Anyone got experience of their dc having grommets and adenoidectomy? Anything I need to know? Any tips?

[HuffwardlyRudge]

Dd is three. She is booked in to have the above next week.

Just wondering if anyone who has been through it could share any tips to make things easier for her?

Hi, my friend's daughter just had this yesterday morning. She's three too. The operation was scheduled for 7.30am and she was out an hour and a half later (I think, I received a text from her at about that time saying all went well). She had both tonsils and adenoids out as well as grommets.

My friend used to be a paediatric nurse and she was very impressed by how much things have moved on. Her daughter came out of the operation and was absolutely fine. I think they do the dissolvable stitches as well so she won't need any stitches removed. They released her from the hospital about 3.30pm though they did say she might have to stay overnight if the bleeding is bad or if she cannot eat. However, I went to see her (at about 5.30pm) and she was really tired and overwrought. Didn't help that her younger sister was winding her up. She made her cry and for the first time ever, she held her breath and went blue and then wet herself (she is properly toilet trained and been dry during the day for quite a few months).

Not sure if this is associated with the operation or just coincidence she discovered she could do this? Some tips...

Get her a present for post-op and keep telling her what a brave girl she is.

Make sure you have food (very soft food!) for her in the next few days that you have made that can be heated up at a moment's notice. I made very soft spag bol (I blended the bolognese and overcooked the spaghetti) to bring to them and she loved it. Lots of yoghurts and cool stuff... Lots of Calpol/Calprofen...

Do you have any other DCs? If you do and they are in school or nursery, keep them in there. Having another DC at home won't help!

Be prepared for any sudden changes in her behaviour. She may seem okay but it is a fairly big operation so be prepared for that.

I will pass on any other tips when I speak to my friend later. Good luck!

Thank you so much angel. That is really useful to read.

Dp has booked the day off work so he will keep little bro out of the way.

Dd still wears a nappy to sleep at night, so perhaps she can wear a nappy for hospital.

And will get in yogurt and soft, gentle foods (although your friends little girl may have been suffering a bit more because of tonsills?)

Hi,

Just wanted to say I spoke to my friend last night. Her DD is recovering well. She slept with her DD last night and she said her DD woke in the middle of the night to tell her 'Mummy, vomit' and she vomitted down her front but was fine afterwards. She also hasn't done her 'not breathing' thing yesterday (definitely helped by her little sister out of the way in nursery!). She also ate well and had a nap during the day (she had given up her daytime sleep a few months prior to this).

My friend herself said it hasn't been as bad as she expected it to be so they are hopeful that after next week, she will be able to go back to nursery. Not sure if your DD goes to nursery but the doctors said two weeks off nursery post-op. All the best for your DD! It's not easy watching your LO go for an operation. I am sure she will be fine.

Ax

Oh yes, plenty of doses of painkillers! My friend says you can alternate paracetamol and Ibuprofen every 3 hours as they work differently. I've never done that but that's what she is doing with her DD to keep her comfy. So she will give a dose of Calpol, then a dose of Calprofen 3 hours later, another dose of Calpol 3 hours after that...

she probably will not want to eat anything the next day or so, swallowing seems quite painful. I am told smooth ice-cream. It is quite unpleasant when they come out of the anaesthetic. I was not expecting all the howling

It does help. My dd didn't get scarlet fever/tonsilitis, ear infections anymore after that so I feel it was definitely worth it.

My DD had this approx age 3 and she was absolutely fine afterwards. You wouldn't have known she'd had an op - hopping around and asking for pizza - no after affects at all.

Thanks all.

I suppose it's another one that affects every child a bit differently so we'll just have to wait and see.

She has had GA once before so I am prepared for the wailing when she wakes up, poor little chick.

We're getting it done because her hearing is getting worse and worse and she really can't hear in a classroom situation. Definitely something to get fixed before September. I suppose everything will seem loud to her at first?

Oh yes, my friend did say that her DD told Daddy that everything is really loud!

the surgeon told me that it was high time when we had the grommets done, that the wax blocking my dd's ears had actually begun to deform the inner ear. She also said that dd would have been hearing everything as if she were under water which is not great at all in terms of speaking and so on. She has very good hearing now though and apparently in musical terms perfect pitch. It is worth doing really.

DS2 had this done when he was one.

It was hard keeping him away from food and drink before the general anaesthetic.

He was TOTALLY panicked when he came back from theatre and took about an hour and half to calm down (your LO is older though so may be more open to distraction - new book? present? stickers?)

It was really hard to wait another couple of hours without food/drink because he was hysterical but they said he couldn't have anything.

But by the time we got home (mid-afternoon, called in in the morning) he was back to normal pretty much apart from a temperature.

DD1 has had this twice.
First time she was 4. When she came round from GA I could hear her screaming down the corridor.
No after effects at all. She felt absolutely fine by the next day. We stayed in overnight but could have gone home the previous evening. It was private hospital and the food was yummy.
Second time, just Gromits, we went home 3 hours after op. You wouldnt have guessed anything had happened at all!!

How old ws she when she had to have grommets again?

I hadn't thought about them maybe having to be redone ....

Almost 12 months from the first set. So 5 and 3 months.
We have not had any problems since then DD1 now nearly 10.
I also started to take her to a Chiropractor after the op as she specialises in children etc. I think DD1 has had 1 ear infection in 4 years. Before it was almost monthy.

Ronshar did your dd have her adenoids or tonsils out as well as the first set of grommets?

thanks. I ws starting to panic about whether I should keep getting dd's ears checked. Wouldn't harm I suppose.

she had practically non stop either ear infections or tonsilities (scarlet fever) before the OP and not once since

Just Adenoids. Tonsils were border line big but she didnt have any problems with them.

dd has big tonsils and had a lot of trouble with them but the doctor advised us to have just the adenoids removed and the grommets inserted, we could always do the tonsils later if it was a persisting problem but thankfully it has not been.

I also had a lot of trouble with my tonsils as a child and they were removed, nowadays though doctors seem less keen to do this.

Thats good.
I think doc reluctant now because of the risk of bleeding against the effectivness of operation. Tonsil grow back I think.

My DD went through this 2 years ago - she cried for a while when she woke up, but I was able to sit and cuddle her through that (feeling bad!) but after about 20 minutes she woke up a bit more and wanted food. She stuffed all her own lunch and half of my lunch down her just like that, ran around the ward for the next 3 hours helping anyone and everyone who would pay any attention to her and never looked back. I can understand some would not necessarily want to eat, but that was not the case for my girl!
I do not regret her going through it at all as the benefits we had from the surgery were very clear. Her grommets have only come out in the last 6 months (fell out) and so far so good without them. Fingers crossed it stays that way now.
Good luck

Reporting back to say thank you all for advice and experiences.

I now have one adenoidless and grommeted girl sucking her thumb rather crossly on the sofa. She was very brave and didn't cry much (yet) and we have some uber-pain-killers for bedtime.

Great.