. I'm going to keep giving him round the clock meds for another 2-3 days and then see how he goes. I've not heard of Voltarol suppositories...are they prescribed in the UK? I hate seeing him in so much pain and feel horribly guilty.

Yeah, I'm in Devon he's got 12.5mg suppositories and their great. Paracetamol doesn't touch it compared to the volterol. The only thing is we were given them on discharge from the hospital and we needed some more for over the weekend so my gp gave us a prescription but none of the local chemists keep them in so they are on order and I can't get any till Monday am. He's now got a day with just paracetamol suppositories and neurofen orally if he will take it.

Sorry, just seen this - definitely ask GP to prescribe suppositories if he won't take oral meds, and worth asking for Voltarol (dd2 had it, as was only just 2 and wouldn't take anything orally after her op) as it really is far more effective than Nurofen.

paracetamol is good too.

We went out with well friends after a week, to the park etc....but as dd's op was in January, and everyone was brewing colds the whole time, we avoided playdates at home. TBH she was in a lot of pain till about day 10, and very little, so boredom wasn't an issue as long as CBeeebies was around!

I understand the guilt, and think its unavoidable as a parent - but honestly, I have NO regrets and am so so glad dd had the op. It did change her, and our, lives.

Hope your LOs are all well soon!

I wondered where you were Elibean! :-)

Thanks again everyone for all the sound advice. Ds is doing ok, we are on day 6 now and last night /this morning were bad but he's out in the garden with his little brother at the moment so evidently having a good hr!

He's been so good about taking the oral meds, I'm just finding they aren't lasting as long as they should and the last hour before he can take them again is awful, especially at 3am!

We are on day 7 and there has been a big improvement today. He's drunk plenty and eaten to. He's been playing and even laughing. Fingers crossed it will be all down hill from here. He's just had paracetamol and ibuprofen today, no diclofenac since last night. Yesterday was one of the worst days yet he didn't eat all day and only drank his bedtime milk which was 8oz all day. So hopefully we are over the worst.

That's great to hear paramaribo0. Today has been our worst day too so hoping we follow in your footsteps! Dr wouldn't give me anything else so we are just pushing on with ibuprofen and paracetamol.