Hana gets her tonsils & adenoids out...

Background: Hana has been sick with sinus & ear infections since the age of 18months. She has only survived ONE cold in 3 years w/out needing meds. Although she has had only a few throat infections, she has spent most of the last 3 years sick 2-3 weeks of every month. By age 4, her tonsils & adnoids were so enlarged that she was snoring, having sleep apnea and her behavior and demeanor did a 180. We landed at Children's Rady on 3/5 for a T&A when Hana was 4.75 year old. As an aside: She had 8 virues turned infection lasting 2-3 weeks from August 08 thru March 09 (8 months) and then got the flu 2+ weeks prior to surgery date and had some residual cold symptoms after a round of zpack, but nothing to stop us from proceeding. She was excited and so were we.





Day 1: Just Take One More Sip Please (POST OP/SURGERY DAY)
730AM: hospital check in, standard tests, weight, temp, blood pressure, get in the jammies and wait.
800AM: met with nurse to go over procedures, got a TOY.
900AM: met with anestesiologist & doctor to go over procedures related to surgery and anestesia.
930AM: Hana went under bubble gum air (anesthesia)
950AM: she was done and wake in recovery - refused to sleep after given Tylenol coedine in hospital after she woke from anesthesia. Children's Rady was attentive and fabulous...She was in decent spirits but I had to force her to eat popsicle, jelly and sips of water and gatorade so we could leave. Discharged at
1245PM & behond: with lots of toys. Ride home: fought of sleep for the 50 min drive home. I gave her TY Coedine at 4PM in 4oz of choc milk. She drank water & choc milk (which had the dose). Layed around until bed time at 4:45 and passed out in my arms in her bed. I slept on her floor. Woke 3 times in the night for cuddles and pee pee. No fluids all night. Slept a solid 12 hours.


Day 2: Making Progress
6AM: In pain. would not eat or drink, whiney. 7AM gave her regular Tylenol and within 30min she could talk and drink tiny sips w/out pain. I got 2oz water in her. Nurse said as long as she pees 2 times a day, I am good. She stressed #1 PAIN CONTROL #2 FLUIDS...amox antiB dose last. 2nd dose of Tylenol at
1000AM: She was talking more, perking up in spirits and drank some ensure, 1/2 a baby donut & a lollipop. I was encouraged! I gave her her 1st dose of Amox (she needs 3 a day). The afternoon was great, Ty Coedine for pain @
400PM: (she starts talking funny & wants me by her every second when she is in pain) then when it kicked in...more popsicles, and ice cream and 1/2 a banana before bed time. She passed out at 5PM.


Last night Hana woke at 1AM with a high fever. I prayed over her and it broke within 10 minutes. I also got a difficult dose of Ty Co in her to help her go back to sleep and relieve pain.

Day 3: Ice Cream Social
625AM - she woke up with a high fever, ear pain and wet nasty cough. I gave her Tylenol & called the nurse.
730AM - fever broke and she is drinking juice and wanting food.
1000AM - Tylenol
1030AM - ready to eat - choice: vanilla icecream
Afternoon - 2 popsicles, short walks and out in the sun, trip to Big Lots to get some lil toys
400PM - 1/2 Avocado Yeah! Ty Coedine mixed with a lil honey and milk (works like a charm!)
500PM - Amox, ice cream + 1/4 banana (got to get the healthy in with the junk)
530PM - Asleep

Night time report: No fever! She did wake at 10AM crying from pain (gave Ty Co) and at 3AM crying from pain (gave Ty Co). It was hard to get any fluids in her in the night. Getting the TY Co was HARD too!



Day 4: Hana Wanna Cracker
Morning wake up report: Feeling Ok but refused all fluids until 10AM
730AM - TY + AMOX
1030 - TY + ice cream + smoothie + water
130 - TY - popsicle + water
200 - ice cream + water
315 - 1/4 Avo + 1/4 PB&J + rice crackers + a LOT water
430 - TY CO + AMOX
*Learned a new trick for getting them to drink a lot of water. I got a min water bottle that has the lil grooves in it every 3/4 inc or so. I used a sharpie to # the ridges starting with #1 at the top and going down to #5 (the bottle I had, had 5 ridges). It was a fun contest between us to see who can get down to #6. It worked. I got her to drink 8oz before bed which is great considering she wakes in pain 2 times a nite and refused to drink!


Night Time Report: Woke at 10:45 Ty CO, woke at 3AM for snuggles for an hour. Woke at 8AM!

Day 5: Whining & Dining

Morning Report: Much better! No fever, crying of whining. She took her meds and drank water. I credit the 8oz of water before bed time for helping out this morning.

800AM: Woke UP - Ty + tiny bit of juice
930AM: 100 degree fever, ear pain, forced 2oz water
1030AM: popsicle & candy
230PM: Ty + Amox rice crackers + water
300PM: ice cream
430PM: 1/2 avo
530PM: Ty Co + Amox + Avo + gummie candy + holding ear from "pressure" she called it
630PM: Noodles from can of chic noodle soup, some Tiger Bar
700PM: asleep

Night Time Report: She slept ok. She woke a few times for water and called out in her sleep. I realized in the morning that the humidifier stopped working (filter was jammed).

Day 6: Unwanted Regression
Wake Up Report: No fever just ear pain and the usual morning crankiness from ear pain, hunger etc

900AM: Ty
1000AM: Amox - 2 oz Ensure + 1tsp PB - not looking good
1200: Ty - no recovery period. Lots of ear pain and no energy. Not wanting to eat.
100: Amox
300: Ty - passed out for over an hour & stayned in bed until 730PM (did not get up once for 4.5 hours)
600: Ty Co + Amox - no food and only 4oz apple juice. 100 fever most of the day
730PM: energy spirt, got up to play, watch some TV with dad.
845PM: to bed in pain

Night TIme Report: By far the roughest night. Up nearly ever half hour at first and then sleeping in 2 hour spirts. Lots of ear pain. Ty Co at 10PM, 2AM, 5AM and it didn't seem to work. Whimpered and whined in her sleep and woke up crying for me. Low grade fevers around 100.

