A collection of various experiences of adult tonsillectomy patients on their first day of recovery
From thousands of post comments to the tonsillectomy recovery forum, I have assembled a sampling of various accounts and impressions of tonsillectomy recovery for each day. We shall start with tonsillectomy day 1. These comments are taken from tonsillectomy patients who were kind enough to share their experiences to help others as they navigate the bumpy road of tonsillectomy recovery.
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Please feel free to add your own experience with tonsillectomy day 1.
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Tonsillectomy Day 1
Tonsillectomy Day 1: This is not too bad. Pussies on the forum!
Tonsillectomy Day 1:(surgery day): Thank God I woke up! Whoa – drugs.
Tonsillectomy Day 1: I had a freezie when I got home and lots of water. I watched some television and took the amoxicillin that I was prescribed to prevent infection. I decided to try to swallow the capsules because they looked small enough…BIG MISTAKE! After the first one, it felt like it was stuck in my throat, but I tried to take the second one…even bigger mistake. So I start getting anxious because I feel like the pills are stuck in my throat and not going down – even with loads of water. It turns out they did go down, but because my throat was swollen, they felt like they were just sitting there. I was prescribed liquid codeine and told to buy liquid Tylenol. However, the only liquid Tylenol my mom could find was for children, so instead, she decided to buy Tylenol caplets that melt in your mouth – which turned out to be for children as well. The first night I only took Tylenol because I wasn’t in that much pain at first. Needless to say, I was in pain during the night and slept maybe 1-2 hours in total.
Tonsillectomy Day 1: i had the surgery at 3:20 pm ( they were over an hour behind schedule).I woke up feeling like crap and the nurse had to give me lots of morphine through the IV drip. I spent the night in a hospital and it was the worst night ever. My throat was in pain all night even though they gave me the liquid codeine. There was only 2 of us in the “day surgery” ward ( where they keep the overnight patients) but the other lady was snoring all through the night! which made things even worse haha. I only got about 4 hours of on and off sleep. My mom picked me up at 6am and i went home and slept for a bit.
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : My surgery was at 9:30am ET this morning and I was home by 1:30pm which included a 20 minute drive home. I had a tonsillectomy and he just trimmed a little of my extremely long uvula. I woke right up from the surgery with no problems at all. The pain I had was a 1or 2 on a scale of 10. hardly any pain after the surgery and I was able to eat apple sauce, ice and water immediately after waking. No side effects from the surgery med’s. They did give me some anti-nausea drugs. I still feel like I have just a mild sore throat.
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : Days 1&2 were definitely the honeymoon phase. All was grand in tonsil land
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : I just had it done this morning, massively consming water, pain meds every 4 hours, popsicles, little apple sauce and trying to maintain a healthy probiotic regimine. Its weird because it feels like a bad case of strep throat….so far. But I do feel instant relief with my breathing.
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : Well i just got home from surgery. I had my tonsils removed, deviated septum fixed, uvula removed and turbinates (nasal wall tissue) reduced. I have no recall of surgery, only remember maybe a minute of being in the operating room, then waking up in the recovery center.
Pain is not what i expected it to be. I think i have worse pain from strep throat
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : Post op eight hours……everything feels fine but I’m scared for the horrible days ahead. Sandra you developed ear pain at 3rd day? That makes me nervous
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : (Day of surgery) I actually felt pretty darn good, was able to eat a little, but I wish someone would have told me that I needed to re-learn how to swallow. VERY SMALL sips is the key.
Tonsillectomy Day 1 : Slept only about 2 hours due to still being very restless and fidgety from the effects of the anesthesia. Stayed on a steady dose every 4 hours of pain med’s which seemed to edge my pain. Still in a great deal of pain all day. I ate more Popsicle and jello and applesauce and was able to eat some luke warm soup which tasted great and drank 2 ensure shakes and a yogurt shake. The anesthesia effects seemed to finally wear off sometime in the early evening making me a bit more comfortable. Still in a good deal of pain. My entire mouth now hurts along with the throat and I am having jaw pain and slight ear pain and tongue pain from the clamps they used during the surgery.
I’m still in the process of recovering and probably no where near being fully healed *sigh*, but I did experience many things already that may help others.
(Also, the anesthesia did nothing except make me slightly nauseous when waking up, but I was totally fine after going to bed and waking up the next day.)
1) Do NOT eat icecream. Stick to popsicles. The dairy causes your saliva to become very thick and harder to swallow, especially in the very first few days/when your uvula is still swollen. It gives you a choking feeling and you may want to clear your throat which is a no-no. If you do eat icecream, drink water to wash it down.
