Tonsils and Adenoids

[Kimorsweetcheek]

Hi ya,

Pleas can you give me recovery tips for my DS he is 5 years old and will be having them removed on Monday. I think I'm more anxious than him (I'm obviously not letting him know this), I just wonder what does recovery look like? Do you just play it by ear?

We were advised 15days recovery,does this mean we need to be housebound for all of this time?

I have stocked up on calpol and ibuprofen and have just finished a food shop so hope we will have all we need.

Please share with me your experiences

My dd was 3.5 when she has hers out. She had a couple of hours sleep when we got back to the ward, then she woke up demanding food!
She had no problems eating at all, in fact she ate better than she did before the op. We had to have an overnight stay, and she was climbing the walls by the time we were allowed to go home.
We kept her topped up with calpol and ibuprofen including waking her during the night for about 3/4 days, and after that she was fine.
We weren't housebound, but we stayed away from pre-school and other children for two weeks.
Biggest problem was she was quite distressed when she came around from the anaesthetic, and I was distressed by that too as I didn't know what to expect. Apart from that boredom was the biggest factor as she felt quite well as long as she had some pain relief on board.
It was a much easier experience than I thought it would be, and the results are amazing. She instantly stopped snoring and her appetite increased. She has grown significantly and is a healthy weight now.
Hope it goes well for you OP.

2 weeks recovery is accurate ime.
Ds2 was 5 when he had his out.
You MUST keep in top of pain relief and this includes waking him in the night afraid. I set my phone alarm every 3 hours day and night for the first week
Gradually you reduce the pain relief but DO NOT reduce it til after one week.
Day 5 and day 10 tend to be the worst - something to do with the healing skin sloughing off (?)
Lots of cold drinks, ice cream but tbh he will need to eat normal food to aid recovery...he is far less likely to have a bleed if he eats normal food (perhaps just not in the normal amounts!)
Do be careful with fruit based things...the fruit acid really stings :(
Dairy can be an issue too.
Good luck!

Are you planned for an overnight stay or just day case? Be prepared for upset in recovery, I don't know why but ENT ops always seem to wake up upset. Regular pain relief is imperative as mentioned, it's easier to keep the pain at bay than to try and get rid of it. Eating "normal" food is important too, some tea bit rough helps prevent infection by taking away any sloughiness from the op site.

Two weeks recovery is right, first week you need to keep him in and limit visitors. Second week not as strict but avoid communal areas (cinemas, parks etc) it's all from an infection point of view

Thank you all so much for your replies and sharing your experiences this is all helpful advice and information. He will be in for the day providing all goes well...

Waking him up in the night * I didn't even think of this so again thanks so much...