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
Julie, I never had any brown. Maybe it’s burned or dried blood from the recauterization? It’ll be gone for you very soon either way! As for the voice, mine was just muffled but not nasally, and by end of week 2 it was back to normal. I’ve heard a lot of people mention the nasally thing though. I think all these things fix themselves as we heal. 🙂
The scab just came off while I was eating pudding! D: I am so grossed out that I swallowed it but at least it is off now and I know I am out of the woods as far as a bleed goes. What a relief.
I am about ten days out (more like eleven since it happened not long after midnight) from my follow up trip to the ER and the giant scab on my re-cauterized site is still hanging on for dear life. It is giant and gross looking and I REALLY want to poke it with a Q-Tip or something. I AM NOT GOING TO but I really really REALLY want to. ha ha. I promise I will leave it alone but I needed to vent to some folks who would understand. JUST FALL OFF ALREADY. I was hoping to go out of town this weekend but there is no way I am going to risk another bleed (though I know it is unlikely at this point) while staying at a cabin in the boonies. My throat doesn’t hurt any more, it’s just muscle aches at this point. Since I am now on Day 15 I went across the street to the diner my husband and I are regulars at and had some coffee and now I am pretty jacked up on caffeine (as if it weren’t obvious from my abuse of capslock). I ate almost a whole pancake – they make big ones – WITH blueberries so that was a workout for sure. And I talked quite a bit to the servers so that was good, too. One of the servers is in a band and was telling me their lead singer is probably going to have a tonsillectomy, too! Poor guy. For anyone who sings I’m sure this recovery is frustrating as hell. I am still not talking normally, by the way. My voice is still pretty nasal. How long did it take the rest of you to sound normal again? Should I be doing vocal exercises or something?
Julie, this message totally made me smile and laugh. You have spirit and I love that! As for the scabs, I never really felt or noticed them ‘falling off’. I just had these whitish patches in the back on both sides that gradually got more pink (new skin) every day until they were finally gone. It never felt like anything and I never had the sensation of them actually being there. If it helps to know, my scabs were completely gone at the 3 week mark.
I felt the same way when I had my first caffeine. It felt great! However, I had continued to drink my black tea/milk throughout my recovery (just to feel normal) as I’m not a big coffee drinker. But when I had a cup of coffee I felt so awake!
Good for you with the pancake and the talking. As much as these things hurt, I actually think it’s really good and important to use the throat muscles to speed healing. Almost like physical therapy. You would never have knee surgery then just sit and not move your knee. Same with the throat.
My doctor encouraged me to maintain as much normalcy as I could tolerate (swallowing, talking, etc). It really helps. The skin needs to adapt to the normal motions of the throat and restricting that is not going to help in healing. Even with yawning, I squelched those the first week but by the second week I just yawned. It hurt, yes, but I knew it wasn’t going to damage anything. By the beginning of week 3 I was yawning with no pain at all.
You sound like you’re doing great! Don’t worry about that scab, it’ll be gone before you know it! You’ll be amazed in the next week how different it will look. 🙂
😀
The only reason I have any notice of this one at all is because it is BIG and dark. I don’t know about you but when I first had my surgery my throat also had some grey and brown spots on top of the white scabbing. This re-cauterized spot is JUST brown and grey. You can really tell there was some sort of “incident” back there since it looks so much different from the rest of my throat. It’s pretty gross. I am gargling sea salt water, we’ll see if that helps.
Valerie, Try sucking on ice chips to bring the swelling down. Not sure if your Dr. will let you take children’s ibuprofen, but if you can I would take that every 4 hours in between your pain meds. You should also ice your neck as much as possible. The first 48 hours are not the best due to the swelling that can happen. It will get better, I promise you. Just remember to take your pain meds every 4-6 hours and do not sleep through the night without setting your alarm for your meds. I know 6-8 hours of sleep sounds great but you will wake up in serious pain. Yes, the swelling will come down. Hopefully soon. Good luck and keep us posted.
Wishing a speedy recovery to Travis Barker, drummer for Blink 182, as he recovers from emergency tonsillectomy surgery.
Today I felt alright at work. I think from all the talking I do I keep losing my voice which makes me frustrated at times. By the end of the day I’m tired of talking. I haven’t taken any medication since the middle of last week. I have been getting a minor earache on my right ear for a few days now but it goes away after a while.
I hope everyone’s week is going well.
Hi i had a tonsilectomy yesterday and my throat hurts and i can talk and walk but that thing that hangs in the back of your throat ya know….well mine is sooo swollen that is sits on my tongue and makes me snore at night and i feel like im choking on it all of the time…. will the swelling go down eventually??? Does anyone know???
Yes, Valerie, it will go down. I am 4 weeks post-op and my uvula (hangy thing) was swollen for at least the first week, maybe more. It does sit on your tongue and feel gaggy. I had to sleep, even while propped up, with my head off to one side or the other or it would feel like I was going to swallow the thing! It gets better. I hope that the comments and tips on this website are helpful. We all got through it and you will too!! 🙂
Yeah, for sure sleep sitting up and to the side, I agree. It helps. But make sure if you are propped up against anything you throw a towel over it! I learned the hard way when I fell asleep sitting up on the couch and leaning against the back cushions and slobbered all over one of them. It is pretty funny now that I’m feeling better but at the time it was infuriating. 🙂
Jacqueline, that has to be so hard, talking all the time. I hope each day gets a little better for you. 🙂