Anita’s Tonsillectomy and Recovery
44 yo woman here. I’m on day 10 if you count surgery day. What a journey in pain!
A little background: while living on the east coast I would suffer from tonsillitis frequently (I lived in CA and Hawaii and didn’t get it during those years). I moved back to the east coast 12 years ago and the number of times I would get tonsillitis increased over time. Finally, after my GP’s urging for two years, I had the tonsillectomy.
My recovery is similar to others – days 1-4 not so bad (comparatively); days 5-9 a living hell; some relief on day 10. It ain’t over yet but thought the best thing I can do is offer tips from my experience. 
– hydrate. However that is for you do it. For me it is ice cold water and/or ice chips. I have no tolerance for Gatorade, soda or anything sweet. Hot tea is nice too.
– Mornings are HELL!!! Awful. Terrible. The worst pain I have ever experienced in my life. But I would let myself sleep as much as possible and then spend a half hour in the morning getting “right.” That involved ice packs, ice chips, cold water, meds. The meds (OTC or prescription) take half hour to kick in. While waiting in agony for that to happen I would climb back in bed with an ice pack and wait. I would meditate on the pain. I would focus on the spot where the pain was the most severe and try to spread the pain through out my body to dissipate the main pain point. This may seem odd but it calmed me down to acknowledge it. It was like asking the healthy part of my body to help the wounded part. Once the pain would recede a bit I would google day x tonsillectomy which would take me to this site and I would read people’s stories of that day until the pain was gone.
– tiger balm helps with the pain – ears and throat
– day 9 the only really awesome thing to eat was brownies. Go figure. I think it was the chewy texture and the goodness of chocolate.
– smoothies are tough bc fruit is not really your friend during recovery. Eating anything is harder than I would have ever imagined.
– I was originally going to have the op during the winter but bc I kept getting sick moved it up to August. I am so glad I did. The dry air of winter would have slayed my throat even more, I believe. The humidity of August was helpful.
– despite the pain I found it easy to stay positive. The tonsils were making my life very difficult. I think the dormant infection in my body was draining my energy as well as getting me sick all the time. I was/am a germaphobe bc I get sick all the time. I am hoping now that they’re out life overall will be better. That is well worth a few weeks of pain.
– people will tell you that it’s not as bad as you are reading on the Internet. I really wanted to believe that and put my expectations towards it being not as bad, only miserable people post. Unfortunately for me, that was not my experience. It was/is painful. People who are negating your fears aren’t helpful. Ignore them or send them the tonsillectomy tips for friends and family link (google it). I sent that to my mom (who helped me with my recovery). Despite her having been a nurse I come from a family of “shake it off” when it comes to pain. The article gave her more perspective than i could have and she was much more understanding than I was expecting. Prepare yourself and the people around you.
– it’s bad but so many things in life are hard and this will be a cakewalk compared to other experiences (like a broken heart)
Best of luck to you all! Especially those of you over 40. It ain’t easy but it ain’t impossible.