Check out our new tonsillectomy recovery video- Caution: Not always pretty
A collection of various experiences of adult tonsillectomy patients on their second 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. Below I share comments about tonsillectomy day 2. 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.What to eat? Thoughts on the post tonsillectomy diet
Please feel free to add your own experience with tonsillectomy day 2.
-Greg My short bio
Tonsillectomy Day 2
Day 2 : I don’t even need narcotics. Give me some pudding!
Day 2 : This must be the pain everyone’s talking about. Yay, drugs!
Day 2 : So, I woke up today in some intense pain, as the children’s Tylenol wasn’t even lasting half of the time as it was supposed to. My throat and uvula felt extremely swollen, which is completely normal for the first few days after surgery. I was really adamant about not taking the codeine because I have a very sensitive stomach and I know that codeine is very strong – especially on an empty stomach. I decided to try to swallow the amoxicillin again – I guess I didn’t learn my lesson the first time! After 30 minutes and finally getting both capsules down, I decided enough is enough and next time I was definitely going to open the capsules and mix them with jell-o. Sure enough, I decided to be smart one more time and say that it’s all in my head and they won’t get stuck again. Um, why am I so stubborn at times? However, the third time they got stuck was the charm. I started getting upset and promised myself that I will not swallow them again. I stuck to my word this time! Needless to say, amoxicillin and jell-o don’t taste so swell together. In fact, I gagged just about every time I had to take them; lucky for me, it was 2 capsules 3 times daily for 1 week – what bliss! The morning and afternoon wasn’t terrible, as I was able to get by on the children’s Tylenol. I ate popsicles and freezies throughout the day, and was wondering why I had so much phlegm. I put my thinking cap on and realized that it must be the sugar in them that is causing the excess of phlegm – it wasn’t pleasant. Nevertheless, I continued to eat them because they soothed my throat. I realized a weird symptom today, uncontrollable burping!?! I was a little taken back by this, but after talking to a few people, I was told it was just my digestive track returning to normal. The evening on the other hand, got a lot worse! I decided to sacrifice my stubbornness, and take the codeine (yes people, on an EMPTY stomach)! That night my stomach hurt a bit because of the codeine, but I figured it would settle. I prayed it would settle! I didn’t even want to think about vomiting after a tonsillectomy – ouch!
Day 2 : bad morning, felt good during the day, night time pain was really bad Stopped pain meds on day 2 due to nausea and dizziness.
Day 2 : i went home and slept and woke up at 9:30am and wasnt feeling too bad. I lost track of time and missed my timing for the meds and was in excruciating pain at about 12pm. once the effects of the t3′s came in, it eased the pain a little bit. I managed to eat 3 fried eggs and some soft meat thing. but i felt really nauseated after eating it. I also drank a lot of water even though it hurt like hell to swallow
Day 2 : I’m about to finish day 2. I have been chewing on some juicy fruit gum, eating bomb pops and scrambled eggs(with just a little milk and cheese mixed in) and they are going down easy. I now have some pain on my tongue, several sore spots. Hurts worse than my throat. The liquid roxicet the doctor gave me works great. I’m only consuming about 5ml instead of the recommended 10ml.
Day 2 : Well it was a bit of a rough night. Had another anxiety attack around 6am. Had a bunch of flem/thick mucus coating my throat because it was drying out, due to breathing through my mouth. The this mucus was making it difficult to swallow and I began to worry i would choke or drown. It is also difficult to drink, when i swallow fluids creep up my nose, but since i cannot really breathe through my nose, i cant clear it. This also gives me anxiety.
tonsillectomy recovery day 2 : Day two–sucked!! Nauseous all day from taking pain meds on empty stomach, throwing up, finally doc gave a scrip for anti-nausea medicine so my mom (bless her heart, stayed with my for 5 days) went and got my meds. Couldn’t eat or take pain meds without barfing. Pain was awful.
tonsillectomy day 2 : day 2 was terrible! Mornings are the worst too. I found waking up a few times in the night just for a sip of water really helped! Also for the first time last night I used an icepack! So much relief! It’s such a long process but there is a light at the end of this painful tunnel!
