Why adenoid surgery sucks (long)

valzee · April 2013

Hey everyone,

I finally have time to update on Jack's adenoid/tube surgery last week, it has been a rough one. A quick note to Ms and others just having tubes: Do not let this freak you out! The tubes have not been an issue at all. It's the adenoid removal that's been a b!tch.

The surgery itself only took about 20 minutes, and the surgeon said that he did have fluid in both ears and that his adenoids were enlarged. He seemed groggy but OK when we picked him up, we were able to take him home right away and he fell asleep in the car. When he woke up he ate and ate and we thought everything was going to be fine, then he woke up that night around midnight crying in pain and didn't really stop until this morning.

The day after surgery he just laid around, he'd sleep a bit but when he was awake he'd cry and cry, and he refused to eat or drink anything. He also had a high fever (right at 102) that would respond to Motrin, but then go right back up again.

This went on until Monday, when he woke up with bright red cheeks and a rash all over his body. DH took him to the pedi, who said that he picked up a virus along the way somewhere, and from my consultations with Dr. Google it was either fifth disease or roseola. So this is just prolonging everything and probably putting him in even more pain.

Tuesday he still would barely eat, but he was starting to drink more. He would have about 20 minutes where he'd perk up and we'd use that time to try and get him to eat, but then that was it for the day. Tuesday evening his fever spiked up to 103, which made me kind of nervous but it did respond to the Motrin. Right about then MIL called to see how he was doing and FLIPPED OUT over the fever, told us he could go into septic shock and die (!!) and told us to go to the ER and demand a chest xray, blood work, and all this other stuff. (She's an ER nurse.) i'm really upset with her for being all melodramatic and overreacting, but that's another story.

So we spent Thursday night in the ER, where they basically said the same thing the other doctors/nurses have said, but the doc did give him an antibiotic since his drainage is yellow and his throat is bright red. That was a fun night.

Yesterday he finally ate half a waffle and an olive garden breadstick, which was like a christmas miracle! He asks for water and milk all the time now, so the dehydration danger is past. He still won't eat much more than that, but he did sleep through the night for the most part.

Today finally FINALLY! he's up and about, my friend is watching him so I can work and she has a 3 year old so I'm hoping that being around another kid today will help him come back to life a little, he hasn't been out of the house much since we got home from surgery last Friday.

Other things we've experienced: They said the enlarged adenoids were like a cork keeping all the congestion in his head, and once they were out they'd release all of that and they weren't kidding. It's like a tidal wave of boogers! Hopefully it will all come out and stay out. Poor kid, I can't believe he was carrying that much congestion around.

The tubes have been of zero issue, so like I said if your surgery is just tubes you should be fine.

So, that's my long story. I wanted to share it because I felt like the doctors and nurses really downplayed what the recovery would be like. one actually told me that he would be back to school on Monday. If it was only tubes maybe, but with adenoid removal it's a long, hard week. DH's guess is they don't tell you the whole ugly truth because no parent would go through with the surgery.

This has officially been my worst week of motherhood so far, nothing is worse than not being able to help a child who's in pain. But hopefully it will help him, the ear infections and runny noses will stop and we can move on from it.

One last observation: I stopped breastfeeding 6 months ago, but all this week I've been feeling little letdowns, like my body knows he's sick and wants to nurse him. Crazy. I haven't tried because he nearly broke my finger when he bit down on it the other day, but that was completely unexpected and kind of amazing.

The end.