Tonsillectomy Day 1




Tonsillectomy Recovery Day by Day

Day One -The Honeymoon

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.

Check out our new tonsillectomy recovery video- Caution: Not always pretty


Please feel free to add your own experience with tonsillectomy day 1.
-Greg Tooke 

Tonsillectomy Day 1
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.

Tonsillectomy Recovery
Tonsillectomy Recovery

 

Next> Recovery Day 2 >

191 comments

  1. I had my surgery 12/18/12. Let me start by saying that I had tonsillitis and then a peritoniller abcess a week and 1/2 before my surgery. I NEVER ever want to go through another peritonsiller abcess again. Couldnt swallow my own saliva. It was the worst pain I’ve ever had!
    Ok- so day 1- I live 1hr away from the hosptial and Dr. that did my surgery so he agreed to keep me over night. I was so glad. I ate icechips continually. I couldnt drink. DO NOT take big gulps. No matter what the paperwork says. DONT DO IT!!! Youll have to swallow 4 times to feel like youve cleared it and you feel like your choking. Just take a spoonful of water or icechips or whatever at a time. Trust me! Got super nauseated that night and hurled big time. SO glad I was still in the hospital. It was horriffic. I hope you all dont hurl with this. Pain wise I was trying to be strong (stupid idea) so I stayed with a 3/10 pain which I thought was great compared to the peritonsiller abcess pain. But, take the drugs!!!

  2. Day One: Went in for a tonsillectomy December 21st. My surgery was a bit more intense as The tonsils were removed for biopsy, biopsies taken from the back of both sides of my tongue and the nasopharynx. I also had a laryngoscopy. All this was to help diagnose Metastatic Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck.

    PET scan lit up several lymph nodes in the left side of my neck as well as my right tonsil. The tonsil was iffy so out they came this morning. They need to get a better look. Doctor was encouraged as my larynx and vocal cords look Ok.

    So… woke up not feeling too bad. The back of my tongue hurt more than my throat. That was short lived. By this evening 9pm, I’m a hurtin’ pup for sure. Thank God for the pain meds. I’ve been sipping Powerade Zero since I got home. I haven’t eaten anything yet but as soon as this last dose of pain meds kicks in, I’m going to try some room temp chicken broth.

    I’m not liking what I’ve been reading here on the forum of what I have to look forward to. I can only hope my experience won’t be as bad as some I’ve read.

  3. I guess yesterday is considered day 1 since that is when I had my tonsillectomy and today day 2. I took pain meds every 3 hours ( my dose is 20 ml every 6 hrs, so I cut the dose in half for better pain coverage. We set our alarms to go off every 3 hrs for meds and a few drinks. Oddly enough, apple juice is my favorite so far. I have tried pudding, jello, applesauce, a Popsicle and mashed potatoes. As much as I dislike jello normally, it seems to be my favorite right now. I can open wide enough for a Popsicle comfortably yet, and my normal standby of instant mashed potatoes did not work at all! I’ve kept an ice bag on since pacu yesterday and it does seem to help quite a bit. Guess I’m lucky, I’m normally a stomach sleeper, but last night slept comfortably in bed on my side with my pillow elevated on some blankets. Tonight my folks got me a wedge pillow, so we will see how it goes later.

    I can already feel Improved breathing thru my nose, however it seems like all the “junk” has taken up residence in my throat. Knowing how bad the last32 hours have been, I’m still terrified of what is to come. Thank heavens my husband as been wonderful!

    We live in a very small space so I havent tried the humidifier yet. Figured I’d have a better idea after tonight.

    Time for my 2 hour nap. I pray you all have smooth and speedy recovery!

  4. Day 1:
    I have to say, waking up after surgery was brutal. I had mine out at 7:30, and the nurses said it only took about fifteen minutes. I woke up coughing because I couldn’t breathe, so the nurse had to spoon feed me a couple cups of ice chips. After going to the recovery room, my throat was extremely sore until the nurse came in with the pain medication I’ll be taking for the next week or so. I requested liquid medicine because of a post I had read on here. VERY good idea.
    Going home around 11:00, I had a cup of jello and simply cuddled with my dogs until I fell asleep and woke up six hours later. Unfortunately, this meant I missed my 1:00 dose. Very BAD idea. My throat was so bad I didn’t want to talk, and looking at food made me think of it scraping down my throat.
    After my mom got home with my medicine (liquid vicodin), I took it as soon as she walked through the door (around six thirty). After I took the medicine, I was able to talk to all the calling family members and I feel great.
    TIPS FOR DAY ONE:
    1. Ice water! I know it hurts most of the time, but I suggest drinking the most after you take your pain medication. It helps, trust me!
    2. Request liquid medicine!!! I can’t imagine having to swallow a whole pill. Especially because I had my tonsils taken out through cauterization. Ouch.
    3. Sleep when you need to, but try to keep moving around. I think laying in bed for at least a week by yourself would be a little depressing.
    4. Two words: Ramen Noodles! I made mine normally in the microwave, then put three ice cubes in it to make it room temperature. I LOVED IT! It wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t too cold, and it was slimey (in a good way) enough to slip down my throat while feeling good.
    I’ve been researching on this site for the past month, and it’s really prepared me. So I figured I would try to help someone else, too. Good Luck!

  5. I’m 31 and had tonsils out around 9am on Day 1. I tend to get nauseated pretty easily so my doctor prescribed me with a scopalomine patch to wear behind my ear the night before surgery, through Day 3. Everything was much better than expected. Painful to swallow but not as bad as some strep throat episodes I’ve had before. Took Lortab every 4 hours around the clock and made sure to have a humidifier around me at all times. Thought to myself, if this is what the next two weeks feel like, this will be a walk in the park. Worst part of Day 1 was the headache I had from caffeine withdrawal. Overall felt pleasantly surprised and glad the surgery is over and recovery has officially started.

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