Has anyone experienced damage to their tongue after having their tonsils and adenoids removed? My 5 yr old son just had this procedure done and the right side of his tongue is a mess. His tongue is causing him more pain than anything else. The ENT says "it happens" but did not elaborate. Thanks.

It's not really surprising that it's hurting. During a tonsillectomy, they have to clamp the tongue really hard in order to keep it out of the way during the removal. It takes some time for the tongue to recover afterwards. From what I can recall after my tonsillectomy (which I had early this year), it took about 3 weeks to feel my tongue back to normal again.

And I also lost my sense of taste, but that came back eventually, too.

Basically it's just a matter of time with this particular surgery. You just have to give it time. And your kid is lucky because kids recover way, way faster from this surgery than we do as adults.