Advice for upcoming tonsillectomy?

[mdmom]

DS16 will finally have his tonsils (and possible adenoids if they look bad) removed next Wednesday.

 

He has a central IV line so he will be on IV Clindamycin before, during and after surgery. Doc will also prescribe IV fluids to be administered at home, so hydration will not be an issue. Lyme doc ordered culturing test for tonsils.

 

Would love any advice on how to make this process run smoothly.

 

He is gluten and dairy free so I will need to be creative with getting calories in him - and he needs the calories - he is 6'3" and 122 lbs. He already has trouble maintaining his weight and he is very picky about liquids - he only drinks water. He hates smoothies or any sweet liquid.

 

Thanks in advance.

[pr40]

DS16 will finally have his tonsils (and possible adenoids if they look bad) removed next Wednesday.

 

He has a central IV line so he will be on IV Clindamycin before, during and after surgery. Doc will also prescribe IV fluids to be administered at home, so hydration will not be an issue. Lyme doc ordered culturing test for tonsils.

 

Would love any advice on how to make this process run smoothly.

 

He is gluten and dairy free so I will need to be creative with getting calories in him - and he needs the calories - he is 6'3" and 122 lbs. He already has trouble maintaining his weight and he is very picky about liquids - he only drinks water. He hates smoothies or any sweet liquid.

 

Thanks in advance.

I want to comment on the fettenning part only. Carbohydrates are the way to fat and calories. Rice, for instance, a lots of it with some form of fat like olive oil. if he eats meat and fish, loads of it with carbs. soups made with marrow bones can be very caloric -- i might have mentioned this before.

About sweet stuff -- if you really want him to drink sweeter than he is currently, go step by step. half a spoon of sugar this week, then half more the next, he won't be able to notice gradual increase.

[laure]

Our daughter had tonsils out 3 weeks ago. No regrets, she is doing wonderfully! She is positive for lyme and babesia, but many PANDAS symptoms, most notably OCD, which has gone into complete remission 3 times, followed by relapses. Currently she is 90% - 95% most of the time.

 

So interesting how her new ENT put things. Her tonsils looked perfect while still intact, which he says is suspect for someone who has had high anti DNaseB titers for 4 years now. "Means they are not doing their job." After removal he said the underside of her tonsils, which couldn't be seen until after surgery, was quite pitted and filled with white matter.

 

My advice is to stay ahead of the pain right from the get go. Even in the middle of the night. Tylenol, not advil, don't want to induce bleeding, which did happen the one time my husband gave motrin.

Liquid tylenol was all she could do, every 4 hours. If you can get painkiller in his central line, that might be the best approach. She is 126 pounds, we did 3 - 4 tblsps every 4 hours. Sometimes sooner.

 

She could only eat ice cream, popsicles, sherbet, yogurt, jello, applesauce - cold, soft stuff - for first 5 days. After that soup, but the temperature bothered her. She did lose 5 pounds, and she is a huge eater normally, so you may struggle there.

 

Some ideas for non-sweet stuff: cold soups, like pureed squash soup, borscht, etc. Once he can tolerate heat, mashed potatoes, noodle soups, well-cooked pasta, eggs. We did do milk shakes occasionally. A lot of times I just had to jump-start the hunger with something normally off-limits, and then she would get past the pain to take in more.

 

My daughter is severely hypo-glycemic, so going more than 3 hours without calories is very bad.

 

Good luck!

[philamom]

laure- were her symptoms in remission when you had the procedure done, or since then? Really glad to hear she is doing well!

[laure]

Depending on our whereabouts she was anywhere from 60 percent to 90 percent on any given day. Since the surgery we have seen a steady improvement of mood and a lack of mood swings and temper flares- stuff we were unclear of whether it was teenage stuff or Lyme or what.

[cobbiemommy]

I agree with everything Laure has told you. One other thing that you can do is an ice pack on the neck area, especially the first couple of days. Cold liquids and liquid medications are key. DS had to stay out of any physical activity for two weeks. He cheated and went to athletic practice a couple days early and had some bleeding, so I would definitely not recommend that for anyone.

 

Absolutely wake them up to give them pain meds before the pain gets too bad. No sense in your child being miserable. My son wanted Dr. to take a pic of his tonsils when they were removed. We asked in advance and we had to sign a release, but he got his pic. They took the phone right into the operating room! Too funny.

[Mayzoo]

My kiddo is likely odd kiddo out. She refused liquid meds of any kind after the first 24 hours. I happen to have hydrocodone pills on hand for my headaches, so I gave her equivalent from my pills since she outright refused the liquid lortab. She was taking all her normal pills + pain meds on the second day.

 

I kept Popsicles on hand so I could crush them in the am and spoon feed them to her until her pain meds kicked in in the am. Sorta numbing/soothing the area before the meds could get in her system. We also keep an ice pack around the neck every morning for several days until the meds kicked in.

 

We used pudding, Jello, Popsicles, yogurt, slim fast drinks, and broothe cooled.

Edited May 30, 2014 by mayzoo