I am on day 12 of my recovery and am 52 years old. My experience wasn’t as bad as some of the previous posts. All the posts I read scared me, but I was getting food stuck in my one tonsil for years as they were very pitted. As a result, my tonsils were healthly and not as large as some who have had lots of infections. My doctor gave me an anti-nausea patch on the back on one ear that I left on for two days. That was key and helped me both take my meds and eat – highly recommend it. She also gave me anti-nausea suppostories – they absorb and therefore act faster. I had lots of soft food ready and started eating them right away as a “cushion” – not just icy things. I had eggs and pureed soups and tapioca. Pudding I left coated my throat and I didn’t like that feeling. My main pain initally was my tongue – bruised and sore from the clamps. I drank tons and tons of water and slept propped up. Eventhough the nurse told me not to wake myself up to take my pain meds, I did. I set an alarm and took them every 4 hours. I think that helped give me a thresold I could anticipate. I had pain, but it was manageable until day 8 (pain meds done at this point). That is when the scabs started coming off and I have one spot that was very painful – a burning sensation when I drank or ate – large spike in the pain and cold irritated it. Doctor prescribed prescription tylenol at this point which didn’t help much more than regular tylenol. Nights were tougher than days, so I made sure to eat and drink alot during the day and took naps when I felt best and always had water by my side day and night. This gave my body some better healing time. When the pain hit, I would take a break, gnetly rinse with room temperature water and apply an ice pack to my throat. That still hurt, but eased the pain a bit after a few minutes. Ice packs on my throat were very effective – also helped when the pain would occassional move into my ears. I am back to work, but starting with short days. I think the pain is manageable once you know what to expect. An interesting discovery is that the pain is worse when you swallow (or eat or drink) – no surprise there, but you don’t swallow nearly as much as you think you do. Also you will be constipated (adds to the discomfort), start taking miralax early on. You still may not have a daily bowel movement, but you will as soon as your meds stop. I also occassionally had a metal-like taste to my water which I believe was from the surgery. Aim to manage the pain, but not eliminate it. I had pain throughout, but if I knew what to expect each day, I could get through it.