Day 7: The Ears Have It

9AM Wake Up Report: We are off to the doctors...
Doctor gave us great news. No ear infection and throat is healing fine. He said that the Ty Coedine dose was not enough for her body weight. He up'd the original dose from 6.25ML to up to 8ML. Great news!

9AM TY CO + 4oz water
1050AM AMOX + 1/2 yobaby yogurt
12 TY
By 1PM Hana was on the up and up with very little pain in ears or throat. She actually came with me and did my art class.
3PM TY
5PM AMOX + bowl of noodles from canned chic noodle soup, some ice cream and cool whip. water! NO PAIN STILL!
6PM TY Co
7PM - night night

Night Time Report: Hana woke like clock work at 9, midnight, 3AM for Ty Co.

Day 8: Better Days Ahead! I can see the light!

Morning wake up - Hana slept solid from 3-8AM!
8AM - Ty
9AM - AMOX - a handful of sugar snap pea chips from Henry's
11AM - Ty - felt ear pain about 30 min before her next Ty dose (typical)
1PM - AMOX
2PM - TY - TOAST with butter!
5PM - TY - two cookie waffers + ensure mixed with milk
545PM - AMOX

What a GREAT DAY! No major ear pain, no fevers, lots of talking and taking bites and drinking a lot of fluids!!!

Night Time Report: a lot of nightmares - up at 730, 1030, 130, 4 for meds. woke at 645

Day 9: She's Baaaaaack!
Morning Wake Up Report: Hana was sensitive, but nothing like the last week. She was coming out of her shell and not complaining of as much pain in the ears or throat.

645AM woke
730AM TY
800AM Toast + 1/3 banana
1030 AM TY + EGGS & TOAST - 1st real meal! She inhaled it
100PM AMOX
4PM TY + some chicken, bacon, bread
5PM AMOX + drinking so much water before bed that I had to stop her!!!

Night Time Report: Had active sleep with little to no pain. No need for any meds. Did wake up from 3-4AM and then fell back asleep and slept in.

Day 10: This Blog is Over
Hana slept in until 740. She woke up happy, rested and had limited ear pain while eating meals. I didn't medicate her at all today. Her voice sounds like a pixie and was better today (sounding-wise) than yesterday. This blog is officially over unless I have something to report. She fell asleep at 740 b/c she is a 12 hour UP, 12 hour DOWN girlie.

I can be contacted at - j e s s i c a w e l c h @ m a c . c o m (no spaces)!

My T&A Tricks & Tips:
*Keep a tray of all the junk you have to deal with hourly.


*I tried to stick with a regular bed time routine for my daughter since she needs 12 hours. I was lucky that even if she went to bed at 6PM, woke up several times in the night, she would sleep in until 8 or 9 to make up for the lost sleep. That was a huge blessing b/c pre-surgery, it didn't matter when she went to bed or how often she woke for however long, she still would wake up at the crack of dawn 10-12 hours later. For all the 9 days post op, she got a solid 12 hours even if it was broken up by night wakings.

*TY CO taste terrible and burns their throat. I mix it with warm milk & honey. It goes down MUCH easier, still burns but since they can barely swallow when they are in pain, it's better than wasting a dose in a cup of milk that they may not finish. I had that dropper ready each night for that wake up scream.

*Amox tastes ok (we had chalky bubblegum flavor) and easy to get down 30 min after the Tylenol. We started it on the 2nd day post op and did 10 days. We also gave her acidopholus/pro-biotics 30 min after each Amox dose to replace all the good & bad bacteria that was nuked in her system. This puts back flora/bacteria back in the system which is key to maintaining regularity, optimum digestions of all the junk they eat during recovery.

*If your child was snoring before the surgery, they may continue to snore in recovery. We found kingbio's SNORE CONTROL (@ Henry's Marketplace/health story) which worked IMMEDIATELY months before surgery and not only stopped the snoring, but the sleep apnea. We are doing 4 sprays right before bed just as a precaution. I didn't want to take the chance and stop using what has been working. It's homeopathic! $9.99 and one bottle has lasted us nearly 3 months.


*Plan to sleep with them. Here is Hana in MY BED next to hers.

*If it's dry where you live or you need the heat on our a fire in the fire place, a humidifier is key to keeping the throat moist and limiting night wakings. I recommend the COOL MIST one from CRANE. A great surprise to have ready when they come home. They retail for $34.99 at TARGET and are made by CRANE. Frogs, penquins, pigs etc...

*Prepare to spend every waking & sleeping second by their side. My child is not paritcularly clingy or needy/dependent, but she sure is when she is sick.

*Prepare for the day 5-7 dip in recovery. The ear pain may come in waves and the BEST thing you can do is make them chew & swallow. Even if it's 1 bite every commercial. ANd if you are watching the God-forsaken Disney channel like I was forced to do, that is 30 bites in one show!

*Prepare for deadly gas and bad breath. Hana wasn't too bad. We did the usual brushing 2 times a day + tongue and lots of swishing and spitting. She would occasionally gag up some nasty puss as she spat.

*Don't be scared to call the nurse every day for your own comfort. I happen to have a good one (THANK YOU ERIKA) who was hysterical and truthful about what to expect (which are all included in these tips and tricks).

*10-15% body weight loss is normal. Child will look gaunt, dark circles. Hana looked like she was dying & she lost 3 pounds (she started at 44#s)

*Fevers over 102 need to talk to your doc or call triage.