Dallas Shares his experience recovering from tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy
I wanted to write and comment on my tonsillectomy recovery. I had read so many scary stories and heard so many that I was ready to cancel my surgery, but I knew I had to get it done. I contracted Strep for the first time in my life (I am 42) back in October. I ended up in the hospital for two days because of a Pharyngeal abscess and then continued to get strep about every 6 weeks or so. I finally went into an ENT and he diagnosed that the Strep was actually living in my tonsil and antibiotics would not kick it out.
I had my surgery on March 27th (just tonsillectomy). The surgery went well and my tonsil was very infected and had a ton of scar tissue around it, so I am glad I did go through with it. The minute I woke up, the nurses had me eating ice chips. My doctor told me to not worry about eating the first week, but drink, drink, drink plenty of ice water and SLEEP! He prescribed liquid Hydrocodone for my pain.
The minute I got home, I took my meds and went to sleep. I had set up a bed in the living room so I could watch TV if I woke up during the night. I elevated myself and also had an ice pack that I kept on my neck as much as possible. My alarm was set for 4 hours and I took my meds faithfully. Luckily, the did not get me sick. I was able to take 5-15mls and stuck to around 10mls most of the time. That was I did for the first three days: took meds every 4 hours, slept, iced my neck and drank water and plenty of.
By day three, I decided to try cold Jello. My recommendation is to use the boxed kind and not the pre-made. The boxed type seems to go down easier. It felt WONDERFUL!! Nice, cold and smooth going down. And, it was great to finally eat something. I was still sleeping as much as I could, thanks to the drugs and drinking ice cold water. Remember! Do not use a straw!!!
On day five, I moved onto scrambled eggs and those felt wonderful, too. More substance in my stomach helped me get more energy and I believe that helps you heal. I went back and forth with 5 mls or 10 mls of medication.
When I went in for my check up on day six, my ENT was surprised at the recovery and took my off my food restrictions, but told me to take it easy for about 10 more days and ease into food since there was still a chance of a bleed. That day, I went out for noodles and was able to eat about half of the serving. He said it was the sleep and drinking that helped the most.
As the week went on, I continued to drink water and I slowly came off my medication. I tried to talk more and tried different foods. I do have to say, I think some of the foods I tried were a bit much and may have taken some of the scabbing off sooner than should have. That did cause some pain, but nothing I could handle. So, I eased back off and went back to standby of eggs, noodles, jello and pudding. The only major issue I am having is that everything tastes like salt to me. My ENT says that is a combination of the damage to my taste buds and the scabbing. Hopefully, it will come back soon. I am down to taking 5mls of medication right before I go to bed because of some pain, but I am not needing it during the night anymore or at all during the day. And, the scabbing is about halfway gone.
I wanted to write this so there is a “good” experience on here for those of you who are preparing for this. I say good in quotations, because..yes, it is painful and it sucks! But, you can get through it. I am happy it was done and I am looking forward to being my normal healthy self again. Good luck to all of you who have your surgeries coming up! Remember: drink and sleep!!!
