Surgery or no - that's the question

[beckybuckley]

ok - so most of you already know that we've been struggling a lot with managing alyssa's blood sugars and that her last blood work came back less than desirable. The endo team is trying to help us get a good baseline, but there has been another symptom that has been bothering me a lot lately.

She's always had really large tonsils and has always snored like a chainsaw. But when Chris was out of town a few weekends back - Alyssa slept with me and I realized that her snoring has turned into a form of sleep apnea. She chokes on her snores now and flails threw the night.

I took her to the ENT today and he said her tonsils and adnoids need to come out. A usually uncomplicated surgery - which obviously is more complicated for a type 1 diabetic. It will take a week to 9 days for her to recover. During that time she'll be on a diet of popsicles. The surgeon said he would work closely with her endo to make sure the recovery goes as well as possible, but there's a chance she'll have to be in the hospital the whole time she recovers.

The surgeon says we should move forward. I'm waiting on a call from the endo for his advice. I'm praying about it and hoping that God will give me the answer on what is best for my daughter. So scary.

I hate diabetes.

[MysticSisters]

That sucks but it's really nice to hear that your ENT is willing to work so closely with your Endo!

I hope everything goes well and since sleep apnea is dangerous enough I think you are making the right decision. Better now than later.

[jendean]

Get a second opinion from another physician. They are the only ones who can tell you for sure if they should come out or not.

[lynn]

Sorry that your daughter needs her tonsils out. My daughter had hers out too because of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is so hard on the heart that I couldn't NOT do it. She was five at the time, so a bit older. She felt so much better than they prepared me for. She wanted to go to KFC on the way home!

My nephew, who is three, just had his out last week. He has asthma and they were really worried. He too was up and around the next day. My sil was driven crazy trying to keep him down and quiet.

Don't worry too much. It will be better for her health to be able to get a good night's sleep.

[tandjjt]

Tyler is scheduled to have the same surgery on 6/20 -- neither the endo or ENT sounded like it should be that big of a deal. Endo will make the call on going home after surgery after the ENT clears it and she can be sure his BG #'s are OK. I've not even imagined in my wildest dreams that he would have to stay in the hospital the entire recovery time. I also know many others here that have been through the same surgery and all turned out well.

I think the ENT may be giving you an absolute worst case scenerio - lots of things would have to go wrong and D shouldn't be that big of a complication. I hope your endo can put your mind at ease, but am definately interested in what he/she has to say about it, so keep us posted.

[sugarmonkey]

My non d daughter has sleep apnea. She had her tonsils out when she was
3. It helped alot, but she still has apnea sometimes. It really helps most kids with it if they get them out. My dd is just quirky (we say she is). Nothing ever goes as it should with her. I dont know about the surgery and d, my ds is pretty healthy and so far we havent had to have any surgery with him.

[beckybuckley]

[QUOTE=sugarmonkey;181360] My dd is just quirky (we say she is). Nothing ever goes as it should with her.

Mine too!!!

Thanks for your thoughts on this, sounds like maybe I'm worrying a little too much. We'll see what the endo says when he calls today. Well, hopefully he'll call today or I'll drive myself crazy over the weekend. eh, what else is new!?! :rolleyes:

[Mama2H]

I haven't dealt with this and D but I did have my middle dd's tonsils and adnoids removed due to sleep apnea. She had not slept through the night since the day she was born but since the surgery she sleeps so much better and isn't nearly as crabby as she was. The ENT said she was not getting full restfull sleep so she was always feeling sleep deprived. I hope it goes smoothly and makes things better for both you and her.

[MReinhardt]

What ever your decision is I am sure it is in the best interest of your child. Keeping you in prayer for the correct answer.

[roo'smom]

My son, who is non-d had his tonsils and adenoids removed last month and it was a breeze. He had it done on a friday and was back in school on tuesday (he really could have gone monday, but I had already told him he could stay home:rolleyes:). He was eating just fine the night of the surgery - macaroni and cheese. D will make it a bit more difficult (get the first surgery time of the am so that she doesn't have to be w/o food for so long) but I wouldn't imagine that you would have to be in the hospital more than over night (and maybe not even that long, depending on how her bgs run, and how she's tolerating food and liquids). It sounds like they are trying to prepare you for the absolute worst case scenario...

[yeswe'rebothD]

Grace just had her surgery in late March. Took her a while to get 100% back to normal, but we were leaving the surgery center less than 2 hours after she went into recovery. They only wanted to insure her sugar was up, and not too low, before letting us go.

I agree on making sure you have the first slot in the morning. Our ENT was pretty ticked that Grace was NOT the first, he couldn't stop apologizing about it.

She did have a low at 3 am, for which I only gave her apple juice, and he said was fine since it was still a clear liquid and definitely out of her system by surgery time.

Every kid is going to be different with recovery, but I think that has very little to do with the Diabetes. Alyssa will be able to eat much more than popsicles. Grace really only used those when her throat hurt. She much more enjoyed eating pudding and applesauce. You could also use scrambled eggs, jello (regular if needing to keep sugar up), yogurt (after dairy is allowed again, most Dr's will tell you not for the first 24 hrs- 3 days), any kind of mashed, non-acidic fruit, mashed potatoes, cottage cheese. The list could go on, but my mind is mushy this morning ;)

[redmcgee]

Yeah, the endo and the ent made it sound like as long as she is eating you should have no problems. YEAH RIGHT!!!!!:mad:
#1-she first ate after surgery because she was still dooped up from the medicines that they gave her
#2-after several different bottles of liquid stuff we were able to keep her sugar up and get her keytones up so then they sent us home---
#3 BAD IDEA everything went downhill from there low sugars, keytones are going back up, can't get her to eat and drink.
We did get through it. MY ADVICE TO YOU is to make them keep your child at least one night over. Because mine finally got to feeling better and we left that afternoon but an hour later all was different. (refer to #3)
She was bad for at least 2 days afterwards. It took a week to get her back to herself. Now all is good.
Good Luck to ya.:D

[RosemaryCinNJ]

I understand..My non-D daughter had hers out last year at age 17...no fun!! Lots of cold things!! My daughter did not want to eat...if that is the case with your little one, I would just make sure she is taking fluids...I am sure your endo will tell you what to do about insulin and adjustments if you need it...Lots of fluids though are a must..
Is she having her adnoids out too? AND my daughter snored too, no more though :)
Good luck to you...and your little one :)

[beckybuckley]

thanks again to everyone who has replied.

After talking with endo this morning - it sounds like it's a go and we'll schedule the surgery soon. Yikes!

[Judy&Alli]

Sorry I'm late to this post. Just wanted to say I will be praying for your family and hope you have a very speedy recovery at HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Judy:)