Tonsils/Adenoids Removal (For Eidsvold and anyone else interested)

[Davros]

Hi Eidsvold
I'm sure your DD was due to have her op at the end of November.... has it happened? How did it go? I'll tell you all about ours if you tell me about yours!

Can I be nosey and ask how it went?

DS is 21mnth and has had so many ear & throat infections this year that I lost count(double digits). He had his adenoids removed at 16mnth but unfortunately it didn't help. His ENT has now decided that the only option is to a) wait it out or b) have his tonsils removed and grommits put in.

The ENT is relucant to go with b) because he doesn't think it works everytime so I have agreed to once again wait another 3mnths because ds is so young.

How old are you LOs and what did your ENT advice?

Thanks

Cads, my DD had constant ear/nose and sometimes throat problems almost constantly for 2 yrs. It is a nightmare isn't it?

My DD had grommets done, but they fell out within a month.

I decided to go with the wait and see option and also a long term low does of antibiotics and a steriod spray. This seems to have cured her completely, or else she just seemed to grown out of it, which I was told could happen, aged 4!

Sorry for butting in

Hi Aimsmum

Remember chatting to you a few months ago. Glad your dd is over it.

My ds just gets worse. ENT won't do long course of antibiotics because he doesn't think it works either. I'm down the doctors every 2-3 weeks and ds lands up on antibiotics in anycase.

Feeling really frustrated and stressed about it all especially having to cope with it during my entire pregnancy. Last trip to GP was when I was 41wks, could have done without it really. 4 years seem like a life time away. Not sure I can hold onto my sanity till then especially with a new baby. But you have been there so you know what I mean.

Thanks

Sorry it seems to be getting worse for your DS.

I remember it all to well unfortunately! DD often got to the stage where her whole face became infected with it, eyes, nose, ears, the lot.

I really hope you can get something to help him, you get to the point where you will just about give anything a go, don't you.

Have you thought about trying children's echinecea(sp?) over the winter months to try to cut down infections? You can get it in a cherry flavour which DD seemed to quite like. I know it helped quite a few children of mum's I have chatted to.

CADS - we went through the waiting process - they wanted to gove dd2 grommets so we have been waiting all year and her hearing is not improving for any significant amount of time. I kept telling them I was concerned as she has very very large tonsils.... and has episodes of sleep apnoea so they finally had a good look and now she is due to have tonsils, adenoids out and grommets in. My dd1 is almost 3 1/2.

Davros - dd1's op is the 14th of December... as long as they don't cancel her surgery - which can happen but not very likely at this stage.

How did it all go????

How did it go Davros?!
It's a nightmare. DD has had ear infections since 6 months old (she's nearly 5). She's had grommets, one got stuck and had to be removed, she's had her adenoids out. She didn't have an ear infection for 6 months and we were celebrating and now she has an absolutely hideous infection.
My only tip is to make sure they get a swab of the ear before prescribing antibiotics as otherwise you end up with the wrong one and it has no effect. Having said that even with the 'right' one it doesn't always work.
I really sympathise with everybody whose child has chronic ear problems. It knocks DD out for weeks and she's already got enough to deal with.

the strange thing for us is that dd1 has never ever ever had an ear infection.... she just seems to get the fliud build up mainly due to very small ear canals and of course the whole facial structure related to Down syndrome.

oh we have our pre op appt on Monday and dd1 has had a chunky cough for over 2 weeks and still has the odd runny nose... is not ill with it - so no temp, still the usual cheeky madam - I am concerned they will bump the surgery... over my DEAD body - okay not that bad but she is fine and I figure she has another nine days to get sorted before her actual operation.

So will let you know on Monday.

