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
I’m Melissa and am on day 6 post op. this is the worse thing I have ever gone through! I think that the doctor tellin me it wouldn’t be bad and that it would just be like all the sore throats I usually get made me think it would be nothing. Waking up in excruciating pain and not expecting it was awful. When I woke up the doctor said they had trouble getting them out and it took an hour longer than usual. It wasn’t until I got up and went into the bathroom that I noticed how burnt the left side of my tongue lips and cheek were. I have to say I completely regret getting this it was so hard for me. I’ve lost 10 pounds and had a reaction to something and couldn’t stop throwing up the 3&4 th days so that was very painful! Just hope I will feel better soon 🙁
That is insane. An HOUR longer than is usual? It is a twenty minute procedure!
I’m sorry you are going through this, it sounds absolutely awful. I agree with Beth, get on a schedule with your pain meds, that will really help. Anti nausea meds will help as well if you aren’t already on them.
My sympathies. I hope things improve for you.
Day 10! Feeling pretty good today (though I did fall asleep at about 5 am and wake up at 9 with my mouth hanging open D: ). I have already eaten a donut and some cheese and crackers (mini saltines, so they are easy to chew up really well) so today is officially proclaimed Weight Gain Day. Ha ha.
My throat is looking better and better. The larger of the re-cauterized spots is still pretty grody looking though. No idea how long that scab is going to be hanging around. I cannot see the ones on the other side so they must be smaller or somewhere I can’t catch in a mirror.
The only weird thing I have noticed is that when I left the house yesterday and earlier today both times I felt sort of disoriented. I don’t know if that’s just being up and about and active and feeling weird as a result or if it’s because I’ve been a shut in for over a week or what. It’s strange though. Have any of the rest of you experienced this?
hi everyone its kate here from england just got back from holidaying in canary isles for ten days was bliss had my tonsil op on 30th march my throat still feels odd and my tongue is still delicate does not like sharp rough food such as toast but no pain now I still had a ulcer on tongue when i went away but used mouth wash as well as tooth paste seemed to help alot im going to stop writing on the forum soon but have to say its been brillaint helping me get through this op thanks for all your suppot exspecially beth
Kate, I’m glad you’re doing well and had a nice trip! Thank you for your kind comment. This board is a special place, isn’t it? Take care and good luck training Scruffy! (did I remember his name right?) hugs!
Julie, I tried to go for a short walk almost every day of my recovery and I felt a little spaced out sometimes. Part of it was from pain meds and part from being slightly undernourished. Healing takes a tremendous amount of the body’s resources and energy, so I think feeling out of it when you ventute outside the first few weeks is pretty normal.
It sounds like your recovery is going great now for you and I hope that continues!
I am 40 yrs old and day 4 post-op. so far today is my best day, I stopped takin Percocet last night because it was making feel to groggy and switched to just ibuprofen. I have had some pain in my neck and in my ears which my ENT told me was normal, so I put ice packs on them and around my neck which did wonders. I was able to eat a hot dog yesterday, of course not on a bun, can’t open my mouth that wide yet and it went ok just took a little longer to eat. All my swelling has gone down but I think that is because my daughter has continuously fed me Popsicles and ice chips. Overall it hasn’t been that bad of an experience compared to what everyone was telling me. Just hopin that it stays like this for the remainder of my recovery.
Nicky – glad to hear your post op experience so far has been good! Sounds like you are a fast healer so I hope it continues this way for you. Some of us do notice a bump in the road around days 5-9, so if you do, hang in there as this, too, shall pass. I think sometimes it’s good to view those tough days as a sign of the vigorous healing happening. 🙂
Hope things went well for you this weekend. 🙂
Lots of progress today!
I gulped water for the first time a little bit ago (rather than filling my mouth with water and convulsively choking it down). SO NICE to finally be able to drink normally.
I have been eating all the standard stuff (mac and cheese, ramen, soup, jello) and I figured that a burrito bowl from Chipotle was not too far off from all that stuff provided it was chewed well. My husband went and picked one up for us to share since we both knew I wouldn’t eat much. I could only manage about six bites but OMG it was awesome. I weighed myself again today and I am down another pound and a half so that’s over six now. Hoping I can curb that before it gets much worse. I have read some folks on here talking about how much weight they’ve lost and for me losing ten pounds would be super unhealthy, I cannot let the weight loss get that far ahead of my caloric intake. Ensure to the rescue I hope.
I did get a tiny bit of right side pain just for a flash while eating and that freaked me out for just a moment but I checked out my throat after and all appears to be okay. After the first couple of bites I did take half a hydrocodone just to be on the safe side since I figured at the very least my tongue would be really sore after.
I am finally starting to feel like a normal person again. Such a relief. I know that since I am just getting into week 2 I may relapse a bit pain wise as the rest of my scabs start falling off so I am trying not to be too jubilant about it. But I have plenty of pain meds left if I need them, I know what to do in the worst case scenarios and I know I can fall back on what I have already being doing up until this point to cope and get through whatever else is coming. I also didn’t know that people who have post op bleeds are such a small minority (like 4%?!) so I am a lot less scared of it happening again now. I feel more relaxed.
Hooray! 😀
this is a nice post to read Julie. Wishing you continued progress!!!
Julie – I’m so glad that you’re feeling better. It’s great to hear this! I hope that you do not experience any of the resurge that some do during days 5-10. Please keep us posted on your progress and I hope it continues to go well for you. 🙂
Julie, I wanted to comment on the weight loss. I felt the same way. I am small and don’t have weight to lose and was really scared of ‘racking out’ as my husband put it. I lost a grand total of 3 lbs and its coming back (I’m 3 weeks post-op). You will regain the weight so don’t worry. If you didn’t have it to lose in the first place, your body will automatically work to get you back to your normal set point.
I DID drink the Ensure Plus as well as Slimfast drinks once or twice every single day. They didn’t always taste great but I made myself do it. also chowed on Stouffer’s Mac-n-Cheese which is very high calorie and that probably kept the weight loss at bay. 🙂
By the end of the second week you will likely be eating more foods (I was pretty much eating normally by end of week 2) and you will have no problem with the weight – it’ll come back. So try not to worry but do drink the Ensures, they’ll help!
I did have a bit of a relapse last night. I slept poorly. I feel pretty good today though so I am assuming it is going to be a nighttime thing as it so often is when you have a bad cold you are recovering from (you feel fine during the day but crummier as the day wears on). I’m glad all of you who have shared your stories have prepared me for this, though. Even knowing it was coming I got a little bit bummed out so I can see how folks who aren’t prepared for a relapse would get depressed. Took some meds last night as a result but that is only the second time in the last few days so I think I am doing pretty well.
Julie, when I hit around days 5-10 the late afternoon and early mornings were, by far, the worst. I think morning is worst of all if you’ve had the chance to sleep some. I never slept open mouthed but still, waking up and starting to swallow a lot again was very painful and took a while to work through. And then in the aftrenoons, the pain seemed to peak again for whatever reason. I found the late morning through mid afternoon to be the ‘easiest’ parts of the day.
Ahh, pancakes…they were so much work to chew. I remember that it took me three sittings to get through two large pancakes. That was probably around day 9.