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.
-Greg Tooke My short bio
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.
Continued: took one Percocet. Hung out in the recovery room for a while sipping on ice water. At this point, I’m post-op about 5 hours and I feel great. I’m even kind of hungry! I have set my alarm for every 4 hours to wake me for percocets. I will continue taking 2 at this point to avoid breakthrough pain. I’m tired but only really able to doze at this point with my neck pillow. I keep trying to sip sip sip water. I feel good but am soooooo scared for the horrors to come….
Something that also has helped is getting a wash cloth really cold…. Wring it out and twist it around neck. Add a hand towel under that to absorb water. I change it out periodically. It seems to absorb heat from my neck. Check it out after a few minutes the heat seems to have transferred into the cloth.
Got to the hospital, was very anxious but had lots of great care. Asked for some versed to ease my mind which helped. They rolled me into the OR, said I’d be feeling some stinging in my IV then the next thing I know I’m in recovery. Anesthesia is amazing!
Ate some jello, got some IV fentanyl and took one pwrv
Hello all-
I am a 32 year old male and I just had my tonsillectomy yesterday morning. So far not so bad at all! I’ve been eating solid foods and my pain no lie is at a 1-2. I’m surprised about this to tell you the truth. Right now it feels a little uncomfortable when I swallow but I have had sore throats that have been SO much worse. I realize that it is only day 2, but whats strange to me is that the pain doesn’t seem to be progressing. We will see what happens though because it seems to get worse for people later. A couple of things I am doing: 1) Taking pain meds like clockwork. I made sure I got something strong. (Dilaudid 4 mg). I am also taking Tylenol with it as Dilaudid does not contain Acetaminophin. 2) I am gargling with a salt water and baking soad mix. Gently. I am using the packets that came with my neti pot. Other than that I am just relaxing. I am able to do everything I can usually. Everyone is different I guess because I have read some horror stories here. My experience so far has been NOTHING of that variety. We will see what happens. I will be sure to post everything either way it goes. Good luck to all of you going in for this procedure and don’t worry about it! This is not as bad as it sounds on here! In my case at least. We will see if I’m singing the same tune tomorrow. LOL 🙂
I’m wit ya buddy, I’m bout 8 hrs removed fron my tonsilectomy, and it pretty much feels like a sore throat, if pain does not progress then this shud b cake walk. But ive also been warned not to b fooled by the first days effects, the next two days will tell all…. So we shall see
Returned from surgery around 1pm exhausted, but okay. Doctor’s gave me additional IV pain medication. Started liquid vicodin on the hour, every hour as soon as I got home. My doctor said I could take a tsp an hour, or 4 tsp every 4 hours. I decided to keep with the low dosage more often. Missed a few doses for sleeping, and wished i hadn’t. Ate popsicles and chicken broth. Drank water with a camelpak, because the constant sipping is easier than forcing yourself into big gulps and got two full paks down over the course of the day. Went to sleep taking 3 tsp of vicodin and set my alarm for four hours. Woke up two hours in with a lot of pain, hard to swallow water. Was up every two or so trying to get more water and in pain.
Day 1 over. I am 41 and had my tonsils out yesterday. After many years of twice yearly throat infections I finally found an ENT who had the smarts to say I needed this done. I’ve read many things on this website and will continue to do so. All went relatively well but I did cry upon waking from anesthesia due to the pain. The nurse was wonderful and kept me until the pain was under control. Had a snafu getting my prescriptions but finally made it home 3 hours after waking in recovery. I have my iPhone alarm set for every fours to take my pain pills and I take antibiotics and cough syrup every twelve hours. I have had a cough for two weeks any they did a breathing treatment on me before they put me under. Coughing isn’t too bad which surprises me. Perhaps because the pain is more in the center and top of my throat vs the esophagus. Sleeping is a challenge. If I do not sit up straight with pillows against the wall then I seem to choke on my spit. Without the tonsils there, it just slides right down. I know this may all get worse before it gets better but it will all be worth it.
Thank you for letting me know that laying back is pure hell. I tried to lay back because i felt sick but nearly choked to death. I’ve been propped up to sleep and do pretty well like that. I hope tomorrow is better. I had my tonsils removed today October 1.
