Cassie’s Tonsillectomy Recovery

Cassie’s Tonsillectomy Recovery

I am on day 18 post op. I don’t really have much pain except a little when I yawn, more of an annoyance really. The weird thing I just noticed tonight.. Was what looks like goopy scabs kinda where my tongue and where my tonsils were… meet. The same thing seems to be covering what appears to be the deeper part of the tonsil bed, which I hadn’t been able to see before. I thought that everything had been healed up… as about 5 days ago when I looked at my throat all that was left was a little bit of white patches on each side. I also did something today I most definitely should not have. I drank through a straw which is a big no no, it can dislodge the clot and cause bleeding. I had completely forgotten. All in all the recovery really has not been that bad, the first 10 days tend to suck.. but if you have ever had a good case of strep or tonsillitis that is basically what you will feel and are in for. For me at least that feeling wasn’t the end of the world, I’ve honestly had a bout of tonsillitis that felt way worse. I would just like to add this in here since I’m seeing a lot of posts about people doing some potentially harmful things. No straws they can dislodge the blood clots and cause bleeding, no ibuprofen even after… not a good idea.. it thins your blood and if you start to bleed… It certainly will complicate things. All in all recovery has gone well for me. Best odd luck to those getting this done, its really no so bad, at least with the coblation method.

I forgot to add that I am 21 years old turning 22 on vets day. Thank goodness I had it done on the 20th of October so I can enjoy my birthday. Also, for those getting it done or who are going through here are some things that helped me big time. I invested in a cool mist humidifier before hand and put it right next to my bed, this will keep everything moist. My diet consisted of popsicles, Gatorade slushies, Gatorade with ice in it, baby food, baby cereal, mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs.. And whatever soft food I could think of for the first few days. I then advanced to eating meatloaf, pizza..and had baby cereal or scrambled eggs every morning for breakfast. I did not gulp down water but whenever I took my medicine.. I would take sips in between, whenever I ate I took sips of water, when I laid down I would take a sip or two and this worked just fine for me. My doctors told me to sleep at a 45 degree angle.. This would not work as I found it impossible to sleep at all on my back or up right. I slept on my side with the pillow propped and would lay my head on the side that felt the least painful that day. I took hydrocodone sometimes, and mostly just took liquid tylenol for sore throats. The only thing I didn’t like about the liquid tylenol was that the cool burst stuff in it felt uncomfortable going down, it would take me 20 minutes to take the stuff..made me cough a lot a I took sips of water in between. Before my surgery I moved my TV,DVD player, and ps2 next to my bed and found that to be quite convenient. This was my first surgery period so I was a pretty scared, but I had been in and out before I even knew what happened. I woke up and asked them if everything went well and where I was. They said they were taking me down from the recovery room in 20 minutes to go to my original room, they gave me an ice pack that covered the entire front area of my neck, this is a life saver when you get home continue to ice your neck. I used that ice pack for the first 10 days..until it ripped lol. For me days 7 and 8 were probably the days that were the rough ones, I had this burning ache between my throat and ear.. That stuff lasted about 5 days but was only pretty annoying those two days. The worst thing really was when my throat got itchy and made me cough like mad, I just tried to cough gentle when I did and had no problems. Day 19 yawning still hurts a little and the inside of my ears are kinda itchy but I am back to normal and that might just be from some post nasal drip. Good luck to everyone going through this or who are going to, its really not that bad, I highly recommend the coblation method..it will save you a lot of unnecessary pain and discomfort.. And I might add i didn’t have any swelling. I live in upstate NY, and got lucky. They said my tonsils were huge and had a lot of scarring. Before the surgery I had many infections so I’m glad I got it done… No more missing work.