2) Don’t force yourself to drink so much. I was never someone who got thirsty very easily or fast andI know personally that it hurts like heck to be swallowing so much. Just make sure to drink as much as you would normally, not letting your tongue, mouth, lips, and throat get dry. Lots of ice water will help with pain after a couple of gulps.
3) Don’t force a bedtime onto yourself. If you’re trying to go to bed at a specific time but can’t because of pain or whatever may be the reason, do not stress. Watch tv, play a game, watch videos, go on social media, do whatever you do as a time-killer normally and don’t think or stress about how late it is or how bad it hurts. Also, take naps whenever you want and for as long as you want. Just drink water (at LEAST 3 gulps) everytime you wake up and everytime you are ready to fall asleep.
4) Swallowing is the worst. Everyone swalows their own saliva naturally, but this may cause lots of discomfort and pain during this time. It may take time and distraction, but try not to swallow as much as you would if you didn’t had the tonsillectomy. This also helps with falling asleep faster, since pain is the one thing that will keep you up.
5) There are going to be days where you just want to die. Literally. You do not care about your life anymore, you just don’t want to have to sit through this pain any longer. What helped me was watching and reading other peoples tonsillectomy recoveries (day by day was even better), knowing that I wasn’t alone and that eventually these people got better.
6) Take your meds! I cannot stress this enough. I struggle with taking medicine because 1) pills are obviously hard to swallow during this time and 2) it has always made me feel nauseous is large doses. But, you gotta do what you gotta do. I’ve found that childrens and infants tylenol works best for me, despite it being for younger patients. I even only take the recommended dose for an infant, and it works like magic. Yes, it takes about 20 mins to 40 mins to kick in, but it works. Swallowing changes from razor blades to minor bruise annoyance on the pain scale. I always take it before I eat, and before I go to bed since I know that waking up with a sore throat is death and starving is as well.
7) Have someone with you at all times. There are times where I need someone else to prepare my food or I’ve starved myself for so long that I’m unable to even get words out. Having a supportive and caring person with you will help.
Well that’s all I really remember at the moment but I’ll be sure to add on if I experience any more.
Currently on day 10, days 1-3 weren’t to bad, but days 4-6 were miserable, day 7 is when the pain broke and life was bearable again. Pains been about the same since day 7. Still not sure when life will return to normal. My biggest piece of advice to anyone with this surgery. TAKE STOOL SOFTENERS STARTING THE FIRST DAY. The worst part of my whole experience occurred yesterday when I had upset bowels. However, I was incredibly constipated due to the Hydrocodone and anesthesia from the surgery, which made my night pretty miserable trying to use the bathroom. This is easily avoidable if you just take stool softeners to keep everything moving like it should. Good luck. Don’t give up it will get better.
I just had a tonsillectomy about four hours ago. And I am starting to bleed. My mother said that might be normal but I remember the nurses saying otherwise. Should I be concerned?
A little bleeding is normal. More than a tablespoon might be cause for concern. I gargles with cold water and it stopped. If it doesn’t I’d seek medical attention
My surgery was scheduled at 10:30 so I went to the hospital early to sort out all the paperwork. Before I was anesthetized I told to the Anesthetist that after an other surgery I had in the past, I had been nauseous and dizzy and she said it was a good thing that I mentioned it. This was proven true because later, when I woke up, I felt zero need to vomit, zero dizziness and a normal sore throat. It felt like an early stage of tonsillitis. The first day the pain was in a scale 2/10. I stayed in the hospital during the night and I was given antibiotics and painkillers through the IV, something which helped me a lot and didn’t affect my stomach. I also drunk a lot of water to maintain my throat moist and slept a lot (which was probably the only side effect of the anesthesia).
I just had my tonsillectomy yesterday and so far it’s been really awful. I’ve done the surgery in local anaesthetics – what a big mistake! Since my surgery I have been spitting out small amounts of blood (which are apparently normal for 24h to 3 days??!!) sort of freaking me out as I have read all sorts of horror stories online – even people dying from it! I’ve also had nausea on and off… which agin is horrible as I don’t want to throw up… and hopefully not blood even if I do. 🙁
I’m still in the process of recovering and probably no where near being fully healed *sigh*, but I did experience many things already that may help others.
(Also, the anesthesia did nothing except make me slightly nauseous when waking up, but I was totally fine after going to bed and waking up the next day.)
