Tonsil Removal

Clem_Snide

My 8 year old daughter is going in on Friday to have her tonsils removed.

I know it will do her the world of good in the long run but am slightly nervous as I've heard some horror stories about the post op recovery.

Anyone had theirs removed or have kids who have had the op and care to share their experiences?

ShootersHillGuru

Jelly and ice cream time Clem. Kids are resilient and after some tears about a sore throat for a couple of days everything will be fine. I wish her well.

ImBetterThanShaun

I had my tonsils out a couple of years ago (now 30). Couldn't leave the hospital until I'd eaten some toast. No jelly and ice cream anymore, slows down the healing process!

LoOkOuT

Mine were removed at about that age, but can't recall much about it to be honest. I'm sure she'll be fine.

Nug

My lad had them out a couple of years ago, had pretty easy time after even though told by the surgeon they were the largest tonsils he'd seen in a kid that age (6). He was eating normal food almost immediately with a bit of soreness for a few days but immediate benefits in his sleeping and general health. Best of luck.

Fanny Fanackapan

I'm sure she'll be fine, milking it for as long as she can if I know 8 yr old girls.....

Not nearly as bad as a 7 yr old being circumcised.....

AFKABartram

Had two growths removed from my vocal cords and my adanoids removed when I was about ten.

All I can remember is my dad giving me a huge envelope of random catalogue order football programmes from the 70/80s the night before, and not being able to talk for three weeks and having to carry round a pen and paper, and a bell. Cracking days

ShootersHillGuru

AFKABartram said:

Had two growths removed from my vocal cords and my adanoids removed when I was about ten.

All I can remember is my dad giving me a huge envelope of random catalogue order football programmes from the 70/80s the night before, and not being able to talk for three weeks and having to carry round a pen and paper, and a bell. Cracking days

And a bell ! Sounds more like leprosy ;0)

LuckyReds

Fanny Fanackapan said:

I'm sure she'll be fine, milking it for as long as she can if I know 8 yr old girls.....

Not nearly as bad as a 7 yr old being circumcised.....

Lucky git, it ain't much fun when you're 15..!

Fanny Fanackapan

LuckyReds said:

Fanny Fanackapan said:

I'm sure she'll be fine, milking it for as long as she can if I know 8 yr old girls.....

Not nearly as bad as a 7 yr old being circumcised.....

Lucky git, it ain't much fun when you're 15..!

Voice of experience, LR ?

LuckyReds

Clem, how bad are her tonsils at the moment then? I'm going to guess pretty severe?

Fanny Fanackapan said:

LuckyReds said:

Fanny Fanackapan said:

I'm sure she'll be fine, milking it for as long as she can if I know 8 yr old girls.....

Not nearly as bad as a 7 yr old being circumcised.....

Lucky git, it ain't much fun when you're 15..!

Voice of experience, LR ?

Unfortunately. The stuff of nightmares.

Fanny Fanackapan

LuckyReds said:

Clem, how bad are her tonsils at the moment then? I'm going to guess pretty severe?

Fanny Fanackapan said:

LuckyReds said:

Fanny Fanackapan said:

I'm sure she'll be fine, milking it for as long as she can if I know 8 yr old girls.....

Not nearly as bad as a 7 yr old being circumcised.....

Lucky git, it ain't much fun when you're 15..!

Voice of experience, LR ?

Unfortunately. The stuff of nightmares.

Ouch ! Apologies for reminding you, LR .

Clem_Snide

LuckyReds said:

Clem, how bad are her tonsils at the moment then? I'm going to guess pretty severe?

Fanny Fanackapan said:

LuckyReds said:

Fanny Fanackapan said:

I'm sure she'll be fine, milking it for as long as she can if I know 8 yr old girls.....

Not nearly as bad as a 7 yr old being circumcised.....

Lucky git, it ain't much fun when you're 15..!

Voice of experience, LR ?

Unfortunately. The stuff of nightmares.

She is missing 4-6 weeks of school a year with tonsilitus. Usually 4 instances 2 of which will leave her flat out for a week.

LuckyReds

@Fanny, 5 years later and the painful memories are vanishing.. :P

@Clem_Snide - I guessed it was going to be quite severe judging by the discussion of tonsillectomy, as I know most NHS Trusts follow a pretty strict criteria for surgery with regards to the tonsils. So the poor girl must've been having some real sh*t times with it.

I've been hospitalised before with tonsilitis (was a concern I was begining to have breathing difficulties, so was kept in overnight whilst they planned to prep me for surgery in the morning) and it truly is awful, a lot of people assume it's just a bit of a sore throat. For me I usually get horrific headaches and end up being too tired to do anything, then being unable to eat and so on.

