Well, Kellen is going to get her tonsils out. In hindsight, I wish we had been encouraged to do this a year and a half ago when we first visited the Ear, Nose & Throat doctor. So, I'm writing this blog to 1) get advice, stories, etc., from anyone who has been through a child getting their tonsils out and 2) to educate people of the potential side effects of chronically enlarged tonsils.
From February through April 2007, Kellen had about 8 ear and throat infections. That was probably more than she had had in her whole previous 5 years of life! Our doctor sent us to see an ENT for an exam and to have her hearing checked by an audiologist. Well, her hearing was within normal limits, but he was still talking about the possibility of ear tubes and a tonsilectomy to stop the infections. After several rounds of meds, her infections stopped, so we were just thankful at that point to have avoided our little girl having surgery!
Unfortunately, her tonsils continued to be enlarged, (though no ear or throat infections in the last year and a half!), which causes her to sleep with her mouth open. At our most recent trip to our dentist, he told us that Kellen needs her tonsils out and also has to begin orthodontia work!!! Can you believe it? Age 6??? He explained that when you sleep with your mouth closed, your tongue presses on the roof of your mouth every time you swallow, and spreads out your bite. Well, since Kellen sleeps with her mouth open, her bite is very narrow. For example, she has lost 3 top teeth and the front two have come in and taken up all the room. So there is no room for that 3rd tooth to drop down!
So, we visited a different ENT yesterday who concurred that even the best orthodontia work won't truly fix her teeth until her tonsils are taken out. So, surgery is scheduled for November 4th (the doctor is taking vacation during the holidays, otherwise we would've done it right after Christmas!) It will be the first surgery for any of our kids. She will be put completely asleep! She will have to miss about 5 days of school and can't do any running or activity for 14 days. We scheduled it then because it's after soccer season but before basketball season, and hopefully she'll be in tip-top shape before my Mom arrives from Idaho on the 16th for our trial. Believe it or not, Kellen is SUPER-EXCITED to have them taken out and is just focused on the fact that she'll get to eat popsicles, ice cream, milkshakes, etc.! Then come January or so, she has to go in for an "ortho work-up" to take molds and for our dentist to come up with "The Plan" (in other words, how much money can I get from the Churches for my kids' college funds?) Ugh.
Any words of wisdom? Personal experiences? Warnings? Advice? "Comment" me, people!
7 comments:
I'm so sorry that she has to have the surgery, but it isn't too bad. Lauren had her tonsils and adenoids out in May. I think the worst part was the few hours she was coming out of her anesthesia. Talk about wacky!! After that she just did a lot of sleeping for the next few days. The only thing she wanted to eat was blackberries. She didn't want anything too hot or too cold. She also shoved a raisin up her nose and got it stuck the day after... I don't recommend that!! In the end, I'm so glad we went ahead. She was pitiful the first few days, but she sleeps so much better now!! I love that you're squeezing it in between sport seasons!!
Oh I can relate. We went to Dr. Sales and he said that Lola's tonsils were so large that they crisscrossed. Justus and Elliette both had snored since around age 2yrs. He talked my husband and I into getting Justus, Elliette, Jude and Lola's tonsils out all on the same morning at the surgery center. He said, "wouldn't you want to get them all out at once and have a bad week or two rather than spread it out over 4 months?!" I said, "I'm terrified, we've never even had surgery!" John agreed with him since he wouldn't have to miss work for 4 months and thought 2 weeks would be best for him. John also told me that we could ask the entire extended family for help for 2 weeks rather than over and over for 4 months.
Well that all seemed to make sense.....so we did!
At the surgery center Dr. Sales said this was the surgery center record for # of family surgeries in one day! Well duh!
All the surgeries went great. The center was fabulous and catered to the kids and all our family members. I had to have a family member w/ each child as they came to after surgery. I floated from child to child. (I was totally freaking!)
One thing they WON'T tell you is that when you're at day 4 or 5 the steriod they give during surgery wears off, thus making the pain WORSE. At day 4 I thought, "Hey, this isn't so bad, we're through the hard part!" Day 5-7 was horrible! And it was over the weekend so I was calling ENT's at home for oral steriods and begging the pharmacist for some! Anyway, ask the dr. ahead of time for a script in case you need it. They don't like to give it because it just delays the pain.....I'd rather take the pain after a little healing though!!
