I hate tonsils!

[Guest guest]

Dear Sue,

I read your post quickly so forgive me if I missed some details - but

could your psych. intervene with the ENT and hosp. staff to insist on some

anti-anxiety meds? Or do you have any choice on hospitals? Could you have it

done at

a childrens' hospital? I understand that mixing drugs on top of anesthesia is

tricky - but they can and DO give kids something mild like Versed (sp?)

before knocking them out so it's not so traumatic. One of my worst moments in

parenting came a year ago when my son (then 7) told me about getting his

adenoids

out when he was 4 or 5. They took him away from me screaming his head off, and

then didn't give him anything to calm him before they put on the oxygen mask

with the anesthetics in it. He told me (last year - two years afterward!) that

he had to " fight the five adults with both arms and both feet because they

were trying to suffocate me with a plastic thing " . He still refuses to believe

that he could breathe through the " plastic thing " - he says he couldn't get any

air at all and was fighting for his life. No wonder he was hysterical in

recovery and wouldn't even swallow the tylenol. They had me take him home early

because he was so inconsolable. WELL! If I had known they would be so

insensitive

to a little kid, I would never have let go of him. I REALLY regret not having

insisted on sitting with him until he fell asleep. He recently had to have a

filling at the dentist and this whole trauma came back to haunt us because

they suggested laughing gas. When they showed him the breathing thing, he became

hysterical. So my advice is to fight for what you think your daughter

needs!!!! When my daughter (the OCD child) needed an MRI of her brain after her

bout

with encephalitis (which caused a sudden onset of OCD) I fought our insurance

company for a full YEAR to get her sedated for it. They kept saying, " just

tell her she's in a tunnel with a train going in the next tunnel. " I kept

saying,

" look, she's five years old and has an anxiety disorder. Hello??? She will

never lie still for half an hour and then you'll have to pay to have it done

twice! " I eventually won.

Good luck on this - I feel for you and your daughter!

in NV

[Guest guest]

Hi!

Just need to vent! My daughter (4th grade 10 year old) has

continued to have another " seasonal " (fall/winter) bout of constant

tonsillitis. It has been so hard to sort out how much she extra

anxious, because she's symtomatic (sore throat, headache, stomach

stuff) or becuase she gets easily anxious and poor sleep, she's is

less apt to handle the sore throat, etc. I know there is not one

answer and it would probably be different each time. Last school

year Oct-March/April, she had 11 distinct bouts of tonsillits, only

4 or5 of which were positive for strep. This school year (Sept.

until now, early Feb.) she has had about 8-9 bouts of tonsillitis,

again with only 4-5 being positive for strep.

Well, I can count my blessings with family support being mostly

great and the school staff continue to be WONDERFUL--3rd and 4th

grade teacher, school adjustment counselor!!!!!!!!!!!,:-), even the

school secretaries! We finally found a psychiatrist, who has a

5th yr. psych. fellow, who is carrying out CBT/ERP :-).

I've had so much frustration with the medical staff. As I've

learned being persistent and assertive gets you places--i.e. earlier

appointments, it can also lead to uncaring reactions. For example,

our pedi who is rather O.K. w/supporting us, highly recommended an

ENT, who recommended tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. We considered

it in Sept. but put the decision off to see how things would go.

Well, now appts. are taking forever. To cut to the chase we finally

have it scheduled for March 1st. My daughter who is sick of being

sick, actually placed fears about this (i.e. people watching her

sleep or germ issues) as only a 5 or 6 on a scale of 10. She still

ranks vomiting as an 11 (on a scale of 1-10). Anyway, I wrote a

brief--brief summary of her issues for the ENT, nurses and

anesthesiologist. I'm NOT asking she be lied to or told NO details,

but the ENT so was so caulky and " know-it-all, " I wanted to give

her a major " GoodBye " and No thanks, but her role is mostly the

surgical procedure and less of the bedside manners. Also, I knew

this would just put off more weeks of awaiting the T & A surgery, if

we switched to another ENT and we can't afford more anxiety, more

school absences, etc. She kept insisting that " to not describe " it

all to a child is what would produce anxiety. It was so hard to

explain that my daughter can be hypervigilent to details, etc. I

don't think she'll even respond to input from her

CBT/psych.therapist, but we'll see.

Two questions I still have. The ENT and pedi seemed hesitant, but

willing to put her on an antibiotic, preventively beforehand. They

say they can't operate if she has strep present that day or 2, which

would postpone surgery. I got the " in 15 yrs.... I've never had to

prescribe an antibiotic before a child having a T & A, but... For a

kid who's had such chronic issues with tonsillis--viral and strep,

and if supposedly it would be lifethreatening to remove strep +

tonsils, why is this not protocol? If there are more days of throat

irritation and swelling than not, Hmm--am I the crazy one for

insisting on the prophylactic antibiotics, to which there's no side

effect (what's 1 more round of an antibiotic for her at this rate?)

I am just waiting for them to note me as Munchenhouser (Sp?) or

mentally ill!!!!!!!

Second and actually 3rd. The ENT was not thrilled with us asking

for her or our pedi to prescribe something that will reduce the

chances of a panic attack, refusal/cling to bed post in fetal

position the morning/night before we're off to the hospital. Can't

they see the possible ramifications if that happens! UGg! We also

got a major NO WAY to being allowed in recovery to ensure we are the

very first face she sees, since she has HUGE psychlgcl. separation

anxiety issues. I don't know enough of how quickly patients are

coherent to know who they're seeing or not. We were told we could

enter once they determine she's arousing and will need us. Hoping

fo advice!

Or, just thanks for letting me vent!!!!!!!!!!!

Sue in MA

[Guest guest]

We also got a major NO WAY to being allowed in recovery to

ensure we are the very first face she sees, since she has HUGE

psychlgcl. separation anxiety issues. I don't know enough of how

quickly patients are coherent to know who they're seeing or not. We

were told we could enter once they determine she's arousing and will

need us.

Hi, there probably is " some " reason for not letting you back there

until needed or she's waking up. Don't know what it is! Perhaps

because after any surgery they have to be monitored and as all

hospitals will tell you as you read/sign all those papers for the

surgery - you never know(!) what might happen. However, when one

of my sons had outpatient surgery a while back, they called me back

there to recovery because he was so upset (he hadn't expected to feel

any pain when he woke up). Which at the time I thought was very nice

of them to let me go back there and not wait until he was returned to

his room. I'm sure he would have been somewhat better if I'd been

there upon his waking up but upset nonetheless.

I think with surgery too - just guessing here - that where people are

given that medication before surgery that totally blanks out all that

happens (gives you amnesia is what I call it), the child can be upset

upon waking just because they don't recall anything after feeling

sleepy from the medication and wake up in a strange place, etc. So

you might talk to her about this beforehand if you don't think she'll

freak out over it - just that when she wakes up, she'll be in

recovery and won't remember the surgery (since she was asleep) and

that the nurses will immediately get mom/dad.

Please keep us updated and let us know how the surgery goes (and

everything before!). I'm sure you'll be glad when tonsils are

removed too!

> Hi!

>

> Just need to vent! My daughter (4th grade 10 year old) has

> continued to have another " seasonal " (fall/winter) bout of constant

> tonsillitis. It has been so hard to sort out how much she extra

> anxious, because she's symtomatic (sore throat, headache, stomach

> stuff) or becuase she gets easily anxious and poor sleep, she's is

> less apt to handle the sore throat, etc. I know there is not one