My daughter (age 9) is scheduled for surgery next month to have her tonsils and adnoids removed. She is very nervous about it. Any suggestions as to how I can help calm her down?

You may want to contact Mackenzie, the dancing chicken. Her daughter just had hers out.
Here is the related thread.
And good luck.

When my daughter was little (5) she had surgery twice for ear tubes. She reacted positively to a step by step explanation that was appropriate for her age ("you'll go into a room with lots of lights and nurses and doctors, who will help you go to sleep while they fix your ears" kinda thing).

And she felt better knowing mom and dad were nearby. And of course we used a little humor and a special treat to look forward to.

When I had my tonsils out years ago, the big highlight for me was getting to eat ice cream for breakfast when it was all over.

Good luck, I hope all goes well.

Angie,
Next week my two year old is going to the Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist to set up the appointment to take her tonsils out. I was literally sick to my stomach when they told me she had strepp throat again. She has had strepp five (maybe six) times in less than a year.
It is going to break my heart, but I am comforted to know that we are not going to have to face having a sick child every eight weeks.

I too am curious how you explain to young children what is going to happen. I am going to seek guideance from the staff at the clinic to help me through this. I am sure they have some good advice for me, unfortunately my daughter is just too young to reason with and she just wont understand. I have already talked to her about doctors and that they make our "boo boos" feel better when we don't feel good. We talk about it every couple of days and she has a coloring book with pictures of cartoon doctors that we color in.

I'm sorry I cannot provide more guideance than this, but the age your daughter is at I would just let her know that she probably won't be sick any more and that she gets special treatment when it is over. Lots of ice cream and time at home with mom and dad. No homework! If she has a favorite stuffed toy, maybe the Drs will let her take it back with her to surgery (they let me when I had mine out.)

Let us know how your daughter is doing. Our thoughts will be with you.

M,

I know what you mean. My daughter would get strepp every month. She was losing weight because of it and we were concerned about that too. We took her to the have her tonsils removed and she rarely gets sick now. She is also up to a healthy weight.

We told her she got lots of ice cream and that when she felt better we would take her to her favorite place to eat. We also took a flashlight and a mirror and tried to show her what they were taking out. It was easy to see because she had the whites spots at the time. She thought it was so gross that she wanted to push up the surgery to get them out.

The best part was the doctors were very helpful. The surgeon came in and explained things to her and then the guy who puts her under(i won't spell it) came and explained things and then the nurse did the same just before bringing her in. It still breaks your heart when they are wheeled in a wagon down the hall and when the parents have to stop your daughter turns and waves as she is crying. But all turned out fine and she is so much healthier.

Nikko,
How old was your daughter?

My daughter had her tonsils and adenoids removed at age 9 (a year ago) and she also was uncomfortable about the whole idea. Our ENT was very good with her, and explained what he was going to do and why. He also explained to her that this would help cut down on the sick times. She would get so sick with strep that there was always a high fever and she gets fever blisters all over her mouth, and vomiting and headaches. She was all for the not being sick, but on the day of the surgery was nervous again. The nurses in the hospital were great with her (and me). She did have some pain from the healing, and we had to watch her for bleeding when the scabs came off (I know, yuk!) but we have had no problems for over a year now. Also, with her adenoids coming out - no snoring! She used to be like a freight train! Good luck to you and your daughter, from one Angie to another.

WE just went through this surgery last month with my 10 year old daughter. I was amazed at how quickly they booted her from the hospital...surgery at 9 out the door by noon. The first day was good as they had her pretty drugged up, but don't let that fool you. Poor girl had a really rough week...force liquids, don't worry about stocking up on ice cream because there was simply no appetite for 4-5 days. Running a humidifier really helped keep her throat from drying out too...GOOD LUCK, when it's over it's all worth it. My daughter had strep 8 times between Thanksgiving of last year and East of this year!

I still remember having my tonsils out at age 7. I have always thought (and did then) that they stuck a big butcher knife down my throat and wacked them out! I was scared to DEATH before they were taken out.

Be sure she's not seeing the same evil dreams I had If her doctor explains the procedure to her, in her terms, she might do better.

Hype the ice cream after surgery

My wife just had hers taken out last week. It is easier when they are children so realize it is better now, than later.

Andy,
How come they waited so long to take your wife's out? You don't hear about many adults having this performed. I hope all is well. We know that you are just pampering the heck out of her, fluffing her pillow, fetching chocolate shakes, etc.. right?

I still have mine. Once upon a time it seemed they took them out routinely. They the decided this wasn't necessary. Kids prior to mine seemed to commonly have tubes in their ears. Our doctor indicated when our kids were young that this was slowing. It wasn't a "fix-all". I'm sure they still do some, but it seems less of an option nowadays.

Deb had hers out for what seems to be a new highly diagnosed problem, sleep apnea.

I don't know how they do things now but back when I was a child and had my tonsils out they let my favorite bear "get his tonsils out too!" That was a real comfort to me. They gave him a mask to wear to help us fall asleep and everything.