We did make it through and in retrospect I'd do it again because after that 2 weeks I'd NEVER have taken another kid!
I think if I'd known that the worse days were 5-7 I'd have been prepared and rested up for those days!
You'll be fine, call on friends for relief and taking out the other kids!
It really is only a week and a half. I wish I had tips for getting a child to take pain med when their throat hurts?! Just never let the pain med wear off??!!
My kids were up and running at 1.5-2 weeks. They were all different in healing, pain etc. If she's a trooper, you'll be fine.
Dia
Oh the best part....I forgot to mention......we haven't had a soar throat since! That was in April 2007! We haven't had an ear infection either (just swimmers ear). The results are unbelievable!! They're so much happier too (Lola especially since she sleeps now!) I was convinced she couldn't hear, we did the audiologist appt too. She was just miserable since she couldn't sleep!
DIa
Hey Kelly,
Riley had his adenoids & tonsils out in November last year over Thanksgiving break (so he wouldn't miss school). Our experience was pretty bad and really scary for Riley. The no eating before part was horrible for him, especially since I was 8 months pregnant with the diabetes and had to eat -- I held out as long as I could thinking they would take him back and then I could eat but it took them 2 hours to call him back and I almost passed out so I had to eat in front of him. He cried, of course. The surgery went well - and very fast. Afterwards we could hear a child screaming and was talking about it when a nurse came to get us and said they couldn't "un-prep" him from the surgery until he calmed down. I felt so bad for him. He was histerical. He threw up and cried so much that we had to stay quite a while afterwards because they wouldn't take his IV out until he drank some juice and he refused. We were warned of this but we thought Riley wouldn't act that way. They said most kids are scared when they come out and they are really loopy. He was really sick for about a week, then got better and then worse. I think he was pretty much back to normal within 2 weeks. He went back to school but was weak. Fortunately there was another kid in Riley's class that had her tonsils out at the same time so Ms. Lisa instructed the class to take it easy on them for the week. Enough on the bad stuff. *** Riley is doing great, he can hear much better, he sleeps great (no snoring) and he doesn't wet the bed anymore. It took a few months for us to see results but he is doing awesome now. I would do it again! He was having night terrors and was sleep walking. He would get up and try to pee in odd places throughout the house and he kept getting strep throat. His tonsils were so swollen that they were putting pressure on each other. They say most kids bounce right back easily. I think Riley takes after me and when he gets sice - HE REALLY GETS THE WORST OF IT! Good Luck. You know you can call me anytime if you need any help.
Kel, I can comment on the orthodontic part of this...My parents were given the same advice when I was a kid and decided not to have my tonsils and adenoids out. So, I have always been a mouth breather. When I went to college I started working for an orthodontist and ended up getting braces in college, but since my upper jaw was so narrow from all the mouth breathing my whole life I needed surgery to expand it. So, after all was said and done, I ended up having a very painful jaw surgery at an adult age and on top of all that I had a 7 mm gap between my two front teeth for three months during college. HA! Not a fun/attractive thing to do to a college kid! Luckily it was in the summer. Anyway, my mom said looking back she wished she would have listened to the dentists and doctors and dealt with it when I was younger.
Not sure that helps much, but at least it will be over and done with and Kellen will be able to enjoy several years without infections. Not to mention you will spare her the horror of a gap between her two front teeth at 19! HA!!
Good luck!
Hey there...well, we haven't had to go the tonsil route yet, BUT, we have had FOUR sets of tubes put in Madison's ears..the first set being at age 6 mths!!! Talk about scary! I do think that I'd rather do it at this age though, then at 18. One of my friends had her tonsils out at 18 and man was it bad. Kids are so much more resilant!!! Like the others said, anesthesia does make them crazy, but it's more funny than anything! Take your recorder! LOL!! I think you're doing the right thing!
Sorry Kellen has to get tonsils, but it should help the infections. Brock had tubes in May after 6 moths of ear infections and we haven't had an infection yet. My nephew had his tonsils out at age 4 and he did great. Of course, the ice cream was the best part. Best of luck to you guys. By the way, we dentists don't create "plans" just to pay for our child's college education, we are paying off our student loan debt!! HA! No, I am sure everything will be in her best interest. Shoot me an email if you want a second opinion.
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