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
Recovery Day 15 – Had my post-op appt today. He said everything looked good. Based on where my scabs are at, he said they should be completely gone in about a week. There is still some whitish there, but mostly pink at this point. I also asked him if the throat would maintain the concave pits of where the tonsils were removed and he said no, that it will fill in with tissue and be flush. It will take time but those concave area will fill in and smooth out. This was good to hear since I am still getting mac-n-cheese or anything really sticky like that stuck in the pits (eventually it works its way out).
He said the pain with yawning is the last thing to go in terms of lingering discomfort. He said that could be another couple of weeks and is something he brought up and said is very common (lingering yawning pain). Other than that he said I could eat whatever I wanted, based on how it feels, and to call him if I needed anything.
I hope everyone is doing well today…..How is everyone’s week going?
My day is turning around. Thank God! I was in so much pain this moring that I emailed my step dad who is a doctor and asked him if I could take these more often then every 6 hrs. He said absolutly. He said I could take them every 2-3 hrs no problem. I popped one in as soon as I got his reply. I think I should be able to manage my pain better now too since I am not waiting for it to become full blown severe pain before I take me next dose. So I took one at 2 and I am going to take my next one at 5. I just hope I don’t run out before my pain is gone. I would hate to have to ask her for more. She gave me 40 so that should last me a few days.
I am down 9 lbs now! Ate 4 bites of a jamba juice and 4 bites of broth. Im going to ask my husband to bring home vanilla yogurt so I can blend it with ice and a banana. Sounds scrumpteous!
Holly, I’m so glad you’re feeling better pain relief. For the relatively short time you’d be taking the doses every 3 hours, it is worth it! How many miligrams are the pills? At the height of my pain, I was taking 10 mg every 4 hours. It was liquid but it gave you the mg dosage per teaspoon. I think one time I took even slightly more than that on a particularly bad pain episode. If you have to ask for more, just ask her. She knows you and would know you are not asking just to stockpile Percocet, 😉
Hope you have a much, much better night. Let us know how you’re doing tomorrow!
🙂
Hurray, Holly! I’m glad to hear you are doing better today, and you were advised to take the meds more often. It’s a terrible feeling being in pain, watching the clock and just waiting until you can take your next dose. I learned pretty quickly that once the pain got unbearable, it took a really long time to get it down to a more manageable level. I was worried about running out of the meds too, but my doc refilled my prescription with no question. My pain level peaked around days 5-10 just as many others have reported. It seemed to be around the time the scabs began to slough away and reveal that extra-sensitive new skin beneath. Keep staying stong! You can do this!
40 yr old female….Day 6 and I thought I was going to die last night! Now I see what everyone is complaining about. My pain meds were doing NOTHING for me yesterday. Vicodin was like baby aspirin to my pain. And she gave me the liquid form which I just dreading taking because it’s bright yellow and BURNS bad. I have lost 7 pounds now and eating is horrendous. Not even worth it. The pain that follows eating is like worse that labor. And I have had two kids vaginally. Waiting quite a while for the epidural both times. Anyways, I had the runs yesterday, my stomach hurt, my throat was on fir, my ears are blazing, my teeth were chattering but I was sweating….No fever.. Finally at 8 pm I could not take it anymore and I texted my ENT who is a friend of mine and told her I needed some stronger pain pills and PILLs not liquid. She told me to send my husband over to her house and she gave him a script for percocet. I had immediate releif when I took one but woke up at 3 am in HORRIBLE pain again. Took another one and woke up at 6 am in HORRIBLE pain again. Im only suppose to take one percocet evey 6 hrs so I sat there in God Awful pain watching the clock and icing my neck until 7. I couldn’t take it anymore and took another one. I can barely even sip water and it’s day 6. I am wondering if this is normal. I guess it’s the scabs fallisn off and exposed skin being underneath. Thta’s my guess is to why it hurst so bad. I don’t know what I am going to do about work on Thursday. I can not talk at all. I mean I can talk but I regret it afterwards. I have a note from my ENT already saying she thinks I should recover until 5/2.
