Hi
My DS has just turned four a few weeks ago. Generally he is a healthy ish child but does suffer a lot with his tonsils and he has had tonsillitis a lot since being very young. We have seen doctors obviously each time he has had tonsillitis (both the bacterial one and viral) and we did get a referral to see an ENT consultant about a year ago. All of the doctors we have ever seen and the consultant have all said what ‘lovely’ big tonsils DS has but when we saw the consultant about having his tonsils removed, she was reluctant saying that he would probably grow out of it and that there’s a lot of risks with the procedure. Anyway, he was signed off and he seemed to go a good few months without getting tonsillitis.
A week ago DS woke up with blotchy red cheeks but seemed fine otherwise. I had him checked at the doctors and was told he had Slapped Cheek. Luckily he wasn’t unwell with this illness apart from a cough that developed at the same time as the Slapped Cheek. A week later he is still coughing a lot, especially at night. He no longer has red blotchy cheeks so I think it’s fur to say that the slapped cheek has gone away. However because he has been coughing a lot, I decided to take DS to the doctors on Friday just gone. The doctor did all the usual checks and when he looked in DS’s throat he said he had one tonsil up (so enlarged) and the other was normal and not up. He said he just had a viral infection which was the cough but that normally with tonsillitis you see both tonsils up and that this was abnormal to see. He didn’t seem overly concerned about it but said that he’d like to see DS again in two weeks just to check that both tonsils are down again and back to normal, otherwise he would need to see a paediatrician.
I am a big worrier, especially when it comes to the health of my children and I have been left feeling extremely panicked over what this could be. I can’t work out whether he might have one tonsil larger than the other because of having the Slapped Cheek and then getting this viral infection. The doctor said that his bigger tonsil should come back down if he’s had something and is getting over it, or the smaller one might go up as well if he’s just brewing something. He doesn’t seem unwell apart from the cough which actually isn’t quite as bad as it was a week ago. I don’t think he has tonsillitis as he’s eating and drinking and no temperature, and normally he doesn’t drink or eat a thing.
I’m keeping everything crossed that in two weeks time when we go back to see the doctor that both tonsils will appear normal again but having googled it, all I am
reading about is throat cancer which is terrifying me. I did ask the doctor if this is what a paediatrician would be looking for and he said it’s one thing but he said they’d hopefully go down and that he had never ever seen throat cancer in a child as young as 4 and that generally it’s older people who get this who are drinkers and smokers.
I just wondered if anyone had any experience of this with their child who could offer any reassurance to a very worried Mum.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post.