1) Do NOT eat icecream. Stick to popsicles. The dairy causes your saliva to become very thick and harder to swallow, especially in the very first few days/when your uvula is still swollen. It gives you a choking feeling and you may want to clear your throat which is a no-no. If you do eat icecream, drink water to wash it down.
2) Don’t force yourself to drink so much. I was never someone who got thirsty very easily or fast andI know personally that it hurts like heck to be swallowing so much. Just make sure to drink as much as you would normally, not letting your tongue, mouth, lips, and throat get dry. Lots of ice water will help with pain after a couple of gulps.
3) Don’t force a bedtime onto yourself. If you’re trying to go to bed at a specific time but can’t because of pain or whatever may be the reason, do not stress. Watch tv, play a game, watch videos, go on social media, do whatever you do as a time-killer normally and don’t think or stress about how late it is or how bad it hurts. Also, take naps whenever you want and for as long as you want. Just drink water (at LEAST 3 gulps) everytime you wake up and everytime you are ready to fall asleep.
4) Swallowing is the worst. Everyone swalows their own saliva naturally, but this may cause lots of discomfort and pain during this time. It may take time and distraction, but try not to swallow as much as you would if you didn’t had the tonsillectomy. This also helps with falling asleep faster, since pain is the one thing that will keep you up.
5) There are going to be days where you just want to die. Literally. You do not care about your life anymore, you just don’t want to have to sit through this pain any longer. What helped me was watching and reading other peoples tonsillectomy recoveries (day by day was even better), knowing that I wasn’t alone and that eventually these people got better.
6) Take your meds! I cannot stress this enough. I struggle with taking medicine because 1) pills are obviously hard to swallow during this time and 2) it has always made me feel nauseous is large doses. But, you gotta do what you gotta do. I’ve found that childrens and infants tylenol works best for me, despite it being for younger patients. I even only take the recommended dose for an infant, and it works like magic. Yes, it takes about 20 mins to 40 mins to kick in, but it works. Swallowing changes from razor blades to minor bruise annoyance on the pain scale. I always take it before I eat, and before I go to bed since I know that waking up with a sore throat is death and starving is as well.
7) Have someone with you at all times. There are times where I need someone else to prepare my food or I’ve starved myself for so long that I’m unable to even get words out. Having a supportive and caring person with you will help.
Well that’s all I really remember at the moment but I’ll be sure to add on if I experience any more.
Currently on day 10, days 1-3 weren’t to bad, but days 4-6 were miserable, day 7 is when the pain broke and life was bearable again. Pains been about the same since day 7. Still not sure when life will return to normal. My biggest piece of advice to anyone with this surgery. TAKE STOOL SOFTENERS STARTING THE FIRST DAY. The worst part of my whole experience occurred yesterday when I had upset bowels. However, I was incredibly constipated due to the Hydrocodone and anesthesia from the surgery, which made my night pretty miserable trying to use the bathroom. This is easily avoidable if you just take stool softeners to keep everything moving like it should. Good luck. Don’t give up it will get better.
I just had a tonsillectomy about four hours ago. And I am starting to bleed. My mother said that might be normal but I remember the nurses saying otherwise. Should I be concerned?
A little bleeding is normal. More than a tablespoon might be cause for concern. I gargles with cold water and it stopped. If it doesn’t I’d seek medical attention
P. S. I’m not a doctor and can’t give medical advice.
My surgery was scheduled at 10:30 so I went to the hospital early to sort out all the paperwork. Before I was anesthetized I told to the Anesthetist that after an other surgery I had in the past, I had been nauseous and dizzy and she said it was a good thing that I mentioned it. This was proven true because later, when I woke up, I felt zero need to vomit, zero dizziness and a normal sore throat. It felt like an early stage of tonsillitis. The first day the pain was in a scale 2/10. I stayed in the hospital during the night and I was given antibiotics and painkillers through the IV, something which helped me a lot and didn’t affect my stomach. I also drunk a lot of water to maintain my throat moist and slept a lot (which was probably the only side effect of the anesthesia).
Hello!
I just had my tonsillectomy yesterday and so far it’s been really awful. I’ve done the surgery in local anaesthetics – what a big mistake! Since my surgery I have been spitting out small amounts of blood (which are apparently normal for 24h to 3 days??!!) sort of freaking me out as I have read all sorts of horror stories online – even people dying from it! I’ve also had nausea on and off… which agin is horrible as I don’t want to throw up… and hopefully not blood even if I do. 🙁