I had a tonsillectomy January 19th…I’m 36 years old. I truly feel like I went to hell and haven’t completely come back yet. I knew going in it was going to be rough but never in a million years did I think it was going to be like this. Surgery went fine and the first few days were okay…I knew my body would still be pumped from all the meds I received at the hospital. My son had his tonsils out when he was 6 and the first 2 days were okay and then he had several rough days. So that’s how it went for me as well…the week after surgery is a complete blur to me now which is good…I don’t want to remember. My husband took the week off work and was amazing…unfortunately my son got what they think was strep throat. Kind of ironic immediately after I get my tonsils out my son gets a horrible throat infection…?!?! I took Percocet every 4-6hrs for 7 days…let me tell you for me it was the devil. I swear I hallucinated…I couldn’t sleep…my body was fighting this internal warfare from head to toe….honestly it didn’t really help with the pain either, so I stopped taking it and went to Tylenol every 6hrs. I tend to have almost every bad side effect you can have with strong drugs. The worst for me and I hate even talking about it, but If it will help someone else here goes. Being on Percocet and side effects of anesthesia and just not eating a normal diet I didn’t go to the bathroom for 7 days…I took colace everyday per advice from the dr, but it wasn’t enough. Thankfully we had miralax in the cabinet and my husband bought suppositories. When it finally happened my body was going in to shock and i was shaking so bad…felt like i was giving birth again. I wish I would’ve taken the Miralax or something else a lot earlier in the week so it wouldn’t of been so bad.
On to the second week of recovery and after I finally had my BM…I started running a low grade fever 99.5-100 for several days. Finally on day 14 I called my ENT to see if this was normal. They did not think so and thought because of pockets in the back of my throat still I had some kind of infection, so I was prescribed antibiotics for 10 days to take 3 times a day. By the 3rd week I’m starting to feel somewhat better I can eat more normally and I think antibiotics are working….then my daughter gets the flu and it was horrible she’s never been that sick…I’m the primary caretaker and with everything my body has been through and a weakened immune system guess what…I got the flu. Not as bad as recovery from tonsillectomy but very close. It has been so extremely rough. I’m just past my 4th week of recovery and I’ve been to work 2 days and done very small things getting out and about…I have a low grade fever again and just feel puny so might be calling the dr again!! This has been the worst 4 weeks of my life and i would go through childbirth 10 times over before having another tonsillectomy. That being said my ENT told me my tonsils were completely covered in tonsil stones and i never would never ever get over all the infections I had been having until I had them out. That was reassuring to me because i doubted so many times if it was the right thing having this surgery…you will doubt too…i think it’s the minds way of trying to cope. Now I just have to be patient to get my energy back and start living a normal life again. I have missed out on so many functions and doing things with my family. I feel for anyone who has to have their tonsils out but especially adults…I appreciate this site because I agree you can’t find information you are looking for very easily and people don’t really understand the misery and torture that comes from having this surgery.
I wish I had some great advice to help take away that misery…there isn’t any you just have to make it through and try not to look back. I’m waiting and longing for warmer healthier days to be outside with my kids. In 4 weeks I’ve only been out of the house for dr appts and to work a little…went to the store once. I feel like a hermit! Better days are ahead!! Trying to stay positive is very hard, but you can do it! Remember why you had the surgery…to feel better in the long run. For some of us it takes a lot longer than others and there might be many bumps in the road!!