Tonsillectomy Recovery Time
After a lifetime of tonsillitis, it was time. I made the appointment. Was I scared? Yes. Was I prepared for tonsillectomy recovery? NO. Can you be? YES!
Planning for and recovering from a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy procedure, (often referred to as T & A Surgery), can be daunting experiences. The days leading up to your surgery can be frightening. If you haven’t read up yet, you can find information on tonsillectomy methods, risks, costs, adult tonsillectomy, sleep apnea, and numerous tips for tonsillectomy recovery on the other pages of this site. I’ve even added pictures of a post tonsillectomy throat by each day. Study, talk with your doctor and consult with your friends about the decision to undergo tonsillectomy and adenoid surgery. Explore the pages created here to aid in your journey.
If you should decide to have tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, let us help you through the entire process. Whether due to problems with sleep apnea, chronic tonsillitis and strep throat, tonsil stones, trouble swallowing, or a combination thereof, you can benefit from the experience of others. My own experience taught me that, as patients, we need to advocate for ourselves. Ear, nose, and throat doctors are, by and large, extremely talented individuals. However, very few of them have experienced an adult tonsillectomy, and the subsequent recovery. I have. Many others have too. We share our experiences here at the adult tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy recovery resource center. As you’ll read in the tonsillectomy recovery forum, everyone’s experience is unique. There are many factors that influence the level of pain you experience, as well as the length of time required during recovery. The method, and skill of your surgeon can have an affect, but there are also many things within your control that will reduce pain and recovery time. I’ve tried to include as many helpful tips as possible within the pages of this online resource. Tonsillectomy recovery can be pretty rough, especially if you are unlucky enough to be an adult! It takes longer for an adult to recover from most things. Tonsillectomy is no exception. There are many things you can do to make it go more smoothly. I’ve published numerous tips here on various pages. I encourage you to read up BEFORE you are in the throws of tonsillectomy recovery.
Talk with your doctor, friends, family, and work as you prepare. You are not alone in this. Like you and like me, many others are facing or have faced a tonsillectomy recovery. I created this forum for you. The community of adults or parents of patients will amaze you and warm your heart. I read these comments every day and every day I am humbled by everyone’s story and their compassion for others in the midst of recovery, or the anxiety that often precedes a tonsillectomy. Please join in. Hundreds of other people, perhaps in your same situation, have shared their wisdom, concerns, tips, and questions about tonsillectomy, as well as their tonsillectomy recovery.
-Greg My short bio
In 14 1/2 hours I will be having my tonsillectomy. I am so nervous, and have had the worse weekend. My 12 yr old had to have emergency hip surgery Saturday morning so we have had to double up on our caregivers.
I can already feel the anxiety setting in. To make matters worse from being so over tired, and stressed out I have lost my voice.
It has been 1 month since my surgery. I’m doing great and am pretty much back to normal except, as someone else mentioned, it feels like there is something in my throat beyond my tonsil site. I feel it when I swallow saliva or drink or brush my teeth. It doesn’t affect my eating. Someone suggested scar tissue. But – that far down? Don’t know if I should call the Dr. Or if this is normal. He did say it would take a good six weeks to be completely healed. Any suggestions?
My ENT told me they’ll feel different for up to another month. I’m a month out next Saturday. It’s like cutting your nails to the quick. That new skin feels funny touching things. Well your new tonsil bed skin feels weird touching your tongue and other things.
Hey guys! I haven’t been on here in a few days, but I currently am on day 16, and I just want to say that although a lot of people on here do seem to have a pretty rough experience, it’s not guaranteed. I myself was a major hypochondriac going into the procedure. I spent weeks looking up stuff on it and even went as far as watching a video of the procedure. But when the time came around for it to happen, I was given some really nice meds via IV push that helped with my anxiety, and I barely remember anything past being given some IV narcotics before being wheeled back.
