I’m an Indian girl who was operated on 15th may. I had recurrent episodes of tonsillitis and since I’m a singer that didn’t sit well with me. My surgeon told me it was time to undergo laser tonsillectomy under General anesthesia. Everyone scared me with their tonsillectomy stories and the horrible pain that followed. Being a huge foodie and having very low pain tolerance it is safe to say I was dead scared. So much that I almost considered not having to go through it! But I’m a medical student and I knew the importance of the surgery and so decided to go with it anyway. The first 6 days (not including surgery day) were horrible.
Pain was a good 9 but came down to a 5 with the pain meds. My surgeon told me not to have any ice cream after day 2. It sounded weird but I stick to his advice. Day 7 to Day 10 were the days scabs had begun to fall off. The pain had gone down but the moment I had to swallow anything it was like I’m trying to swallow glass. I knew this meant that urea healing but it was horribly painful.
Today I’m on day 14 and I decided to write this down in hopes to help my twins putt there going through the same. I remember the desperate sleepless nights I spent on the internet trying to get positive stories of adult tonsillectomy and advices on the day to day recovery. Here’s my bit of advices:
1) WATER. It should become the synonym of life. Water helps moisten the throat and keeps the pain as minimum as possible. I know it hurts but try taking larger gulps than smaller ones. That worked for me and it hurt way less!
2) Fluids. Fruit juices or smoothie. They say keep the dairy to a minimum. And I stuck to that. My grandmom made me a glad of carrot juice every morning, watermelon juice every evening. Mango juice on alternate days and once in a while Apple. Stay away from all citrus stuff that is orange grape lemon pineapple. Don’t even look at a tomato. Drinking cold or luke warm milk once a day is good too. I had a glass every morning. It helped me with the excruciating morning pain.
3) Green leafy veggies. SPINACH. I’m in day 14 of recovery and unlike most of the other people out there I see no scabs. This means I’ve had an amazing speedy recovery. I would attribute this to the amazing spinach dish my grandmom made me everyday for 10 days. The main idea is to have the spinach mashed and grinded until soft with a little salt to taste. Yes it tastes bland but trust me if you want your pain to go away soon you need to eat this magical dish.
4) Sleep with a raised pillow or with two to three pillows. It helps you breathe clearly and keeps away the pain when you sleep. Also due to a swollen uvula you’re unable to sleep peacefully. The constant choking feeling with reduced with raised pillows.
5) Talk as much as you can. Yes you heard me. It hurts. But the more you talk the more your throat gets clear and speedens up recovery. So try talking as much as you can!
6) If you are a singer, try humming after like day 5. This helps lighten the vocals and also helps reduce mucus formation.
7) KEEP SWALLOWING. It hurts like hell but the movement of swallowing helps in the healing process. So if you want to heal right and fast swallow. Even though it hurts. Let it be water, fluids, saliva, mucus, food. Also, avoid spitting out. This increases bleeding chances. Just swallow em all!
8) Avoid sneezing or yawning. How you may ask? Bite and clench your teeth tightly. Coz if you sneeze or yawn you may rupture something inside. Not to mention it’s horribly painful.
9) Distract yourself. Watch some movies and shows that you haven’t caught up on coz of your busy schedule. Walk around the park. Read your favourite novels Listen to upbeat music.
10) Humidifier. Well I didn’t really get one. But I’d advice you to do so. I’ve heard it works wonders for the dry painful throat. I just dealt with the pain every morning. Also hot showers helped me a lot. The steam felt real good.
11) Rest. As much as you can and as much as you want to. It’s the key to a fast recovery. 2 weeks you need to be off work and school. 2 weeks of complete care and rest and you’ll be on your feet feeling human real soon. Also it’s very much advisable to have someone take care of you during the first 7 days of recovery at least.
12) Keep a record of your pain. Make a list of all the dates from the date of surgery to up to 25 days. Everyday fill in beside the date about your pain score, diet, fluid intake and do this each day. It helps you keep a countdown of pain and everything else. It’s not much but I’ve found it to have a psychological effect which puts me at ease whenever I feel depressed due to pain and no food.
13) Foods that I could eat: Fruit juices and water Milk Cottage cheese Spinach Curds Eggs Pancakes Bread and cheese Mac and cheese Chapati (Indian bread similar to tortilla) Mangoes Milk shakes Ice creams Coming from a tonsillectomy survivor and a almost half a doctor now, this isn’t an easy path. It’s painful and full of struggles. But if you follow your surgeons advices and eat properly, recovery is real fast. Trust me on this. Hope this helps at least one person desperately in need of it. Take care you people ! Much love ♡