Day 2 : Day 2- bad morning, felt good during the day, night time pain was really bad.
day 2 : Days 2-3: I would call this a “steady decline”. Pain became worse and I could not eat anything. No popsicles, no ice cream. Finally at the end of day 3 I discovered Jello. Oh thank heaven for Jello, it felt soooo good both on my throat and to actually have something in my stomach.
tonsillectomy recovery day two : Was able to sleep a little bit more over night but not much. The Lortab med made me feel very weird and I took a little too much of it because the pain was so bad and that was a mistake. Felt like I had a minor overdose. I ended the day with a slight mental breakdown in the bathroom with the worst pain in my throat and head that I have ever felt in my life. Did not eat much and my appetite seemed to vanish. Pretty much hit a roadblock today and my body just did not feel like doing anything.
tonsillectomy day two : I made it through the night ok. I was put on an oxygen reader to make sure I was breathing an acceptable level of oxygen. I didn’t get much sleep because of the pain.
Tonsillectomy
Aug 20th, 10:41a: (Sorry for long post, this outlines from yesterdays Tonsiectomy to the following morning)
Please forgive any typos, still have a ton of drugs in me. To be clear, I am the biggest pansy when it comes to pain.
So much so, when they were hooking me up to the IV I almost decided not to go through with my tonsillectomy. The wife and the sedative they gave me helped sway my decision.
The reason: I had a table saw accident several years ago and knew what 10-10 pain is. If you are anything like me, you researched the sh!t out of this procedure and are now terrified because almost 98% of the accounts of this surgery are horrible stories.
I am journaling my experience for those like me that are spending 100’s of hours reading and prepping. Hopefully, this will help you.
Just had a coblation tonsillectomy at 7:30a Thursday August 20, 2015, for chronic tonsil stones. ENT told my wife he could not believe they were not removed as a child because of the scarring on them from multiple sicknesses.
I am a 35-year-old male and live in the USA. Just got back home now several minutes ago from outpatient surgery and wanted to start this right away while it is fresh in my mind. This must be the “honeymoon phase” since I am in very little pain. Maybe a 1-2 out of 10.
Ate jello and now about to eat Kraft mac and cheese since I hear when the anesthesia the stuff wears off, it is bad.
I am prescribed 1-2 Dilaudid 4mg every 4-6 and Norco 10/325 every 2-4 hours. Phenergan suppositories for nausea, tetracaine numbing lollipops, the tonsil fire extinguisher, and a stool softener. ENT talked me out of the steroids since he said it prolongs healing but I really want them, all I need to do is call and ask.
Drinking a TON of water right now to keep hydrated. Took two soft ice packs you can get in the camping section of Walmart and put them in a sock to wrap around my neck. Will keep you posted.
Aug. 20th 5:30p.
So pain is at about a 2-3 out of 10. Not terrible at all. I am at 64oz of water in a Nalgene bottle that has a neoprene cover on it to keep it cold. Resting in a recliner watching TV. Have two TV stands next to the recliner with a humidifier on each one, tv remote, etc.
Ate jello, which went down great then ate Kraft Mac and cheese again, and a protein shake.
Wife made me mini Gatorade ice cubes and strawberry ensure ice cubes.
ICE, ICE, ICE and WATER, WATER, WATER is a must! Was able to take a few cat naps about 30 minutes a piece. Making sure I stay hydrated.
My sister is a surgical nurse for an ENT and stressed the importance of ICE and Hydration. I have had an ice pack around my next the entire time.
Not too much more to report. Oh, buy one of those travel neck pillows.
Aug. 21st 2 am
Ladies and Gentlemen, please put your seat trays and seat backs into upright and locked position because we are in for a bumpy ride. Boy am I glad I got that food down earlier.
Took my last pain meds yesterday night around 10:30p and fell right to sleep. I set an alarm for 1:30a to make sure I drank more H2O and took more pain meds. Well, no alarm clock needed. I woke up with a solid 7-8 out of ten pain level at exactly 1:19a. Feels like the left tonsil scab is wanting to peel (which it does not appear to by flashlight inspection) and like the worse case of strep throat I ever had.
I forgot to mention from when I woke up in recovery and to now I have not talked, but two words to make sure the vocals still worked. Been using a dry erase board or texting from my computer and phone to communicate with the wife. From several other peoples stories they said talking tends to make you pay for it later.
On top of that, I also forgot to mention I am on three different blood pressure medicines and Prilosec as well for acid reflux that my GP, who referred me to the ENT said I must stay on. That is an additional four pills a day that must go down each morning.
