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
Good morning. I was reading your forum for a while now and was really scared because of the bad experiences. I had my surgery yesterday afternoon and I am now back home (9am UK time). I was very scared about the general anesthesia as it was my first one. The surgery went well, but my ENT said that one tonsil was bigger than the second one and they have to analyse them. Anyone knows what it can be? Yesterday after my surgery I felt quite well and was very hungry – I had few biscuits with some water and some mashed carrots once back home. Today the pain is slightly increasing and I started to have a wet cough.Can someone advise me what should I do in case of a wet cough? I’m so scared that the bleeding can start, so I try not to cough. It is also painfull. I found some information about the dry cough, but nothing about the wet one. I try to drink lots of water and not to cough, but it’s difficult to avoid. Does it mean that I catched the cold or something? The dry cough can be influenced by the itchy throat, but I’m not sure where the wet cough is coming from? Should I take some anti cough syrup to stop the cough? Many thanks! Apologies for my English, it is not my first language.
I had my tonsils out on monday april 9th, 2012. I do not have any of the pain mention on all the sites i read up on it. I am alittle afraid of whats to come, currently i am on day five. stopped taking pain meds on day 2. i sleep with a cool mist humidifier and drink every few minutes to keep throat moist. I had terrible ear pains before surgery but not after surgery. i went back to move on day 4 and i hurting myself by doing too much too soon. is the pain yet to come. what does it feel like when the scabs are healed and comes out.
I was 4 weeks post-op yesterday. My throat pain is minimal. It only hurts sometimes when I swallow or eat certain foods. My tongue still feels weird, like the tip is numb. I had turbinate reduction surgery at the same time and still have some swelling and sinus pressure from that. I am finally sleeping nearly flat (only two pillows) and my energy level is back to normal. This was my first 5-day work week. I returned to work on day 14 for three days and then took off the next week for my kids’ spring break. I was still really tired. So, I have survived this week well and didn’t even need a nap when I got home! There is light at the end of the tunnel, but the first week to 10 days is really hard. I felt that I turned a corner around day 10-11. For those of you in the midst of it, hang in there!
Holly,
I also have a high pain tolerance and I think that does help. I am on day 18 post surgery and have no pain at all and am eating whatever I want. I have actually been doing this for a few days. Except for a couple of days, my pain was like a bad sore throat. I do think staying hydrated and having a humidifier by me helped. And, keeping up with the meds. My six year old is a talker, but I just told him I could only snuggle….not talk. Stay positive and it will be good. Keep us updated!
Hi Dallas, I’m glad to hear that you are not having any pain now! I agree the humidifier has helped me alot too as well as drinking plenty of fluids. Just thought I’d stop in and say that I’m happy for you that you are feeling so much better. 🙂
Delicia: How old are you? I am hoping that you are as old as me and having such a great recovery. I would like to say I have a high pain threshold and I feel like I will be OK. I can handle pain pretty well but I admit after a few days of unrelenting pain I would think I would get kind of depressed or just plain sick of it. Sounds like you are taking it all in stride. You knew what to expect and you are not letting it get the best of you. A 4 yr old and 1 yr old. That gives me a lot of hope as I have a 3 yr old and 6 yr old! My 3 yr old LOVES to talk. I will prep her next week that mama won’t be able to talk as much or maybe not at all. Thank you for your prayers. I need them! Keep checking in. I like hearing where you are day by day so I know a little bit of what to expect. I know everyone is different but I like your optomistic posts! It cheers me up.
Tash: You are doing great! Toast on day 3 is amazing! Good for you. Thanks for coming here and giving us all a pep talk. My surgery is next week and I am a basket case. Worrying about pain, my kids, missing work.,etc
Hi Holly, I’m 34 and I sometimes think I have a high threshold for pain too. When I was 11 or 12 we found out that my appendix was getting ready to burst, but I didn’t want to wake them up or worry them, so I just dealt with the nausea and pain and all over crappiness of appendicitis. To this day, they still remember that … I know … what was I thinking 🙂 Hopefully, my kids will have better sense than I did, but that’s besides the point right?! Let’s get to today’s update! 🙂
First of all, thank you! I’m really glad that my posts cheered you up. I will gladly keep you updated on my recovery… I have to tell you though, that not much has changed on the throat pain front luckily. I was able to run a load of laundry and fold three baskets of clothes and make breakfast and dinner for my family today.
However, I will let you in on a secret, the worst pain I’ve had so far was yesterday after four days of not going potty #2 (thanks to the narcotics) and then trying to go finally… OWW! I felt like I was literally going through childbirth all over again!! My advice would be to take the max stool softener you can every day starting from day 1 and maybe even some Benefiber on the rocks. This is the dark side that no one wants to tell you, but I can’t stress this enough. Holy Mother of God it was terrible! I suppose that would be my gem for the day 🙂
I was able to eat some boxed mac and cheese finally and some corn on the cob (I really chewed it though). Oh how I wanted the hamburgers I made … let me tell you it’s not fair when you smell like dinner and can’t eat most of it. Oh well, soon enough I keep telling myself, but my girls did make dinner look sumptuous! Especially my little one, she always gives herself a food facial and hair treatment with everything she eats 😉
I think you’ll be fine, and with a 3 and 6-yr old, they’ll keep you occupied enough that won’t notice that you’re running after them saying, “Nooo, don’t do that!” or “Don’t make me come over there..” Just kidding 🙂 kind of.
I’ll let you know how things go tomorrow. Take care and try not to worry too much, the kids are adaptable and it won’t be long before they try to get you to pick them up and settle back into your old ways. But don’t pick them up!! Let your hubby do the heavy lifting if you can.
🙂
oh, by them, i meant my parents … the beginning of my post 🙂