It has been a nightmare! DD is not an "ear infection" child though so a bit different to some others. She has big tonsils and apparently was not clearing her passages which sometimes blocked her ears. So she had tonsils and adenoids out and they decided not to put in grommets as her ears were fine. We went in the night before for a sleep study which showed that she didn't have apnoea although the ENT consultant was convinced that she's a poor sleeper even though I said she wasn't......!! After the op she cried all night and kept the whole ward awake. When we came home I thought it would be better but she cried all night again.... then she caught a STINKING cold (vulnerable and having been in most unhealthy environment, i.e. hospital). Then she couldn't breathe when she lay down so cried all night for the next FIVE nights, SEVEN in all. The last 2 nights have been good as we only had to go up 3 times!!!! She is TERRIBLE about taking medicine, even the nurses had trouble so I got paracetamol suppositories. I took her to the GP yesterday as I couldn't believe that over a week later she was still so awful. He said the operation site was a bit pussy (not like a cat, full of pus), lovely! and that had prob happened after the cold as she had started dribbling a couple of days ago, didn't want to swallow. To cut this long and boring story short, the GP gave us an antibiotic they only give in exceptional circumstances that is once a day for 3 days only. Hooray, we can probably get enough of it down her to solve the problems. So much for her being better after this blimmin op..... I just hope that I'll be all smug and happy with the outcome in a week and at least its all over before Xmas.
I hope I haven't worried you Eidsvold! If your DD is a good girl and takes her medicine she'll be OK.

Sounds awful Davros!

Ds1 had the pussy thing after having his out - the GP recommended feeding him dry bread and toast to 'clear it away'. Whilst I understood his reasoning there's no way he felt able to swallow anything never mind toast!

Hope your dd is on the up soon - sleep deprivation is hell!

Oh and BTW the law of Davros is holding true - I had a letter from the DLA this morning!?!

I have been told that day 5 or so is the worst that they tend to be okay for a few days and then it hits... having said that - dd1 is very good with taking most medication. Funnily she hates the paracetamol I can get cheap on script but doesn't mind the nice orange flavoured dymadon - she was also very good at taking calpol when we were in the UK.

They give kids something here called Painstop which is supposed to be for night times - mix of paracetamol and codeine....may not be available in the UK.

Hopefully we have the same grommet news as you - can't imagine trying to spend a whole summer without getting water in her ears - pain in the butt if I do though.

Hope your ddis feeling better soon.

Eidsvold - both my dd and ds have had grommets. The water thing can be a pain but a swimming cap works great in the shower or bath. We had ear plugs fitted but did not need them as cap was enough. If your dd attends daycare you just need to be careful about the sandpit - there is a risk of sand entering the ear if kids are tipping it about. My two only had grommets and adenoids so don't have first hand experience of tonsils. Both times in hospital though I could hear the tonsil kids upset and I think more likely to throw up any blood that enters their stomach during op. A friend's child had tonsils out and the toast thing really does work if you can get her to eat it. Good luck with it all.

That's right Eidsvold, the first 2 days were OK and then it got really bad! She was still crying all night from day one though. A couple of people had told me it gets worse after a couple of days but I forgot. I was quite pleased not to hav the grommets, although if she needed them of course we'd have had them......

BTW, the dry toast, cereals without milk and crisps is standard here. That's what I had to eat when I had mine out 23 years ago!!

My concern is that dd1 has long hair and it is battle sometimes to wash it - how the heck am I going to get it washed and conditioned without the struggle whilst still keeping water out of the ears... I know that if she has to have them so be it but I could do without the hassle..... Her swimming teacher's son had grommets and she says the ear putty and a bathing cap or just the ear putty and the ear bands were fine.

Eidsvold - my dd had her grommets in 2000 and we did the earplug thing with washing hair/swimming lessons etc. My ds1 had them last year and the advice given this time was no need for ear plugs for simple hair washing etc. We did drop hair washing back to 2 times a week though. We still used plugs and cap for swimmming lessons. He ended up with a staph infection in his ear canal due to the nice warm/moist environment caused by the plugs and cap. Our swim teacher told us she did not use anything for her son whilst he had grommets and he swam everyday. She said there were medical articles on this but I was unsure and continued to use the cap. My dd's grommets grew out in 9 months and my ds's grew out in 7 months. Hopefully your dd's might grow out quickly for you.

Oooh, bet you're looking forward to this Eidsvold! Everyone told me how simple it was and lots of kids just recovered straight away, ho hum. We DID have to keep DD in for 5 days, then just took her out in the car wrapped up and may venture to playgroup tomorrow. I bet your DD will be fine. I'm sure one of our biggest problems has been DD's complete resistance to medication, oh and getting that cold.

our problem it is end of year and lots of things happen although her regular activites are finished and Wiggles is this Friday... BUT we love to take her to the pool, park etc and I love getting out - I am sure we will both be stir crazy by the time the two weeks is up!!!

BUT had our pre op appt today and all is going ahead. So this time in 10 days - 14th Dec it will be all over.... well the surgery anyway.