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
Melissa, how are you doing? Were you able to speak with your doctor and/or have you been able to eat or drink better?
Jacqueline, how are you feeling and doing at work? Holly, how about you?
Today went well. I notice that even though this Friday will be a month since my surgery if I drink anything quickly I feel like its going to go up my nose. So I’m frustrated that I can only take sips even when I’m super thirsty. I didn’t get so tired today and I’m happy about that. Last night was my first night since surgery that I was able to get sleep. Lately I have not been able to even get 2 hours of sleep.
I hope your day went well. Goodnight 🙂
Probably your body getting used to not being medicated. The whole process is such a huge adjustment. I never had the issue with drinking that you are reporting (and a lot of others have written about) so I can’t speak to that. I am sure eventually it will resolve for you. The one thing I’ve noticed is that my soft palate/uvula seems permanently lower now after the surgery. Not sure if that will adjust over time but it is something that I do notice.
Julie, well it’s good that you called about it. I wonder how something like that could happen? I imagine it’s possible that it may heal to a much smaller hole when all is said and done. It’s good that you can show this to your doctor and discuss it at your follow up. I’d bery curious to see what he/she says!
I will get photos if I can so that I can share them here. It looks like they over-corrected and trimmed a little too far up when they were actually removing the tonsil because it doesn’t look like a puncture. The right side is the deeper of the two tonsil beds (and it was the tonsil with the deepest crypt, and the one I got both my abscesses behind) so it was likely the larger and nastier of the two Throat Beasts. Since it’s not something for me to be worried about it is more just interesting and strange. A photographer friend of mine is hoping to see me Monday and if he can he is going to try to get a picture. Ha ha ha. Otherwise I’ll have my husband attempt it.
There is a hole in the webbing of my throat next to my uvula! D:
Now that the scabs have fallen away I can see it. Crud! Have any of you experienced this? Wonder what my ENT is going to want to do about it. I have my follow up next week.
I googled this (actually found someone in the archives of this forum who had the same issue but she didn’t post the resolution that I could see) and didn’t have much luck so I called the nurse line. The nurse was super weirded out (“I’ve never heard of anything like that!”). Ha ha ha. I am always happy to inject some strangeness into the day of a medical professional.
She said – which I already guessed – that there is not much they will do about it at this point since it’s two weeks out (it’s not like they can stitch it up or anything) so that I should just watch it and make sure nothing goofy happens and have my doctor take a look at my follow up next week. Basically told me what I already guessed. ^_- But I’m glad I called anyway.
Hey everybody- Hope today is better than yesterday. Just wanted to let you know that I added a new post today. If there’s something you’ve learned and would like to share with future tonsillectomy patients, please weigh in:
https://tonsillectomyrecovery.com/share-your-tonsillectomy-tips/
Thanks- you guys are GREAT!
~Greg
Hi Greg – saw that and posted something. Really good idea to add that in here for those researching…. 🙂