Not much advice I can give though, I guess stock up on ice cream and the like - and perhaps food that isn't going to cause any grief when being eaten! Good luck mate, and bless her - but it should be much better in the long run!

Charltonparklane

My daughter is having hers out soon, shes 14.
School threatened to have Educational Welfare Officer involved as she has gone below 91% attendance due to Tonsillitis.
Bearing in mind My son who has now left had 3 years of 100% attendance in his last 3 years (some achievement I may add) and my daughter had 100% attendance last year.
Last year was the first year in her life she didn't get it.
Me however, im 37 now and fckin hate tonsillitis, Id do anything for them to take mine out, I have only ever had time off work in the last 20 years due to Tonsilitis
Hate it hate it hate it.

Curb_It

LuckyReds said:

Clem, how bad are her tonsils at the moment then? I'm going to guess pretty severe?

Fanny Fanackapan said:

LuckyReds said:

Fanny Fanackapan said:

I'm sure she'll be fine, milking it for as long as she can if I know 8 yr old girls.....

Not nearly as bad as a 7 yr old being circumcised.....

Lucky git, it ain't much fun when you're 15..!

Voice of experience, LR ?

Unfortunately. The stuff of nightmares.

But why circumcised at 15 Lucky Red?

JWADDICK

ImBetterThanShaun said:

I had my tonsils out a couple of years ago (now 30). Couldn't leave the hospital until I'd eaten some toast. No jelly and ice cream anymore, slows down the healing process!

Absolutely right, when my daughter had hers removed they recommended Dry Toast and Crisps for the two days following surgery. Hardens up the new tissue or some such.

DaveMehmet

LuckyReds said:

@Fanny, 5 years later and the painful memories are vanishing.. :P

@Clem_Snide - I guessed it was going to be quite severe judging by the discussion of tonsillectomy, as I know most NHS Trusts follow a pretty strict criteria for surgery with regards to the tonsils. So the poor girl must've been having some real sh*t times with it.

I've been hospitalised before with tonsilitis (was a concern I was begining to have breathing difficulties, so was kept in overnight whilst they planned to prep me for surgery in the morning) and it truly is awful, a lot of people assume it's just a bit of a sore throat. For me I usually get horrific headaches and end up being too tired to do anything, then being unable to eat and so on.

Not much advice I can give though, I guess stock up on ice cream and the like - and perhaps food that isn't going to cause any grief when being eaten! Good luck mate, and bless her - but it should be much better in the long run!

So you went in with tonsillitis and they snipped the end of your cock off?

Lincsaddick

still one of the most common operations in the UK .. often a quite painful recovery for older children but with a VERY high success rate both for the operation itself and for enhanced health in the future. The recovery? .. lots of sleep, painkillers and light on the liquids for a few days, after that she'll be fine. Good luck to your daughter CS

Henry Irving

My wife (theatre sister) says it is done a lot less now than before and when it is only when children are missing a lot of school and/or sleep.

It is often done as day surgery now as well.

There is a chance of bleeding post-op which sounds worse than it is but the consultant should be explaining all this to you before the Op.

Good luck to her. Which hospital and consultant?

Fanny Fanackapan

Henry Irving said:

My wife (theatre sister) says it is done a lot less now than before and when it is only when children are missing a lot of school and/or sleep.

It is often done as day surgery now as well.

There is a chance of bleeding post-op which sounds worse than it is but the consultant should be explaining all this to you before the Op.

Thank you, Dr Kildare !

( If you saw the series when you were in your pram, you'd take that as a compliment, Henry !)

Henry Irving

Fanny Fanackapan said:

Henry Irving said:

My wife (theatre sister) says it is done a lot less now than before and when it is only when children are missing a lot of school and/or sleep.

It is often done as day surgery now as well.

There is a chance of bleeding post-op which sounds worse than it is but the consultant should be explaining all this to you before the Op.

Thank you, Dr Kildare !

( If you saw the series when you were in your pram, you'd take that as a compliment, Henry !)

I do remember it vaguely but just because I'm married to a nurse doesn't make me a doctor : - ) although when I worked on an adventure playground the little girls were convinced I had to be. I wish I earned what a surgeon does.

I also confused, unintentionally, a Spanish work colleague by telling her my wife was a sister. The look of shock on her face was priceless until I explained that in the UK Sister was a medical rather than religious title.

DaveMehmet

Henry Irving said:

Fanny Fanackapan said:

Henry Irving said:

My wife (theatre sister) says it is done a lot less now than before and when it is only when children are missing a lot of school and/or sleep.

It is often done as day surgery now as well.

There is a chance of bleeding post-op which sounds worse than it is but the consultant should be explaining all this to you before the Op.