Beth…Thanks for the kind words. Who knew I was such a wimp. I thought I was doing so Good! I think your right about my body just being in shock the first 2-3 days. I wish I could eat like you. At this point I am getting hungry but I need ton plan my pain pill first. I didn’t get anything for breakfast since I just woke up in pain. My next pill will be at 1 so my plan is to eat at 12:45. I kind of want to try mac and cheese. That sounds so good to me!
Danielle: YES! I haven’t cried to my husband yet but last night I was on the verge of it. Just sitting there in so much pain bundled up, ice packs packed all around me, and my kids talk so loud there voices were KILLING my ears. I am going to drink a ton today and try to find somehting that I can eat.
Becky: I ate my last custard yesterday. 🙁 I was looking at all your recipes. You really are quite the cook. I bookmarked it so once I can eat I will be making some of your stuff.
OK Off to try to find somehting to eat for my big meal at 12:45.
Holly, hang in there – I’m so sorry you are in such pain. I can relate fully and feel for you. 🙁 I think it was around days 5-10 that were the worst for me. I had liquid Percocet (but without the acetaminophen component) and I took 2 full teaspoons every 4 hours at that point. It said only to take 1 teaspoon (equivalent to 5mg) every 4 hours but 1 did nothing. Like you said, I might as well have been swallowing a vitamin pill. I’m so glad you got a hold of your ENT and got stronger meds. It is truly unbelievable to those who have not experienced it, how bad the pain can be even ON strong pain meds. Hugs are coming out to you!!
Holly, what got me by was Ensure and Gerber baby food cereal. The baby food cereal is just so easy to make and swallow. If you make it loose and not pasty it goes down very easily and is so gentle on your stomach. Doesn’t taste fantastic but does the job. I did not care for the Ensure in terms of flavor but it provided sustenance. The Slimfasts tasted better (thanks to Becky and Deide for recommending).
You are healing normally and it’s just a huge pain in the ass at this stage, no two ways around it. But it will pass, it really will. 🙂 Holly, if there is any way, you have to tell your boss that you can’t come in. You have to do this for yourself. It’s possible this may turn around for you by Thursday, but after the pain you’re going through, you are not going to want to go into work.
Sleep as much as you can, even if only in hour-long naps. It’s one way to escape the pain for a short while – and for the ear pain and pain in general, I found sleeping/napping propped upright was very helpful. It just seemed to make things better. Big hugs and prayers and good thoughts coming your way…..
Go figure, my liquid Percocet was a very true red and stained my tongue and mouth. Here I was not eating red jello and not drinking red Gatorade (because it could mask bleeding they say) and the liquid pain meds which I was taking around the clock is red!!
Recovery Day 14 – I’m back at work. So far so good. I did a brief treadmill workout this morning just to get a sense of where my stamina is at. It felt pretty good (was only 15 min moderate intensity) but I started to sweat really quickly. I usually don’t sweat until about the 10 min mark….anyway, it felt good and I was not tired from it so I will begin to build on that.
My throat is actually feeling pretty good today. More of a sense of discomfort than true pain. I have not eaten anything solid yet today, just some yogurt and some baby food cereal. I’m going to try something more hearty at lunch time. I tend to have a flare up in the discomfort after eating but I suppose that’s to be expected, especially if it’s a solid-ish food.
I haven’t had the issue with talking tiring out my voice yet. I don’t have to talk regularly as part of my job so I’m fortunate in that regard. Just talking to my coworkers in an every day usual manner is not bothering me. Yawing is getting easier too, thankfully! It still feels uncomfortable but not really too painful.
I’ll be interested to see how I feel toward the end of the day as my job requires a lot of concentration. 🙂
Hope everyone is having a good day. Holly, how are you doing?
Today was my post op appointment. He said everything was looking good and that I’m almost half way to feeling much better. Im still always in pain but I’m super happy that the pain isn’t as bad as it used to be. I hope everyone is feeling better and I wish everyone a speedy recovery 🙂
Doesn’t it feel like such a relief when you don’t have to wince anymore? 🙂