Hi.  I'm new to this forum.  My son has been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and is scheduled to have his tonsils & adenoids removed later this week.  I've been pretty confident with this decision but after reading some of these threads, I'm getting more concerned.  He had a sleep study done in Oct.  I do not have a copy of the results but from what I remember and the notes I have he had 52 episodes per hour with hypoxnia (I'm probably not relaying these results correctly).  

I have to say that a large part of my confidence in our decision for surgery is our confidence in his ENT who is a doctor at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the #1 children's hospital in the country, and the surgery will be done there.  He will be kept overnight, possibly in ICU for close observation and will not be discharged unless drinking on his own so a 2nd night could be necessary.  So it definitely seems as precautions are being taken.

Maybe its just my nerves and I should stop reading this forum.  Any thoughts?

Hi krisf,

If his tonsils are enlarged and they are hampering his breathing, it makes sense to remove them.  I've heard of this happening all the time with success for young children.  That doesn't mean he shouldn't be checked for apnea after the surgery has healed and he's better.  And the added precautions your hospital is offering is important.   Tonsils removed in adults is more of a problem, and the apnea obstructions in older adults is often such that removal of tonsils then may not necessarily help unless they are the sole cause of the obstruction (and that is not often the case in older adults).  But it's different for young children, they can benefit from tonsil removal if the tonsils are causing the apnea.

It sounds like your confidence in your doctor and the hospital is well founded.  Take a deep breath and put on a huge smile for your son, and for yourself.  You're a wonderful parent for helping your son.  Relax in the comfort of knowing your son is in good hands.  Things will be fine.  Please let us know how things go for your son and his apnea.


Linda


P.S.  This article shows that removal of tonsils and adnoids in children your son's age can be quite helpful, with a great chance of fixing the problem.
Click here for link to article