I can't believe what they gave my dd after surgery!!!!

[momof4inmi]

Ok. so my 6 year old DD went in Wed to have her tonsils and adnoids removed. Routine surgery...no big deal. So we get there and it takes them about 30 mins to get us back there but once they did they got her ready and in the OR in no time. So my DH, myself, and my mom go wait in the waiting room. They said it would take about 30 mins for surgery, 45 mins later the Dr comes out and says everything went fine and that we should be able to see her in about 20 mins. 30 mins later a nurse comes out and says that everything is fine but DD is taking longer to wake up so we can't see her yet. Okay, a little concerned but I have taken longer to wake up from surgery than they thought. About 20 mins later they come out and say we can go back there now. Yay!!! We all walk in her little "room" and as my Mom and I are walking in we hear one nurse tell the other that she just gave her another dose of MORPHINE !?! WTH??? Morphine? She's a 45 pound 6 year old. No wonder she didn't want to wake up, Sheesh. I just don't understand why in the world they thought they needed to give her morphine. Well we ended up taking her back to the hospital yesterday morning for IV fluids since she couldn't keep anything down. My DH asked the dr there if morphine should have been used as a painkiller. He stated that "it is routine to use it now". Since when? Am I overreacting? What would you have done?

[shashabell]

My son had his tonsils and adnoids taken out this past summer and they also gave him morphine. I was a little worried also but this was the best hospital in all of the state so I had to trust them, However, while he was in the first recovery room right after surgery they had given him a couple doses which seemed like a lot to me, but he was in terrible pain, trying to get up, and he kept trying to clear his throat which could have made a major problem. When he got moved to the upgraded recovery room and wanted to give him more, I told them he already had two in the previous recovery room. They did tell me they were half doses, but I did request that they continue to only give him half doses because of my paranoia. He was in recovery for a few hours and right before they were getting ready to release him they wanted to give him another dose of morphine. I told them, "No more" at that point. He had already had about 4 doses of it at that point.

[couponfanatic]

I have no idea about morphine in kids, but I do have some adult experinece with it. If painlkiller is needed, IMHO and i am no doctor, but take the morphine. The most common "other" one they give you is hyrdromorphone, or dilaudid is it's drug name. An allergy to it runs in my family. Nurses will intially tell you that's impossible. But of you press the issue they will give in and admit it is possible, but rare.
If you give me or anyone in my family even one dose of that, you are in for at least 3 days of violent halucinations from that person. By violent I mean whoever takes it completely loses touch with reality, and has no idea who they even are.
I was told once that it's because hyromorphone is synthetic. And that becasue morphine is natural it doesn't bother us.
But, there is a drawback. Before you manage to convince them you are allergic, if you ask for only real morphine, they will label you as a drug-seeker. So don't just go asking for it.

[billig]

Anyone leaving a hospital after surgery to go home should have some painreliever in their body for the trip home.

[TheWoman]

I am not sure why you are so concerned about the pain killer being morphine. Yes, it is addictive and has side effects, but so do all the other really effective pain killers out there AFAIK. Having your tonsils removed is extremely painful and a couple of tylenol just isn't enough.

[momof4inmi]

I understand it is painful. I have plenty of surgeries in my life. My problem is that I don't really think it was necessary to give a child who has never had any pain meds other than tylenol such a major pain killer. What happened to using vicoden?

[jenjacobs]

I can understand why you are upset. I guess I'm more suprised her doctor did not go over the procedure better, discuss the drugs being used and most importantly discuss possible side effects. I hope she is on the mend!

[momof4inmi]

Thank you Jen. She is doing better after having the Iv at the er yesterday. They also gave her some anti-nausea meds and liquid tylenol for the pain. She hadn't been able to take any pain meds due to the fact that she couldn't kepp anything down. I understood the surgery but I agree that they should have discussed the meds they were going to use.

[mama22qts]

Having had a number of surguries myself, I can tell you that morphine itself is really no more potent than some of the other routine painkillers they administer. As long as the dosage was appropriate, I wouldn't be concerned.

I'd be more unhappy if they hadn't given my dd enough to dull the pain and discomfort she's going to go through.

What did they give you to take at home? Anything?

[momof4inmi]

They gave us liquid vicoden but she hasn't taken more than 3 doses of it. She is using tylenol. Does anyone know if there is a safe dosage for kids? That would make me feel a little better knowing that...lol. I didn't have a problem with them making her comfy but the vomiting afterwards (all day/night) was really hurting her throat. I'm just glad they helped with that yesterday.