Monday, January 13, 2014

Tips For a Tonsillectomy For Your Kids- Day 1


 Is your kid about to have his or her tonsils removed? Then I suggest reading my posts about my son's tonsillectomy. Before my son had both his tonsils and adenoids removed I tried to find articles with tips on making it easier for both me and my son, and found hardly anything.  Besides what my Dr's office said and a few Dr"ish" websites about the facts I still felt in the dark. I did talk to a few people who had this done to themselves or to their children for some information, but never quite felt ready. I actually had a panic attack the night before. So I am blogging about our experience to help a few mom's out there hopefully not have a panic attack like I did!

Keep in mind every Dr, patient, and hospital are different. Not everyone has the same experience. All you can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best in these kind of situations.

Before I talk about the day of the surgery let me tell you about the night before. That is when I freaked out and pretty much broke down. I went to run a few last minute errands so my son could pick out some of his favorite popsicles, ice cream, drinks, and things like that. As I was pulling up to the gas station (so I wouldn't have to do it early the next morning) I got a phone call. I knew the hospital would be calling to let me know what time we were to arrive for surgery, so I was glad to finally get this call. Even though it was 5 O'clock and I already had my husband and my mom call twice each wondering what time to plan on, this call wasn't the one I thought it was. It was the office saying they hadn't received my paperwork. What paperwork? Well, apparently they emailed me some forms. Which I knew, I just assumed I was suppose to fill them out, print them and bring them in with me. I didn't realize it was a link for an online form that the anesthesiologist needed to look at the night before, and that he would be there in an hour to look over the paperwork.  Aaagh, I'm not only 30 minutes away from home, but will need to unload melting groceries, start dinner, change a diaper, and I had a responsibility through my church that tied me up Wednesday nights. In the end I got it done, and I ended up finding someone to take my place at my church.   The point of that rant is if you are suppose to fill something out before hand, do just that, fill it out before hand. That way you don't have a breakdown and find yourself crying in your bedroom during dinner. Even the Queen of Chaos has a breaking point- weird I know.

At the hospital with our tonsils.


On to the day of the tonsillectomy. Around 6:30 PM the night before we finally were told what time our surgery was scheduled for. One thing I hadn't realized was no food or drink after midnight! Not even a sip of water in the morning. I can promise that would be hard for even me. I didn't even let my son brush his teeth in the morning because I was afraid he would swallow some of it. We brought a spare change of clothes with us because I had heard even though they give them something to wear, some kids wet themselves while on the anesthesia. When we arrived, of course the nurses and staff were fabulous. My son really enjoyed teasing and interacting with them.

The whole thing went by in half the time I thought it would. Maybe it was a good day, maybe I was lucky, who knows? All I can say is it took a little over 4 hours from setting foot in the building to my husband pulling up the car to the front.

In my mind I assumed they would put him to sleep with us and bring him back still sedated. I was shocked that we parents stayed in the same room the whole time. They took my son away awake and brought him back awake. I was happy to hear that they put his IV in after he was asleep, because that was one of my concerns. They don't take it out till right before being released though, just in case they need it again. That part kind of freaked him out, but only for a second. The nurse was real good about taking off the bandage carefully so that when the IV came out it was so quick he barely saw anything till she put a clean bandage over it ninja like. I told him before hand it wouldn't hurt, it would just be uncomfortable.

After with no tonsils.

Since I was told that day 3 and 4 was the worst I figured if he asked to eat, I was just going to let him. On my sons first day he ate 2-3 of those soft Hawaiian rolls. He just tore off little itty bitty pieces. He ate that in addition to the yummy cold treats he had picked out the day before.

Overall day one was a success. Mostly tiring from lack of sleep the night before and waking up early to prep and get to the hospital.

 
1. Make sure you have everything to go in advance.
2. Try to get as much rest before hand as possible.
3. Don't be afraid to ask questions, and let your kids ask questions.  (I always let my kids voice their concerns and questions to the doctor or nurse themselves.)
4. Eat a big dinner the day before. Cook their favorite meal.
5. Make sure you have plenty of cold treats, soft foods and medicine before hand. That way you don't have to run to the store.
 
Bonus- I had my son write in his Journal before, after and a week after the surgery. It was kind of fun to see what was going though his mind.

1 comment:

  1. Im 11 yrs old and just got my tonsil removed yesterday, it was so hurt even if i sip a water, its like, hardly to drink in. My doctor said i should rest for 2 weeks and my doctor also adviced me to not to go school for 2 weeks. i was so happy,
    BUT, i realize after the surgery , my mouth is full of pains , it was SO HURTS. i could even cry cause of it pains.. what to do..? pls reply

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