I’m 18 years old, female, and my tonsillectomy recovery has been some of the most traumatic stuff of my life
I thought I was in for a speedy recovery because I was able to drink liquids a lot sooner than they said I was, I was extremely careful of what I ate and even stopped taking my narcotics early because the pain was manageable and I hated how itchy, emotional, and nauseas my pain meds made me.
But on day 6 of the recovery, ibuprofen and water went down the wrong pipe leading to a very violent spit take that ripped off some of my scabs. It bled and I was terrified but the bleeding stopped and I sipped cold water and I seemed to be fine, so we forgot it.
Then over the second week of recovery I had occasional bleeding fits from the scabs in the way back of my throat that hadn’t come off yet. I went to my ENT for my post-op appointment during this and he said that I looked fine, and as long as bleeding stopped within 5 minutes then it was okay and I had no worries. He also said my throat looked good and I’d be back to normal in 2-3 days. This was on recovery day 8.
On recovery day 10, I began to bleed and it didn’t stop. It soon clotted and choked/gagged me, and the blood I swallowed made me sick and I puked a clot up the size of a golf ball. So I ended up in the ER crying and shaking and they ended up putting me back under and re-cauterizing both sides on the back of my throat as well as taking out the blood clots. I had to stay in the hospital overnight for monitoring, but I didn’t feel too bad the next morning.
However it is now recovery day 13 (3 days after my traumatic ER visit) and I am back to being in so much pain that I’d start the narcotics up if it weren’t for how much I hated the way it makes me feel. I’m taking ibuprofen in safe but regular doses and the pain is intense enough to travel to my ears and jaw. Additionally I had to return to eating only the softest things rather than progressing my diet.
What’s most upsetting about it is the fact that I was extremely responsible with my recovery and very careful, there is no rhyme or reason for my recovery to be this god awful but here I am, depressed in bed and probably having to spend a 3rd week out of college which you can imagine to be awfully stressful.
I stay hydrated and I eat so ibuprofen doesn’t upset my stomach and I did everything I’m supposed to, yet I’m still in excruciating pain.
Even the doctor who re-cauterized me, which luckily enough was the one who did the surgery in the first place, was completely unsure as to why this happened. He said it was highly unusual because in most cases of bleeding like this, it’s one vessel that had burst or been irritated but in my case it was almost all of my vessels for no reason, creating a “general ooze” as he put it.
On top of that, thanks to surgery tools and what I’m assuming was a surgery done in haste to stop my bleeding, my mouth is a disaster zone. I have a huge cut on my tongue and it makes it hard to eat or even talk because it’s swollen and makes me lisp or even accidentally bite it. I also have a cut on my lip and just general scrapes and bumps from both the original procedure and the one done in the ER.
I’m so jealous of everyone with a better recovery than me, I just want to get a full night’s sleep without waking up in the middle because my throat hurts so much I want to sob; but of course sobbing isnt an option because that would hurt too much.
And I’ve been craving tacos since the damn day of my surgery (my soft diet leaves me tragically devoid of salt).
So I suppose, if you ever think you’re recovery is going poorly or that you’ll never come out; at least you’re not me!!
I just wanted to put my story out because I needed to rant about how bad it’s been for me because I’ve had not many outlets for this frustration!
Tonsillectomy at 18
