Clearing a runny nose before her surgery?????

Question

My 20 month old daughter is having surgery done on her head on August 25th. Yesterday she started to have a runny nose, green, with a slight cough.

Is there a way to clear her up before she goes to her pre-op visit this Thursday, the 22nd? I dont want them to reschedule her surgery if they have to, even though deep down I dont want her to have this surgery...not liking the idea of having someone cut on my daughter head...but I know it needs to be done.

My husband and I were thinking of putting either a Vicks vaporizer with water or the one without water in her room over the next few nights. Will that help or make it worse?

Usually the doctor says to give her some benadryl but dont want to this close to her surgery date. She will be placed under anesthesia and I dont want any thing to interact with it.

Any at home remedies would be appreciative.

Answer 1

There really isn't anything you can do to clear up her cold before surgery.  Most likely it will be gone by then by itself.

I understand you just want to get the surgery over with.  But you really don't want her to go under general anesthesia if she does have a cold.

Putting under general while she has a cold, will definitely make her cold worse when she comes out of general anesthesia.  Which will make her feel even worse as she's recovering from surgery.  And it also increases the chances of respiratory problems during surgery.

I would not risk it.

My daugther had surgery on her head at 14 months old.  She was almost constantly sick her whole first year.  She also needed an MRI done 2x, which she had to be under general anesthesia ...  We had to reschedule the procedure over and over, due to her colds.  It was frustrating...  But I'm glad we did reschedule.  When she finally had her final MRI, her airway collapsed twice.  It was awful.  I imagine it might have been worse if she had a cold at the time.

Good Luck!  I bet her cold will be gone, and you will be so glad the surgrey is over with...

Answer 2

I would not worry since the surgery is the 25 it should clear up by then

Answer 3

I would ask your doctor.  I know there are a lot of Meds that you can't give your child when they are going to be put under. Especially when the child will be under for a while.  They will probably reschedule because I know my sons doctor wont put him under if he had a cold a week prier to the procedure.