Post ENT appt and out with the tonsils/adenoids

[BexieID]

Tom has had his ENT appointment today and he'll be having his tonsils and adenoids out in the new year. He's 2.8. I'm kicking myself for not asking how long he'd likely be in hospital for.

They said they'll do a full hearing test when he is asleep as they couldn't really do one today. He doesn't talk, eat that well and he snores loudly! He also has behavioural problems (bites/throws things/hits me) which we think is frustration and do hope the the T&A removal might help.

Part of me wonders if we are doing the right thing though? Or am I just thinking he's my little bubba and can't bear to see him go through the op?

bump

Ah, Bexie, I posted a very similar thread in Childrens Health a few days ago...my just 2 yr old dd is also having tonsils/adenoids out in the new year.

The ENT consultant said they're normally out same day, unless there are complications - but dd needs a night in HDU as she has a floppy larynx which puts her at risk of post-op respiratory problems.

She's not been too bad till recently, but the onslaught of winter colds has made life hell - she's barely eating, gasps and snores and coughs all night (apnoea) and is getting more tired and thin by the day. I started off thinking 'are we doing the right thing' but am now just thinking 'god I wish we could do this sooner'.

I've spoken to a dozen mums in RL and here, and they ALL say (those who've been in similar situations to yours and mine) that they're very glad their LOs had it done, that life is much easier for them now.

Come over to the Childrens section and hold cyber-paws, if you like, we can see them through it together

Can't do links, but last posted on it on Thurs 11th, if that helps....also posted here, started both threads on the same day.

Sorry, am rubbish at links!

Thanks, I should have posted this in the childrens section. I think I was still feeling a bit earlier!

I'll look for your threads tomorrow, time to goto bed.

Hi Bexie, have a look at my thread here about sleep apnoea and tonsils....lots of very helpful, supportive posts about tonsillectomies. If you can't find it, let me know on this one and I'll try and direct you to it - seems as though other MNers have seen huge benefits from this op.

Toms having them out on Weds 28th Jan!

Bexie - both of mine were in overnight. For them it was the best thing I could have done. Both of them improved dramatically especially the behavioural stuff that plagued ds2. We didn't have dd's done and she did grow out of her problems but was never as severe as the boys.

Saggar, d'you mind me asking what/how bad your dd's symptoms were? Not that I'm questioning whether dd2 should have hers out or not (sleep apnoea severe) but just to get a bigger picture...

Bexie, hurrah on the date! I'll let you know how 13th goes and add any tips I discover....

Am beginning to get a tad nervous

Toms behaviour is dire really. Hits, bites, throws things, bangs is head, you name it, he does it. Last week he threw his juice cup at me and it feels like someone has punched me in the face. He even threw a fork at me on sunday, and I have prong marks on my head!

Elibean - all 3 of them have had ENT issues. ds1's symptoms were repreated infections, mainly ear but he had huge tonsils, and hearing loss. dd had hearing loss.

ds2 was far and away the worst . He slept badly at night (which I think increased all the other issues tenfold), he had dreadful night terrors, headbanged and tantrummed all day, had long naps in the day but woke in a foul mood, was constantly snotty, was very delayed speech wise (at 3 barely intelligable and not speaking in sentences at all), constant ear infections, no appetite. Basically he was uncomfortable 99% of the time and could communicate it. He was so bad that we had begun to arrange to get him assessed for behavioural problems.

The surgery sorted it, within a few months he was almost angelic in his behaviour and his speech well on the way to being as it should.

Both boys had the surgery but dd didn't and I do understand why you are wavering. ds1 was physically affected by his glue ear, ds2 both physically and behaviourally. For me, having done it once with ds1, I would have had ds2 have the surgery even if he had been less affected as I'd see the success in ds1. On first day home ds1 came downstairs to tell me that there was a strange noise in his bedroom - I went up and it was the rain on the window He'd never heard it before - and the next day the birds woke him up With ds2 I got back the child ds2 had been having got to the point where I actually disliked him because his behaviour drove me to the edge of sanity.

dd was a different story as she was much less affected despite having quite profound hearing loss. She has other issues which make her unsafe under GA (which I expect you are worried about Elibean) There was also a niggling doubt that her hearing loss was actually all to do with the glue ear as she's been ventilated and oxygen starved at a few months old. The risk could have been for nothing. Anyway we decided to wait a while until she was better placed to have the surgery and in the end she grew out of the glue ear

I don't expect for one minute that this has helped at all with your decision. For dd the risks outweighed the benefits; for the boys wholly the opposite.

not communicate it.

Thank you so much, Saggars, I appreciate the time you too, and your understanding

And I welled up at the rain on the window, that makes it very clear, really.

dd's sleep apnoea has got awful again, because she has a cold, and the honest truth is she can't get enough rest without Medised and Otrivine even when she has a tiny sniffle. We took her to a kids' show today with dd1, and had to take her out because she hated the 'loud noise' of the gentle piano music...she's not got any hearing impairment, but seems hugely sensitive to noise and I do wonder if certain vibrations actually hurt because of her ENT issues?? One to ask the consultant, I guess.

Anyway...dh says he's very clear its worth it, and most of the time I am too, but yes there is an increased risk of GA with her because of her laryngomalacia...hence the night in HDU, and hence my nerves. Though the ENT bloke, who is a specialist in laryngeal matters, didn't seem at all concerned

We have a pre-op anaesthesia consult appointment on the 8th, I will ask lots of questions then which might help. And talking here and hearing others' experience helps too, more than I can say.

I'm so glad all three of your LOs have got past their ENT issues, regardless of the path taken!

took

They are coming out on the 28th. Tom is also having a evoked response audiometry and EUA ears. Fasting isn't too bad, no food from 3am and no juice from 7am (admission is 8am) and he's to be kept in overnight.