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Wasn't sure where to post this....but any of you out there have experience with Tonsillectomies from H... (a very bad place)?
Our 7 year old son had a tonsillectomy on May 7th (he had already had his adenoids removed a year ago), did pretty good through it, but then ended up admitted back into the hospital due to dehydration 4 days later (on Mothers Day) for a couple days. We simply could not keep him hydrated enough due to the pain of swallowing. (And yes, we tried everything liquid and melty out there -- popsicles, jello, jello jigglers, juice, gatorade, fruity drinks, flavored milks, ice cream, ice cream bars, shakes, etc.). They tell us that because his tonsils were "whoppers" it may be the reason he experienced such pain / the "adult version" of a tonsillectomy. While in the hospital, in the middle of the second night, he developed what initially felt like severe "itching" sensations in his ears. Within a day or two it turned into severe "stinging" sensations in his ears. Any time he would swallow, he would have sudden, severe, but thankfully brief (1 to 10 minutes) episodes of stinging in his ears. (Almost as if there is a leak between his throat and his Eustachian tubes.) When the stinging pain comes on, he grabs our hands and pushes them onto his ears as hard as he can. It's awful to see him suffer like this. He is not one to complain of pain; in fact, he will normally fib about pain because he fears medical intervention.
The Tylenol with Codeine was the worst! Even the regular liquid children's Tylenol and Colace were bad, but not as severe as the Tylenol with Codeine. Now that the THROAT pain is subsiding some, and he is able to eat some mushy foods, we're realizing that he doesn't get this stinging in his ears as MUCH when swallowing FOOD. It's now USUALLY only with liquid. So it continues to be a challenge to keep him hydrated. The ENTs felt like the Tylenol with Codeine should help the "referred ear pain," and felt we should continue giving it. We weren't effective in convincing them that it causes the initial stinging. We finally stopped giving it to him, as we couldn't stand the shrieking in pain every four hours when he took it, in addition to the agony each time he has to swallow liquid.
I know he still has swelling, as his speech is still really messed up as if something is not closing properly back there (airy, hyper-nasal, and difficult to understand). And before discharging him, they tried to give him a one-time dose of a steroid as an anti-inflammatory to help the swelling go down for a few days. However, after the nurse set it up in the IV and left the room, a couple minutes later we realized his IV had blown, and the medicine was leaking down his arm, gown, mattress, and onto the floor. I didn't think fast enough to kink the tubing to make it stop, so by the time the nurse returned to shut off the pump, he likely got less than half -- IF that. Without knowing exactly how much, she obviously couldn't give him any more / risk OD-ing him.
Sorry to be so long. But this is taking its toll, and I'm desperate for any advice or suggestions on what I can do to help him. Hopefully his ears will be ok to fly in 10 more days so that we can see you all at the conference!
I'm putting another call into the ENT in the morning, but I thought I would seek input from anyone with experience or advice. We'd appreciate any thoughts.
Thanks much!
Theresa
Our 7 year old son had a tonsillectomy on May 7th (he had already had his adenoids removed a year ago), did pretty good through it, but then ended up admitted back into the hospital due to dehydration 4 days later (on Mothers Day) for a couple days. We simply could not keep him hydrated enough due to the pain of swallowing. (And yes, we tried everything liquid and melty out there -- popsicles, jello, jello jigglers, juice, gatorade, fruity drinks, flavored milks, ice cream, ice cream bars, shakes, etc.). They tell us that because his tonsils were "whoppers" it may be the reason he experienced such pain / the "adult version" of a tonsillectomy. While in the hospital, in the middle of the second night, he developed what initially felt like severe "itching" sensations in his ears. Within a day or two it turned into severe "stinging" sensations in his ears. Any time he would swallow, he would have sudden, severe, but thankfully brief (1 to 10 minutes) episodes of stinging in his ears. (Almost as if there is a leak between his throat and his Eustachian tubes.) When the stinging pain comes on, he grabs our hands and pushes them onto his ears as hard as he can. It's awful to see him suffer like this. He is not one to complain of pain; in fact, he will normally fib about pain because he fears medical intervention.
The Tylenol with Codeine was the worst! Even the regular liquid children's Tylenol and Colace were bad, but not as severe as the Tylenol with Codeine. Now that the THROAT pain is subsiding some, and he is able to eat some mushy foods, we're realizing that he doesn't get this stinging in his ears as MUCH when swallowing FOOD. It's now USUALLY only with liquid. So it continues to be a challenge to keep him hydrated. The ENTs felt like the Tylenol with Codeine should help the "referred ear pain," and felt we should continue giving it. We weren't effective in convincing them that it causes the initial stinging. We finally stopped giving it to him, as we couldn't stand the shrieking in pain every four hours when he took it, in addition to the agony each time he has to swallow liquid.
I know he still has swelling, as his speech is still really messed up as if something is not closing properly back there (airy, hyper-nasal, and difficult to understand). And before discharging him, they tried to give him a one-time dose of a steroid as an anti-inflammatory to help the swelling go down for a few days. However, after the nurse set it up in the IV and left the room, a couple minutes later we realized his IV had blown, and the medicine was leaking down his arm, gown, mattress, and onto the floor. I didn't think fast enough to kink the tubing to make it stop, so by the time the nurse returned to shut off the pump, he likely got less than half -- IF that. Without knowing exactly how much, she obviously couldn't give him any more / risk OD-ing him.
Sorry to be so long. But this is taking its toll, and I'm desperate for any advice or suggestions on what I can do to help him. Hopefully his ears will be ok to fly in 10 more days so that we can see you all at the conference!
I'm putting another call into the ENT in the morning, but I thought I would seek input from anyone with experience or advice. We'd appreciate any thoughts.
Thanks much!
Theresa
He had been getting gradually better with everything, but this seems to have stopped as suddenly as it began. However, if he has anymore episodes, I do plan to bring him in. Thanks for your responses and advice!
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