9 Things You Need for Tonsil and Adenoid Recovery

WOWZA!! What a rollercoaster ride of 10 days from Hudson’s recovery. Recovery from what? Let me catch you up, friends.

Since Hudson was born, he has struggled with congestion. This is not uncommon with a Down syndrome diagnosis. Since he is anatomically smaller, it’s harder for fluid to drain. In fact, in the hospital when Hudson was born, he failed his left hearing test due to fluid. So we’ve been working with Hudson’s Ear Nose Throat (ENT) doctor since he was born. It’s been a back and forth process…..let the fluid drain itself, put in an eustachian tube, etc. I could go into this a lot more (and if you are struggling with these issues and want to hear more, please holler at your girl – me!) but for brevity sake and the whole point of this post, it took us a long time to get to January 16, 2019.

His congestion got worse starting in July 2018. Hudson had his first sinus infection and was put on an antibiotic. This happened 4 times total over the following months. Hudson gets sick, go to the doc, put him on an antibiotic. No one could figure out what was going on. So then we tried Flonase – no improvement. Then we had 2 ER visits in 3 weeks and that got things moving. We knew the antibiotics weren’t working….so our ENT tasked us with 3 additional assignments prior to scheduling Hudson for surgery.

1. Go see a pediatric allergist and verify no allergies or asthma. Check. No allergies. No asthma.
2. Complete a video swallow study to ensure there is no aspiration. Check. Not aspirating and swallowing ability is satisfactory.
3. Complete an overnight sleep study to check for apnea (very common with Ds). Check…but not such a fun one.

In a series of unfortunate events, Hudson’s sleep study results were misplaced. After hounding the doctor’s office and crying on the phone with the nurse, our health system found Hudson’s sleep report. This whole time, we thought Hudson was a great sleeper…turns out that’s not the case. He has a “severe degree of sleep apnea” with 13.7 events per hour (17 interruptions during REM) and his oxygen saturation dipped as low as 65% during the study. NOT GOOD.

So the results of the sleep study paired with chronic congestion for months led to the decision to remove Hudson’s tonsils and adenoids, complete an endoscopy, and check his eustachian tubes in the operating room. We quickly scheduled the surgery for Wednesday, January 16th at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago.

The procedure itself was quick…..45-60 minutes total. Hudson did have large adenoids and tonsils, turns out he has a bit of lower esophagus reflux (doesn’t show any symptoms of reflux but something to monitor), and he needed his left tube taken out and they added a tube to his right ear. After an overnight stay in the hospital, lots of fluids, and eating popsicles, Hudson was released to go home the following afternoon.

That’s where the real fun begins.

While Hudson is doing great now, the recovery was MUCH more challenging than I had anticipated. I wanted to share what worked with us…not only because this is a super common procedure with young kiddos in the Ds community, but for all typical kiddos too. I hope you find some comfort in our recovery journey and a tip or two that may help yours!

ONE: Say this with me….THIS TOO SHALL PASS.

While it was the longest 10 days (especially in the middle of January and a massive snowstorm), with the benefit of hindsight now, it was necessary to hit the pause button on life and focus exclusively on Hudson’s healing. My mantra during our days in with a toddler who is fussy and in pain, THIS TOO SHALL PASS. And it did. Hudson is on the upswing and improving every single day. He really turned a corner on day 10 – hopefully, it’s earlier for you…but keep in mind that it will get better.

TWO: Tylenol Suppositories

Not the most glamorous topic, but a very worthy recommendation as these EXACT SUPPOSITORIES SAVED us. Hudson’s pain regimen was alternating Motrin and Tylenol every 3 hours (including overnight) for several days. We weaned him off pain meds by day 12. The worst part? Hudson HATES….and I mean HATES….liquid medicine. I can usually sneak it into a bottle…but when it’s at this frequency, there aren’t enough bottles in the day. He’d refuse it in applesauce, juice, anything. So the solution? Force him to take it. And it wasn’t pretty. Hudson was crying. I was crying. And at 3am…that’s a no-win situation.

TRICK: The one tip that helped with the liquid medicine, once you give your child a little bit in the mouth, blow in their face. It causes them to swallow.

To save both of us a very upsetting medicine situation every 3 hours, I was thankfully able to administer a Tylenol suppository instead of liquid medicine. While my idea of fun is NOT putting medicine up my toddler’s bottom, it was WAY better than the alternative. If this is your kid (one who hates liquid medicine), consider purchasing some of these to have on hand. I should also mention that Motrin does NOT make a suppository version of their medicine.

THREE: Outshine Fruit Bars

Hydration is the number one focus during tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy recovery. Yes, even more than eating. David picked up Outshine bars at Target and I’m convinced this is what helped Hudson stay hydrated this whole time. He loved all 3 flavors – cherry, tangerine, and grape. Hudson would have one every few hours to add fluids to his little bod.

Not a sponsored post–but worth sounding salesy to give you the low down. These popsicles are made with real fruit juice, no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial colors or flavors, and high in vitamin C! Have a box or two of these in the fridge before you bring your little one home from the OR.

