Going in for T&A removal

[JPdad]

Our doctor finally decided to perform a T&A removal after 8+ recent ear infections and chronically swollen tonsils. Any advice from others who have had a PANDAS kid go through this procedure? Right now we got a script for 10 days of Augmentin before surgery and 10 days after, plus they are going to do IV abx during the surgery. Are we missing anything? Any other advice or recommendations for the recovery?

[beeskneesmommy]

Yes, you are. My son (now 6 but 4 at the time) had his acute episode post T&A d/t Strep infection prior to the surgery. Dr. Trifiletti recommends a pretty heavy abx protocol prior to and post T&A. If we had done this, perhaps it would not have taken the better part of a year to recover...and it was not a full recovery even at the year mark. I do not want to scare you, but taking further abx precautions would be my advice. Particularly if your kiddo has had so many infections - this would indicate that he/she has a chronic Strep, as my son did, living in the surgical site. Warm wishes, -Kath

[blakes_mom]

My ds 11 was on augmentin 10 days prioir and 20 days of augmentin post T & A and did great. Pandas symptoms were all gone 3 days after procedure. It's strange how our kids all respond so diferently. I believe my sons infection was strep as his strep antibodies were both high.He is currently on zithromax for strep prevention. Good luck with the procedure. It has been a major factor in my sons healing.

[JPdad]

Yes, you are. My son (now 6 but 4 at the time) had his acute episode post T&A d/t Strep infection prior to the surgery. Dr. Trifiletti recommends a pretty heavy abx protocol prior to and post T&A. If we had done this, perhaps it would not have taken the better part of a year to recover...and it was not a full recovery even at the year mark. I do not want to scare you, but taking further abx precautions would be my advice. Particularly if your kiddo has had so many infections - this would indicate that he/she has a chronic Strep, as my son did, living in the surgical site. Warm wishes, -Kath

 

Dr. T is the one who put us on the Augmentin. DS is currently healthy and not flaring, but has had chronic ear infections for a year. Our ENT doc decided to do the T&A removal in addition to putting tubes in his ears. Hopefully this gets us on the right track.

[airial95]

We had sucess with the T&A, we were on Cefdinir pre-op, which was already failing, but they opted not to switch to Augmentin until post-op, and we also had IV abx. For us, the impact was immediate. Our son's symptoms were 100% gone immediately. Make sure you get the tonsils cultured. Our son's surprisingly came back clean for strep, we thought for sure with 20+ infections in 2 years combined with his immediate recovery that they would've been the culprit.

 

I will say that we stopped the Augmentin 6 weeks post op, and almost immediately he tested positive for strep again and we have been going down hill ever since.

So you still have to be vigilant afterwards!

 

Best of luck!

[beeskneesmommy]

The IV abx are so good! We had none. I asked for oral abx prior to the surgery but was refused. We had 10 days of cefdinir post op but it didn't make a dent. You are on the thr right track, I think, but I would speak w/Dr. T. I, personally, would put my son on heavy therapeutic abx for at least 6 weeks prior to the surgery, were I given the chance to do it again. The fallout for us was tremendous and long lasting. However, as I stated, we had no abx prior to or IV abx during the surgery. Good luck - I think we were an especially bad situation, which, although it has taken over 2 years, is now well under control.