The only problems I had with my liquid loritab were the fact that I slept about 18-20 hours a day the first 4 days, plus the horrible taste and burn that came with taking it. I myself after a few days decided it was best just to take it straight, because mixing it didn’t really help with the taste much and just made it take longer to take. No nausea came with it for me, even when taken on an empty stomach.
About a week or so in, I ended up getting Thrush, which was actually quite painful and made me want to eat even less since it felt the roof of my mouth was completely raw.. After calling into my doctor’s office, though, I was given some disolvable tablets to take and within maybe 2 or 3 days it wasn’t hurting any longer.
The first time I actually ate real food was on day 11, and I was halfway through my burger and fries before my mother even realized I was actually able to eat real food without problems. Up to this point, though, I was still taking my pain meds maybe 1-2 times a day.
Day (well, night) 13 comes along and I end up vomiting due to actually eating food for the 3rd time in 2 weeks, and with it came a slight bleed. Of course, I freaked out, but it stopped within a few minutes, as I had barely busted a scab. I ate some shaved ice, sat up for a bit, and then went to bed. Actually, I woke up horribly sick this morning and busted the same clot, but since I had been cleared and nothing happened the last time, I didn’t even bother icing. The funny thing to me is that after getting sick that first time, I actually stopped having throat pain. Who knew? I would not recommend trying this method of pain treatment, though.
Yesterday I had my post-op appointment. It was supposed to be Thursday, but that’s a long story and I’m somewhat bitter towards the receptionist at this time mixed with an hours wait yesterday just to see the doctor for all of about 2 minutes. No joke. Pretty much, he looked at my throat, said it was healing well, and cleared me to do pretty much what I was already doing.
Right now my only real problem is the fact that it feels like there is some extra tissue or something just sitting in the middle of my throat. It bothers me horribly when I swallow spit or a drink, but not so much with food. I think I might give it until Monday or Tuesday and see if it clears up. If not, I may call the good doctor. Other than that and my jaw hurting today (though that’s probably my TMJ acting up again), I’m pretty well good.
I apologize for making this post so long, but the basic thing I’m trying to get across is that not all experiences are horrible. Yes, I’d read the stories of others on here and know what could happen at the worst, but keep in mind that it isn’t certain that it’ll go down like that. Keep your head up, drink your water, take your pain meds and/or antiemetics, try to get some kind of actual nourishment down at least once a day, and remember that around day 4 seems to be the worst, so once you get past that, for the most part it’s uphill from there.
i’m on day 6 of recovery and my taste buds are still off. things just don’t taste right. is this normal and when can i expect it to pass?
Tiffany I’m not sure when that’s all supposed to come back but I think that’s pretty normal for things to taste off. I’m on day 3 and my favorite Popsicles still taste chemically to me and my liquid pain meds taste sweet. Neither of which is the true taste. My anesthesiologist told me its from the breathing tube they put in for the general anesthesia and from the doc manipulating the tongue quite a bit during the surgery. I wouldn’t worry about it too much until a bit more time has passed.
Ok so it’s the end of day two for me and I just looked in the mirror with a flashlight at my throat. Is it normal for it to be all white? It looks so disgusting and gross I almost wanted to puke cuz I thought this couldn’t be normal, but maybe it’s just the wound starting to heal itself? I’m not sure but it’s grossing me out. It doesn’t hurt too bad yet, although it sure looks like it should. Could it be because in phlemmy? Let me know whether you guys think it’s normal or not. And whether it will start looking worse than this even.
Kate: Yes, it is perfectly normal. Actually, it’s for that exact reason that doctors generally would rather you not look at your throat the first week or so, because it makes people paranoid and freak out. All the white you see are scabs. It’s from the tool they used to cut out your tonsils, and you’re likely to see at least some of the white for about 2 weeks minimum. Try to calm down, and maybe not look at it for the next week or so.
I myself didn’t actually look at my throat until a week and a half post-op (I’m on day 16 or so). Granted, that was partially due to the fact I barely could open my mouth, but I’m the person who looked at her swollen tonsils almost daily, or multiple times a day during the 2-3 month span that they were enlarged and up until said surgery.