Tonsillectomy recovery time - travel

[Tangofantastic]

For those of you who have had a child who had their tonsils
removed - Would you say they would have been able to travel 2 hours by car on day 6 post op? I’ve got a friend who lives in the countryside and has kindly invited us (me, dd7 who is having them out and her brother with additional needs) to recuperate there post-op for a weekend which would be day 6 after the op. is this too ambitious? Also will be 1.5 hours from a hospital if needed, tho I understand risk of post -op bleeding will be less by
then? Or should we just stay put at home? Thank you for reading 💞

Ahhh ok thanks. I guess I’ll just ask if it’s not offered. worst they can say is no I guess.

DGH. Is a district general hospital, with usually just one children's ward. The ones I've done shifts at, do t routinely give morphine at all. Bigger children's hospitals do use it much more. We use it so much it has a separate book to sign it out.

Thank you so so much. I feel 100% more knowledgeable than I did an hour ago!

My ds had his out when he was 5, he was rough for probably 2 days afterwards then fine until day 5 when he was a bit rough again. He was fine after that and went back to school after a week. Very straightforward, no issues, just calpol and nurofen for the pain. He had his removed for sleep apnea.

As PP please stay home and near a hospital.
My DC seemed fine then out of the blue on day 8 had a huge (and I mean clots and all) bleed that meant a 3 day hospital stay. It was terrifying. Any blood at all go straight to hosptial (my DC started with just a small amount barely there and it escalated quickly)
Wishing your LO well.

Edited to say recovered within a further 3 days and been 100% since so no long term issues. Still glad they were removed

DS was readmitted around day 3 when he started bleeding again and had another overnight stay.

Relying on a Hospital that is an hour and a half away, and you probably aren't 100% sure of the route seems a little foolhardy

this sounds so so scary and I’m so glad they’re ok now. I’m nervous as I’m 45
mins from the hospital (and that’s with no traffic, more like an hour/ an hour and 15 in traffic so I don’t know how I’ll manage if that does happen ☹️Did you know pretty quickly you needed to get them back to a&e?

thank you so much, yes I won’t be going now! I’m so glad your ds was ok in the end. Did the bleed suddenly happen? Any warning signs? Do they cough and then it starts or does blood literally just start dripping out? Im worried I’ll just panic as on my own ☹️

My (7) son had adenoid removed and tonsils shaved. I was preparing for the horrific pain, the heightened pain around day 6/7 and it never came. He took a bit of calpol for a couple of day, didn't take the harder pain relief he was given. Honestly it was a breeze.
Unfortunately there is just no way of knowing until your own child goes through it.

Hi @Tangofantastic
Not at first but within 20mins it was a worrying amount. Vomitting up blood.
Lucky we were 10mins away from a major hosp and were taken in quick.

It started for my DC with a trace amount in saliva and escalated quickly

My dd definitely took the full 2 weeks to recover and luckily had no problems but the hospital was very clear that she needed at least 2 weeks off school. I think it may also be to keep them away from all the other nasty viruses going around. It's a really bad sore throat after a tonsillectomy and my experiences were that it gets worse after a few days before it starts to get better.

Ok thank you all so much. not sure how I’ll manage as not near the hospital but I guess I just have to be prepared if it does happen and get there as quickly as I can.

That’s so helpful, thank you. Her surgeon said she could go back after a week if she feels up to it but she’s in a huge school (34 in her class) and it’s like germ city at this time of year so im nervous of her going back too soon even if she’s “well”.

Do they vomit blood? Or does it just literally come out of the mouth from the tonsils? Or where they were? Can imagine how scary that is for the child as well as mum ☹️☹️

Just seen that your daughter has been suffering from recurrent infection - this was the reason we chose extracapsular tonsillectomy for our kids, but it does have a worse recovery pattern overall. Our reasoning was because of a reduced chance of recurrent infection/the very unlikely chance that a repeat tonsillectomy will be needed.

the operation has been life changing for both children. My eldest had started to suffer from antibiotic resistant infections and my youngest is allergic to amoxicillin. Both kids were on antibiotics every 6-10 weeks for a sustained period, and both had had hospital admission for severe tonsillitis.

so even though recovery was awful, I’m so grateful we were able to have them removed.

DS had his out at 4. He recovered well with no bleeds and relatively quickly. Rough day 1 and 2 then ok, rough again at day 5, which I was pre warned about as it's when the slough starts to come away so makes them cough a bit, which obvs hurts the throat. Picked up quickly after that rough night.

@Tangofantastic yes it was vomitting up large amounts of blood and worse - large clots.
I can honestly say I've never been so terrified.
They gave DC some form of acid they give to stop heavy bleeding it's magic stuff!
DC recovery was very fast after that, and none of the usual illnesses they used to get what seemed like every month. So despite all this we are glad it was done.
I have to add - this type of reaction is very rare.

I’m so glad it’s been life changing for you 💞we are the same- every 6-8 weeks on antibiotics (now second line as resistant to amoxicillin), school attendance at >80%, it’s grim. They didn’t offer me anything other than intracapsular and I didn’t know to ask as appt was so quick and I didn’t know there were different types of tonsillectomies.

This must have been absolutely terrifying ☹️☹️☹️I’m so glad they are ok now.

Thank you so much, really hope we are the same.

A full week of full dose para and ibu, even if she seems fine. Make sure there's a dose of one of them 20 mins before food. Lots of ice pops too, even if it's an ice pop with her food to help her. Eating will help speed up recovery as it'll help remove the slough.
Good luck x

I was older having mine out (13) my mother was reluctant for me to have mine out because her removal was so traumatic. In the end it was taken out of her hands because I had them out after such bad tonsillitis I couldn't breathe my throat was so swollen. The NHS paid for me to go to a very posh private hospital. I had to stay in for a week because of complications. Then the day after I came home I woke up with my pillow covered in blood and clots so back in. I also had cuts all in the corner of my mouth and lots of ulcers, also couldn't speak.

As nice as the offer in, I honestly would stay home. The good news is that I have never had a sore throat or needed any antibiotics since.

Thank you so much 💞I’ll do all this! X

Oh my gosh this sounds terrifying ☹️☹️ Amazing you’ve not had a sore
throat since! Or tonsillitis. 💞I’ll definitely be staying home, just wish I was nearer hospital now in case of any complications once home ☹️