Does anyone know if it is safe to use your The Vest following a tonsillectomy? Our 7 year old CFer had his tonsils out yesterday and the ENT has no expericence as to whether this would be to much movement and create an issue. Our son woke of this morning coughing up a lot of crap, so I would like to use it.
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The Vest after a Tonsillectomy
- Thread starter aannddd
- Start date
I would call the CF clinic; however, as long as he isn't experiencing any bleeding issues and you've got his pain management under control it should be okay. Friend of mine's daughter had tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy and sinus surgery at age 4 and they still did their regular vest treatments. When DS had surgery for a bowel obstruction at age 6 we still did vest treatments albeit at a lower pressure and hz setting at first. We also did CPT at night or when vesting got to be too much. They also had a ping pong ball breathing apparatus for him to use at the hospital. It's important that you get that stuff out rather than stagnate. You don't want him getting sick.
My rule of thumb is to do whatever I can tolerate after surgery. I would suggest getting in touch with the clinic, but also starting out slow and working back up to where he usually is. I recently had a port placed and instead of doing my usual two 20 minute vest sessions, the day of the surgery I did none. The next day I did 8 5minute sessions spaced out. Then 4 10minute sessions the next day and so on. I also started at a lower frequency and pressure and worked it back up. It was all about how much I could handle as I worked my way back.
Hi everyone, thanks for the replies. We do go to MGH and they have never had the question come up for a tonsillectomy, which has a unique risk of post operative bleeding verses other surgeries. Our CF doctor is far more liberal did the ENT, so he told us to give it a try. My son is 5 days post OP and no issues with the vest. His pulse ox is much better since we added it back in on the second day home. On a side note, both docs said no hypertonic saline neb for 10 days. It would be too painful. He has tolerated an albuterol neb well.
Glad he's doing well. I had my tonsils out at the age of 35. No cf. Not a pleasant surgery. Worst was the ear pain that hit about day 10, when I thought I was on the road to recovery. Didn't worry about bleeding cuz I spent the first 24 hours with my head in a bucket. Figured if I could hurl that much without bleeding, I was fine.