Concerned Mum.. My 4 year old son is going in for surgery to remove his tonsils on Friday..?

Question

Can anyone tell me, how much pain there is after surgery and the best ways of helping my baby through it..

Answer 1

My son also had his tonsils and adnoids removed at 4 yrs old. They also put tubes in his ears (4 sets of tubes). The most important is to push fluids after surgery. If his throat starts to dry out he will be in more pain. That will be hard though because he won't feel like drinking or eating much. Make lots of jello and have ice cream on hand! Have popsicles on hand, they will help with fluids to keep his throat moist and the cold will help ease some of the pain. Right after surgery the pain will be pretty significant. Keep lots of motrin on hand. That way you only have to give it to him every 8 hrs, the less you have to give the better because he won't want to take it because it will hurt too much to swallow more than he has too. As time passes from surgery the pain will get better. It was a week after surgery before my son drank anything significantly, and over two weeks before he would eat anything solid again. If you become concerned about nutrition you can try to get him to drink pediasure. That will help him keep his strength up to recover faster. I would give my son a popsicle or a glass of something to drink, make him drink some. As soon as I turned my back he would set it down and walk away because it hurt too much to swallow anything. Good Luck, hang in there it will get better as more time passes after surgery.

ps... they often tell you this kind of surgery is out patient if there are no complications, but be prepared to stay over night in the hospital just in case. We had to with my son and it almost ended up being two nights because he wouldn't drink enough fluids to remove his IV.

Answer 2

I had this procedure done last year, as well as having my adenoids out 12 years ago, and although I am much older, I received a lot of knowledge on the surgery in general. He will be extremely tired for about 24 hours because of the anesthesia. If everything goes well, which it does about 99% of the time, he will be released. The surgery will involve him cauterizing (forgive my spelling) the tissue that is the tonsils. There are no stitches involved (to the person above who said about stitches). He should be on a liquid diet for about 4 to seven days which would include broths, juices, Popsicles, etc. I found Jello to be the best because it was not so cold like ice cream. Also, do not give him red jello or Popsicles because it will dye the throat making it hard to tell if there is irritation. Here is the key part of recovery--about 20% of people hemorrhage and need a secondary surgery. It is not as bad as it sounds (it happened to me). The thing is that since there are no stitches involved, it is your body healing itself, and there is a chance that the patient will experience a tear and need to be cauterized again. Good luck--he will probably be grumpy.

Answer 3

The pain:

For him: a sore throat and generally miserable feeling
For you: a heavy heart and a soreness in your throat from trying to hold back your tears

Helping the pain:

For him: of all the surgeries, this is the funnest one to recover from, he gets lots of ice cream, pudding, jello and popsicles
For you: You will see him scared, weepy, sore and lethargic. I don't think a mom fully recovers from seeing that. I would bring a really fluffy pillow because you'll spend alot of time sitting in a chair next to his bed. Bring cards, books and anything fun you can think of to do with him while he is in there. He won't feel like doing much but it'll get his mind off the soreness and it'll make you feel better to be occupied. If you can get one smile out of him, it'll be worth it.

Answer 4

Know the asteroid wellhead tonsil stones them for many years and it's been title not eventually.

Best decision I've ever made! I was shocked by the way of getting out the stones out. It was so easy, but more importantly, painless. I really liked the little trick he had for preventing gag reflex. He have one happy customer here.

Cure Tonsil Stones Permanently?

Answer 5

Have the liquid pain killer on hand with enough for 10 days at least. Watch for any coughing.. it may be throat irritation or it may be burst stitches.. My son had this and had to return to the hospital four days after the operation so it can happen anytime for quite a while after the operation date.
Get plenty of jello, pudding and food things you can run thru a blender that a little boy will like.. chicken noodle soup is good, nothing in it to irritate the wound. Potatoes mashed with lots of milk and butter. Applesauce is soothing, ice cream without any crunchies in it, milk, sherbet. beef gravy with mashed carrots or potatoes. Soft cereal either cooked cream of rice or wheat.. Keep baby on the soft foods for at least two weeks to avoid the burst stitch. then gradually add some of the semi soft foods.. Do not give crunchy foods for at least three months. I had my tonsils out at age 35 and then my three children followed me one by one... I know how bad and how long this hurts. Keep the Faith.

Answer 6

oh yeah i am 14 and i remember the day i had my tonsils removed ha ha.
No pain just fear and i had a sort of sore throat for a while.
you know the doctors say they can eat as much icecream as they want but you DO NOT WANT ice cream i suggest getting popsicles.

in closing pain just a little soreness after.
BUY POPSICLES

REMEMBER NO ICE CREAM oww.. ice cream HURT

OWWWWW HAD TO SAY AGAIN NO ICECREAM

Answer 7

Basically a really sore throat. Really rough feeling. Make sure you have plenty of pudding, jello, popsicles, and cool drinks around. Let him take it easy. He'll be fine. I'm mom to 3.

Answer 8

the good news for you is that, the younger a child is, the quicker the recovery from tonsilectomy. make sure he has plenty of fluids, and buy him some yogurt. and ice cream. make sure you have foods that aren't very solid for the first couple of days.

Answer 9

If used to be much older but I'm sure the process is the same,
Buy lost of freezer pops , icicles , etc . . . cold stuff to suck on.

Answer 10

surgery is indeed painful. Just take good care of him attend to his needs and he'll be alright.