FOUR: Multiple Sippy Cups

Here’s what worked for us….alternating different cups. If Hudson associated something negative with one, he turned it away. But if re-introduced a few days later, all of a sudden Hudson wanted it. It also helped when I showed him that I would drink out of it.

Another reader recommended saying “cheers” and making it a game or a ritual to sit and drink fluids with your kiddos.

What worked for us is cycling through them all. Yes, this means you will be washing more sippy cups, but it also means your child will have multiple wet diapers and you won’t feel disappointed or upset when your attempts at hydrating said child don’t work.

Here are some of our favorite cups:

• Munchkin Straw Cup
• These stainless steel cups with these stainless steel straws and these toppers
• I love all things Disney – so these Disney insulated sippy cups
• Doidy cups
• Noseless cups – don’t think that’s the right name, but it’s what we call them
• Thermos Funtainer – of course in Mickey Mouse
• We used this one a ton when he was younger!

FIVE: Watermelon

If you’ve been following me for a while, you will know that I live for watermelon. I cannot get enough of the stuff. But that also means I’m a bit snobby about my watermelon quality being that melon connoisseur that I obviously am….but Hudson is not. So even though it is January and we have 12 inches of ground on the snow, Hudson is eating watermelon.

Watermelon is around 92% water and gave Hudson the ability to self-feed with a different texture (he hates being spoon-fed) while still receiving the fluids he needed.

SIX: Pedialyte Popsicles

If you follow us on Instagram (click here to follow if you don’t), you’ve probably seen me share the Nuby frozen pop tray. We love it and use it regularly outside of surgical recovery. I usually make a smoothie and put the extras in the mold, freeze them, and give them to Hudson as a snack (especially during the summer).

For recovery, several people recommended Pedialyte popsicles for Hudson’s hydration and to soothe his throat….and he loved them!! I sprayed the mold with cooking spray, filled each pop area with the blue Pedialytle, put in the freezer for a few hours, and then pulled them out whenever Hudson needed a little hydration. This is another great technique to change up the way your child gets hydrated (versus just straw drinking or a bottle).

*note: since I’m publishing this ONE YEAR after surgery and Hudson is bigger, I also wanted to share another popsicle mold I’m using that is awesome and makes giant popsicles. Thank you to Catherine McCord from @weelicious for introducing me to this product!

SEVEN: Disney Movies

Okay…so it’s no surprise to anyone here that our family loves Disney. I think Hudson has already to been to Disneyland/World 3 or 4 times since he was born. And he is 21 months old. And our favorite way to carry that Disney magic home? Watching our favorite movies!

We watched Moana, Mary Poppins, Toy Story 1 & 2, Cars 3, Lion King, Coco, Finding Nemo (my fav), and Finding Dory. The list could go on (and I’m probably forgetting a few), but it might be wise to line up a few Disney movies for your recovering patient.

*another note: Disney+ has since been released I originally wrote this post and they have TONS of their movies available. If you are a Verizon unlimited plan customer, you get it for free for one year! Otherwise, follow this link to sign up for $6.99 per month – which IMO is totally worth it since each Disney movie is usually $20 to purchase.

EIGHT: Library Books

Hudson always loves to read books, but since we were cuddled up even more than usual, we had a great time exploring new books from the library during his recovery. My suggestion is to go to your library (or at some libraries, you can reserve/place a hold online) and pick out 10 new books to read during recovery.

For other ideas…check out my past posts on our favorite books!

Gnat & Corky Series

Favorite Valentine’s Day Books

11 Christmas Books for Littles

NINE: A Vibrating Alarm Clock

This is only available on the iPhone only as far as I know. I had NO idea you could do this…and now that I know this, my darling husband no longer has to hear my alarm every morning when it goes off. But especially when you are up every 3 hours giving a child medicine but don’t want to wake your partner, set your alarm to vibrate!

How?

Go to Clock — Select Edit — Choose the alarm to modify — Select sound — Scroll down to the very bottom and select None — Scroll up and select Vibration — Pick whatever vibration pattern you want (or create your own) — Click Back twice — Save!

Then I just kept the phone under my pillow and would feel it go off when it was time to give Hudson more medicine.

There were other suggestions for hydration that I want to share from fellow readers. I didn’t try any of these but wanted to share! Thank you, everyone, for submitting so many great suggestions.

• Water in syringes
• Milkshakes (we gave Hudson ice cream but didn’t do a milkshake)
• Mix in coconut water for added hydration
• Slurpees, Icees, etc. Frozen beverage 🙂
• Use a shot glass to encourage drinking
• Curly straws
• Chipped/crushed ice cubes
• Broths
• Some said they had better luck with warm items than cold
• Mix water with Propel (less sugar than juice or Gatorade) but similar benefits
• Chocolate milk

So that’s my advice!!

I hope that these 9+ tips help someone out there! I never had my tonsils or adenoids taken out…but from what I hear, it’s extremely painful. The pain heightens 3-5 days post-op and can last up to 2 weeks!! Try some of these tips and tricks and your kiddo will be a recovery champion. Good luck mama!

Hollyce