What do i need to know about teh operation for grommits? and adenoids?

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as it has been suggested and we are on the waiting list thanks

my DN had this done about a month ago. Foul breath for a few days afterwards is apparently perfectly normal.

Thats all I know I'm afraid. Hope someone more knowledgable will be along soon....

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grommits, it takes hardly any time at all. 20 mins max under general anaesthetic

woke up a bit whoozy and they let us go home when my ds hd eaten something.

He felt a new boy afterwards! Very worthwhile. Had a 6 month check up afterwards to see that the grommets were still in.

When my son had it, he had his adenoids removed as well as grommets. He was under general anasthetic for about an hour and was allowed to go home four hours after the op. He didnt seem to experience much pain and was running about in the children's play room two hours after the op.

Unfortunately we had complications with the grommets with infections. The grommets only lasted 8 weeks. We are trying hearing aids at the moment and I am finding it hard work persauding him to wear them.

Dont worry about the op. For 95% of children grommets are a sucess. Even in my son's case the grommets did improve his hearing dramatically when they lasted.

good to hear that they make a difference

dd2 had an op for grommets and adenoids at same time.

Had to stay in hospital night before. Op very quick and strightforward. She didn't have much at all in the way of discomfort.

Grommets helped her hearing for a few weeks, then she clogged up again and they fall out after a few montsh. SHe had four or five grommet ops. I wasn't terribly impressed but worth trying as lots of kids only need the one op to make a big difference.

It is very unusual these days to stay in hospital. Grommets alone is a very quick and simple op and you are not kept in long afterwards. With the adenoids also it is a bit longer and you generally need to stay in for four hours post-op. DS has had both grommets on their own and the combined op. He had a sore throat with the adenoidectomy which is hardly surprising. With grommets you can expect some gunk on their pillow/in their ear canal as the glue ear drains away.

Usually you have to go to the hospital first thing in the morning (7.30 am) with a child who has not eaten since the previous evening and not drunk since 6 am. Then the children are operated on in order of age - youngest first. There does seem to be a lot of waiting around while you get called in to the nurse, consultant, anaethesist etc. They also put some 'magic' cream on the child's hands to numb them. They do both in case they struggle to get the line into one hand.

Also bear in mind only one parent allowed to go down to theatre with the child.

Sorry to hijack - Can I ask what were your reasons for removing adenoids? Our GP said they'd only suggest it if it became a problem. DS snores dreadfully (though it doesn't seem to actually disturb his sleep) and has problems wih pronunciation - which GP said is almost certainly down to adenoids. However, he made it clear that even just checking them out was fairly unpleasant and unless DS was having disturbed sleep or being bullied (for his speech problems) he wouldn't recommend it. Now, I have reasons to not entirely trust this GP so I'd be interested to find out more.

Sorry, probably should be another thread...

they said about the adenoids as they are swollen and that it can push on the eustachian tube and block his hearing, he also snores and he feels it would help general breathing, seemed to thing it a good thing

Aaaah, hence the combined grommets / adenoids thing. Fair enough.
I hope all goes well for you and your boy.

thanks

my dd1 had grommets in and adenoids and tonsils out. THe adenoids and tonsils were absolutely huge - causing sleep apnoea, growth retardation along with speech/hearing issues not allowing ears to drain properly etc.

Her speech exploded once she had the grommets in. One only lasted 6 weeks but the other one is still in a year later. Her speech was much closer, no sleep apnoea, no longer gunky head in winter full of gunk, grew almost 10 cms ina matter of months!!

The op was very straightforward - dd1 had to stay in overnight ( she has an existing heart condition which means she needed a little more monitoring than most kids) She was in a little bit of pain when she came round and then when they tried to get her to eat cornflakes for dinner. But having said that - a matter of a couple of hours after the surgery - she was up dancing on her bed to some tv music - just as the doc came to check on her!!

peaches they were going to leave dd1's tonsils in even though they were huge - reluctant to remove them as dd1 did not have any bouts of tonsilitis. I knew she was nto getting quality sleep although she seemed to sleep all right iyswim. They asked me to sit by her bed one night and see if she actually had apnoea episodes - well with a newborn not entirely practical BUT i did manage to catch her having a couple of episodes and so made sure they were aware of it - finally they decided to take them out. Apparently her adenoids were 'substantial' so best they were gone.

wow at the growth my boy is smaller than his peers so wonder whether it will help fingers crossed that it does

aparently sleep apnoea can impede the growth hormone preventing children from growing as well as they should - as does the fact they are not getting decent sleep.

I think DS's adenoids were removed because he has already had grommets and although they worked fine until they fell out, the glue ear recurred. Unfortunately when the grommets that were inserted at the time of the adenoidectomy fell out, we still had the problem. So then DS had different t-shaped grommets in, that do not fall out so readily. It is likely they will have to be surgically removed eventually. He has had these in for 18 months now and is progressing well at school (they were put in the summer before he started reception).

Each time DS has had grommets there has been an instant and dramatic effect on his hearing. "what's that noise, mummy", lots of times for the first few days.

is there anything we can do to stop the grommets falling out or is it chance after waiting so long i want to stack the odds on our side.

The grommets should eventually fall out anyway,DDs lasted about a year- unfortunatly a year further down the line and the glue is building again, we find out in April whether she needs more.

I really don't think you can do anything. They are designed that way. Then you hope that the problem resolves itself or otherwise you get the build up of gunk again like hennipenni's DD and go through the whole process again. That is why DS has ended up with the t-shaped ones which don't fall out, but I doubt they would put those in on the first occasion.

I think that avoiding any ear infections stop them falling out in the early days.
If the grommets do start to ooze gunk then your child needs to get the infection treated.

Most grommets are meant to fall out after 6 months. My son was unlucky and we were offered the T-shaped grommets. We have opted for hearing aids instead as I didnt want my son having two operations.