Teenage Tonsillectomy and Recovery
I’m 14, and had my tonsils out on the 4th of January, 2017. I’m currently on day 7 including the day of surgery and have only started with severe, agonizing ear pain today, but it started to show a little yesterday evening. (WARNING. MAY BE VERY TMI)
Day one: I went In for surgery at 10:30 and was woke up from anesthetic at 11:30. As soon as I regained myself I was able to talk almost immediately. I was drugged up on Morphine, paracetamol, ibuprofen and Ketamine( Ketamine only because of my ADHD). The pain was heavy when I first woke up but the medicine soon set in and I was able to eat and drink about an hour after I’d woke up. The morphine has made me sleep for hours on end, at least 12-18 hours a day since surgery. I wasn’t in a lot of pain then, and managed to eat quite a lot. I wouldn’t say my pain tolerance was high, with me being only 14 and I haven’t really experienced any major pain like all of you have (childbirth etc) but I did get to eating solids straight away as it was recommended for quick recovery whilst I was drugged up. What I remember eating was a ham and cheese wrap, a cheese string and pepperoni’s throughout the day. Most of the food I ate was in the 3-4 hours after me waking up where the painkillers were at their best. Between sleeping in and out, with the hospital bed raised up to a sitting/laying position, and morphine, paracetamol and ibuprofen every 4-6 hours by the nurses, the pain was bearable and trust me, I regret ever underestimating the pain. By the evening, the pain had increased, just in my throat, and I had now started to spit into a cup instead of swallowing. I had been given a burger and chips with orange juice and ice cream for dinner and only managed to eat a chip, a third of the burger, the ice cream(which I mentioned earlier) and the orange juice. I tried to eat as much as possible to scrape away the White/greenish stuff from the cauterizing as much as possible so it would scab over and heal ASAP, which I’m grateful for at this current day. Overall I drank and ate a lot.
Day two: It was pretty much the same, I stayed in hospital overnight due to sleep apnea and the doctors wanting to monitor my breathing. I didn’t get much sleep apart from 1 hour naps because I was on a ward with 3 babies, which I didn’t mind, I wasn’t very tired. I had toast for breakfast and drank two glasses of water. Overall the pain was bearable still. I got discharged at 1 pm and was home by 2 pm. I was able to talk but not shout, and if I talked for too long it’d become painful. When I got home I was extremely tired and drugged on morphine, and remember going to bed straight away. I didn’t eat much, other than a pot noodle and pizza (and a lot of water/ apple juice). I slept for most of the day and restocked on my med’s.
Day 3 was the same. I was eating solids and drinking apple juice as well as keeping up on my med’s. As soon as I woke I’d take them, and before I slept I would too. The pain had increased moderately but it was overall still bearable and didn’t cause many problems other than swallowing. However, in the evening I ended up in excruciating pain from constipation. I hadn’t been to the bathroom since the night before the surgery, but had urinated. The pain was much, much more agonizing than the pain I’m in now with my ears and throat. I was in tears and screaming, and was paralyzed. It felt as if there was something under my ribs to which I took laxatives which helped. I haven’t had any more problems like that so far.
Day 4 I didn’t wake up in any pain, but my mouth was dry, to which i drank juice as well as tablets and ended up writhing in agony. I didn’t eat a lot, and missed out on a lot of meals due to me sleeping. I’d been taking liquid painkillers since the surgery, and they were vile. The morphine tastes disgusting and the ibuprofen tastes like sugary syrup that makes me cough like mad. It numbs my throat for about 2 minutes, so enough for the pain of swallowing to go away. I stopped taking the liquid ibuprofen and paracetamol and resorted to tablets, which are a lot more painful to swallow but much, much more nicer to how my stomach handles them. In the afternoon we went out to my grandparents for my aunts birthday, and I felt great other than a little bit of pain. I did my makeup (which I wasn’t going to do but I felt a lot better and had nothing better to do, so I did.) as soon as I was done then morphine started setting in and I felt unbelievably nauseous. I immediately went to the bathroom and threw up, it burned and scraped most of the gunk in my throat off. It didn’t hurt as much as I expected it to be, and did taste disgusting, but it actually helped the pain. (I don’t recommend forcing yourself to be sick to ease the pain, though.) I managed to eat Chinese food at the party and I was fine for the rest of the night. I’m taking Lansoprazole once a day so the morphine and ibuprofen don’t upset my stomach again.
Day 5;EAR PAIN BEGINS, but only slightly, on and off. The pain is a lot more agonizing and I didn’t eat a single thing apart from a slice of pizza and water that day. I slept like a baby most of the night.
Day 6; EAR PAIN IS WORSE, TRUST ME. the pain is at its max and I’ve cried quite a few times (mostly because I can’t eat). I haven’t ate anything in over 24 now hours apart from my med’s and apple juice. It’s fine as long as I stay hydrated, right? The pain from not eating isn’t agonizing but annoying? I can’t describe the feeling but I’m sure you all know what I’m on about. I’ve been taking pictures of my throat to see the progress of the healing (gross, I know) but It’s improved A LOT. I can now see fresh skin and my mouth is not as swelled, but the pain is horrible especially from my ears.
Day 7; I haven’t slept all night, it’s currently 5 am and I’m about to take my med’s before I try to sleep without throwing up from the taste. The ear pain now is excruciating but I haven’t cried yet ha ha, I doubt I’ll be able to sleep.
My tips are; DON’T GET THIS DONE, STAY UP TO CHECK WITH YOUR MED’S(Jot the times when you took them down too, it helps, trust me) and please please if you’re just having this done try to eat solids straight away whilst you’re numb from the med’s when you first wake up, I know it sounds extremely dumb but it speeds up the healing and actually makes it less painful to swallow later on.
I hope it’ll get better for us, just hang in there guys!!