Continued: took one Percocet. Hung out in the recovery room for a while sipping on ice water. At this point, I’m post-op about 5 hours and I feel great. I’m even kind of hungry! I have set my alarm for every 4 hours to wake me for percocets. I will continue taking 2 at this point to avoid breakthrough pain. I’m tired but only really able to doze at this point with my neck pillow. I keep trying to sip sip sip water. I feel good but am soooooo scared for the horrors to come….
Something that also has helped is getting a wash cloth really cold…. Wring it out and twist it around neck. Add a hand towel under that to absorb water. I change it out periodically. It seems to absorb heat from my neck. Check it out after a few minutes the heat seems to have transferred into the cloth.
Got to the hospital, was very anxious but had lots of great care. Asked for some versed to ease my mind which helped. They rolled me into the OR, said I’d be feeling some stinging in my IV then the next thing I know I’m in recovery. Anesthesia is amazing!
Ate some jello, got some IV fentanyl and took one pwrv
Hello all-
I am a 32 year old male and I just had my tonsillectomy yesterday morning. So far not so bad at all! I’ve been eating solid foods and my pain no lie is at a 1-2. I’m surprised about this to tell you the truth. Right now it feels a little uncomfortable when I swallow but I have had sore throats that have been SO much worse. I realize that it is only day 2, but whats strange to me is that the pain doesn’t seem to be progressing. We will see what happens though because it seems to get worse for people later. A couple of things I am doing: 1) Taking pain meds like clockwork. I made sure I got something strong. (Dilaudid 4 mg). I am also taking Tylenol with it as Dilaudid does not contain Acetaminophin. 2) I am gargling with a salt water and baking soad mix. Gently. I am using the packets that came with my neti pot. Other than that I am just relaxing. I am able to do everything I can usually. Everyone is different I guess because I have read some horror stories here. My experience so far has been NOTHING of that variety. We will see what happens. I will be sure to post everything either way it goes. Good luck to all of you going in for this procedure and don’t worry about it! This is not as bad as it sounds on here! In my case at least. We will see if I’m singing the same tune tomorrow. LOL 🙂
I’m wit ya buddy, I’m bout 8 hrs removed fron my tonsilectomy, and it pretty much feels like a sore throat, if pain does not progress then this shud b cake walk. But ive also been warned not to b fooled by the first days effects, the next two days will tell all…. So we shall see
Returned from surgery around 1pm exhausted, but okay. Doctor’s gave me additional IV pain medication. Started liquid vicodin on the hour, every hour as soon as I got home. My doctor said I could take a tsp an hour, or 4 tsp every 4 hours. I decided to keep with the low dosage more often. Missed a few doses for sleeping, and wished i hadn’t. Ate popsicles and chicken broth. Drank water with a camelpak, because the constant sipping is easier than forcing yourself into big gulps and got two full paks down over the course of the day. Went to sleep taking 3 tsp of vicodin and set my alarm for four hours. Woke up two hours in with a lot of pain, hard to swallow water. Was up every two or so trying to get more water and in pain.
Day 1 over. I am 41 and had my tonsils out yesterday. After many years of twice yearly throat infections I finally found an ENT who had the smarts to say I needed this done. I’ve read many things on this website and will continue to do so. All went relatively well but I did cry upon waking from anesthesia due to the pain. The nurse was wonderful and kept me until the pain was under control. Had a snafu getting my prescriptions but finally made it home 3 hours after waking in recovery. I have my iPhone alarm set for every fours to take my pain pills and I take antibiotics and cough syrup every twelve hours. I have had a cough for two weeks any they did a breathing treatment on me before they put me under. Coughing isn’t too bad which surprises me. Perhaps because the pain is more in the center and top of my throat vs the esophagus. Sleeping is a challenge. If I do not sit up straight with pillows against the wall then I seem to choke on my spit. Without the tonsils there, it just slides right down. I know this may all get worse before it gets better but it will all be worth it.
Thank you for letting me know that laying back is pure hell. I tried to lay back because i felt sick but nearly choked to death. I’ve been propped up to sleep and do pretty well like that. I hope tomorrow is better. I had my tonsils removed today October 1.