Best of luck to everyone! It must be hard to see your child go though these kind of things. My son will be having heart surgery soon and I thank goodness that he is only 4 months old because I don't have to do much explaining just lots of cuddling. It is more difficult to explain to my 4 year old what is going to happen to her little brother.

Jennifer,
Omigoodness! Is everything okay? As a parent I could not imagine having such an operation performed on such a tiny individual. It's funny how we all have our own problems and our own issues, but there is truth to say that there is always someone out there that has it worse than you do.

I hope that everything goes well.

In an ultrasound we found out that my son had two holes in heart. We do not have a surgery date yet, but should be getting one soon. He will be having open heart surgery and it could be happening as early as the end of October. We did more testing yesterday and the results are being sent to our local Children's Hospital as I write to determine just when and how the procedure will be performed. They really make it sound like this type of surgery is routine these days so hopefully all will go well. It should just be this one surgery and then he will be fine...running and jumping and playing just like everyone else.

Hang in there guys, we will be praying for all of you. My oldest had tubes put in his ears when he was about a year old. I promise you, Mom was a bigger basket case than anyone. We did the outpatient route, hospital was full of flu patients. I was soooo nervous the whole time, but I knew that I had the right doctor when he came out and told us that they were finished and they would bring him out in a few minutes -- the doctor did not want us to worry one minute longer than necessary. In a few minutes, the doctor carried my baby out in his arms and gave him back to me -- what a guy!!!! Later that day, my son said all kinds of new words and I knew that we had done the right thing, but I felt like the worst parent in the word because I realized that he had not been able to hear us before.

This is a very minor surgery compared to tonsils and heart surgery, yet it seems that the technology is getting so good on both that even these surgeries are getting fairly routine. Now they need to figure out better ways to help the family cope. Good luck on both of these and let us know how it goes.

Prayers for all of our children. They are all sweet and wonderful in their own ways. Best wishes.

My daughter had tubes put in her ear (only one) on her 2nd birthday after numerous ear infections that just wouldn't go away. The doctor had a room set up at his office and we got to be right in there with her. They numbed everything but didn't like them to be put to sleep. Well, since we had left home early to get there first thing and had a 2 hour drive, she fell asleep! It was nap time! The amazing thing was that when they made the slit in the eardrum and were suctioning out the infection, he found legs! You heard me right - legs! Evidently during the summer when all the trouble started, there had been a gnat fly into her ear. It caused an infection and her eardrum had ruptured and then healed around the gnat that was still there. At that the doctor stopped with just the one ear. They had us come back for hearing tests and she is fine. Now that she is a teen-ager, I wonder if her hearing really was affected!

I can attest to the fact that having your tonsils out when you are older is much harder than when you are a child. I had them out two years ago when I was 30. I had them out in December and had a hysterectomy in January. I told the doctors that the hysterectomy was a breeze compared to the tonsils. I am not saying this to scare anyone that is getting their tonsils out, but it is really no fun at all when you are older. As far as a nine year old, I guess I would focus on the fact that they will not be sick as much as before and won't miss out on things that they may have in the past because they were sick. And of course having ice cream all the time should be a great plus.

Good luck to everyone that has some sort of surgery coming up. God Bless!!!!

Michelle R.

My youngest had her tonsils out when she was 19. She was attending a private university and spending all her time in the clinic with strep throat. ($$$) We scheduled the surgery for the Christmas break. Even at her age, we explained the procedure well in advance. It went well, but once we got home, she wouldn't eat or drink. Come the weekend and she was making plans to go "out", I informed her she wasn't leaving her bed unless she started eating and drinking. Guess what! That was six years ago and I still laugh at her speedy recovery.

I find that even as an adult, if I know what is expected to happen, it keeps me from imagining what is going to happen. Reality is never as bad as my imaginings.

Prayers will be said for all those who have shared their concerns in this forum.

Just thought I would let everyone know that my daughter's surgery is scheduled for 11:00 in the morning. I have tried to explain everything so that she would understand it and I think she is doing better. I'm sure that tonight will be a little difficult (she is a worrier). The doctor told me to keep her up until midnight and feed her (as well as lots of fluids), then to let her sleep in tomorrow until time to go to the hospital. If everything goes well, she should be able to come home by about 1:30 or 2:00 tomorrow. Hopefully this will keep her from being sick all winter this year and she will actually be able to enjoy the cooler weather.

Angie,
Is your doctor going to perform the new cobolation surgery? I talked mine into using the new technique on my daughter. (3 years old. Goes in on Halloween morning to have hers out! ) It is suppose to really reduce the pain and the recovery time. I really wish your daughter a speedy recovery! Let us know how she is doing.

Best of Luck, Angie. And if you want to maker her smile, tell her you have a friend whose little boy has strep right now, and if he had his tonsils out, he probably wouldn't get it! Tell her "good bye to yucky antibiotics"!
And don't forget the Advil...

Mac, Halloween morning??? Shame on you.

Best of luck to all and happy ice cream time.