Thank you, Dr Kildare !

( If you saw the series when you were in your pram, you'd take that as a compliment, Henry !)

I also confused, unintentionally, a Spanish work colleague by telling her my wife was a sister. The look of shock on her face was priceless until I explained that in the UK Sister was a medical rather than religious title.

If you had said it to a colleague from Norwich they wouldn't have been so shocked.

Henry Irving

DaveMehmet said:

Henry Irving said:

Fanny Fanackapan said:

Henry Irving said:

My wife (theatre sister) says it is done a lot less now than before and when it is only when children are missing a lot of school and/or sleep.

It is often done as day surgery now as well.

There is a chance of bleeding post-op which sounds worse than it is but the consultant should be explaining all this to you before the Op.

Thank you, Dr Kildare !

( If you saw the series when you were in your pram, you'd take that as a compliment, Henry !)

I also confused, unintentionally, a Spanish work colleague by telling her my wife was a sister. The look of shock on her face was priceless until I explained that in the UK Sister was a medical rather than religious title.

If you had said it to a colleague from Norwich they wouldn't have been so shocked.

LOL - if only someone could write a song on that theme for use when we play Norwich.

Henry Irving

update from Sister Irving.

Coblation is the new technique used to avoid bleeding. It uses sound to remove the tonsils.

Clem_Snide

Henry Irving said:

My wife (theatre sister) says it is done a lot less now than before and when it is only when children are missing a lot of school and/or sleep.

It is often done as day surgery now as well.

There is a chance of bleeding post-op which sounds worse than it is but the consultant should be explaining all this to you before the Op.

Good luck to her. Which hospital and consultant?

Lewisham hospital. Not sure on the surgeon, they didn't give us a name at the pre-op appointment. Said we'd meet him on the day.

The referral was done privately via Blackheath and the guy we saw there said he didn't work at Lewisham so won't be him.

Henry Irving

My wife is going to be working there but hasn't started yet.

Good reputation for surgery though she says.

The sugeon should talk you through the op. Ask lots of questions, its their job

TelMc32

Had mine out at about the same age Clem, although that was...a very long time ago now. In those days, it was jelly & ice cream every day after, but as mentioned above, they encourage toast, cereals and sometimes crisps to aggravate the area in the throat as it helps the healing.

From memory, I loved the ice-cream, but was sick to death of jelly by the time I left Guys all those years ago. I do remember sitting on the lap of a very nice nurse watching The Big Match and explaining football to her...probably my first crush! If i did it now, I'd certainly crush her!! ;-)

Seriously, she'll be fine after a few days and it'll improve her health no end. All the best.

CafcWest

Had mine out in September 2011 for 'exploratory' reasons. Am much older than 7 and was told it would be 'very unpleasant' as a grown man. It wasn't actually that bad (although much worse was to come- but that's another story) - bit of a sore throat for a week or so - but was told to eat and drink as normal and yes - dry toast was mentioned - but also had my share of ice cream and jelly. It was still the 'cold steel' approach - but they seem to be able to minimise the discomfort nowadays.

LuckyReds

@Curb_It - A rather painful, if comedic in hindsight, incident with my then girlfriend. Wont say anymore as it's before 9PM and I have a family member who peruses this board..

DaveMehmet said:

LuckyReds said:

@Fanny, 5 years later and the painful memories are vanishing.. :P

@Clem_Snide - I guessed it was going to be quite severe judging by the discussion of tonsillectomy, as I know most NHS Trusts follow a pretty strict criteria for surgery with regards to the tonsils. So the poor girl must've been having some real sh*t times with it.

I've been hospitalised before with tonsilitis (was a concern I was begining to have breathing difficulties, so was kept in overnight whilst they planned to prep me for surgery in the morning) and it truly is awful, a lot of people assume it's just a bit of a sore throat. For me I usually get horrific headaches and end up being too tired to do anything, then being unable to eat and so on.

Not much advice I can give though, I guess stock up on ice cream and the like - and perhaps food that isn't going to cause any grief when being eaten! Good luck mate, and bless her - but it should be much better in the long run!

So you went in with tonsillitis and they snipped the end of your cock off?

Just cracked up at that, no - fortunately not. The process of getting my best mates turtleneck sweater removed began with a nervous 15 year old having his nob played with by a rather older male doctor who suspiciously resembled Robbie Coltrane.

But hey, I can laugh about it now.... as I wipe the tears away.

Brunello

My son is having tonsils, adenoids and grommets done on Monday as a day case. The doctor seems to think that discomfort wont be too bad and that, as advised above, eating and drinking should be done as normal but with the aid of painkillers in the first days. Should have him back at school in a week.