From up until now I was rotating from one Norco 10/325 to one 4mg Dilaudid every three hours. The pain I just work up in, I just took one of each and a Phenergan to keep the nausea down. I also drank another 16oz of water, had apple sauce, and made another protein shake.
It is not my intention to scare anyone away. I did mention earlier I am the world’s biggest pansy when it comes to pain, I just want to share an accurate experience of what I am going through as it happens. It has been pretty much on par with other people’s stories.
I am journaling this in pages on my Mac, so I will go ahead and upload it to this forum in case someone else is in or near the same recovery phase as me.
The Phenergan is starting to kick in which makes you sleepy. Thanks for listening and must keep that end goal in mind of NO MORE TONSIL STONES:-)
HELP! My 15 year old son had golf-ball size infected tonsils and ” huge” adenoids removed yesterday . He is really tough – varsity goal keeper… Even on Lortab every 4 hours, he is in so much pain, he won’t swallow his own siliva. Just spits it into his basin. He keeps ice pack on his throat. If he accidentally swallows, he cries in pain. I’m concerned about dehydration. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Single Mom Chris
I was given Vicodin instead of Lortab, but they are fairly similar..Lortab has more acetaminophen in it. The daily Max for acetaminophen is 4000 Mg. Lortab is 500 so he could be taking it every 3 hours. Another random tip I got today from a friend who takes hydrocodone for migraines is to take it with an Excedrin migraine. The aspirin and caffeine open up the blood vessels letting more of the hydrocodone into your system (according to her doctor) I tried it and it did seem to help a bit. One down side is that aspirin is a blood thinner. If you think he is at risk for bleeding, it might not be with it (though it doesn’t sound like he will be the type to be knocking off scabs early by sneaking a piece of pizza). You could just pick up some JetAlert or NoDoze to get some caffeine in in the morning without the aspirin.
It’s now. 1036 pm of day 2. I have had much success taking pain medicine every 4 hours (2tsps of Roxicet). It tastes awful but I take Zofran a half hour before the pain medicine and it seems to let the liquid pain med go down easier. I am not in as much pain as I thought I would be at this point. Lots of ice and water are helping I suppose
My mom came to spend the day with me while my husband went to work. I am feeling pretty good overall. We managed to wrap Christmas presents, I made some dairy-free chocolate pudding, took a really nice bubble bath. As long as I keep sipping on fluids and take pain meds every 3.5 – 4 hours, I am fine. I always make sure to eat a little something about 20 minutes before it is time to take medicine so I haven’t had any problems with nausea.
It feels amazingly good to brush my teeth (with a kids toothbrush), scrape my tongue and gargle with listerine. My uvula so swollen it rests on the back of my tongue. I constantly feel like there is something back there that I need to spit out or swallow.
I have one of the “Liberator Ramp” pillows. It keeps me propped up at a decent angle, but I am on my side most of the time. If I try to lay on my back I choke on my uvula too. I wouldn’t say that I “sleep” much, but I am able to get some rest. I am taking Benadryl too to help with post-nasal drip and to help me me rest. I don’t let myself sleep for more than an hour though or my throat dries out painfully!
I had my tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (spelling?) on December 16th, and it’s recovery day 2.
I’m 15 years old by the way, and had my tonsils out because I had cryptic tonsils, which trapped nasty food bits and smelled REALLY bad if the bits broke :/
It’s pretty hard to swallow, but the pain meds definitely help. Cold water is good, but I’m currently drinking lukewarm chicken broth (low sodium, low fat) and it tastes like heaven!
Ice packs on the neck help, as long as you can get them to say on!
Day 2 was decent for me after a rough first night with little sleep. I was able to catch a nap or two here and there without too much pain, although I am nervous to let myself fall asleep due to my fear of snoring and further agitating the back of my throat. The liquid hydrocodone kept pain at bay well today, and I only took one teaspoon every four hours instead of the 2 teaspoons yesterday. I added in a little liquid acetaminophen to cover the last hour in my dosing cycle because the hydro was not quite lasting. I am keeping careful track of how much medicine I am taking and when—especially to watch the amount of acetaminophen due to the possibility of liver damage. I continued to drink fairly comfortable today, mostly ice water with crushed ice. Swallowing the ice feels great on my throat. I ate some chicken broth (room temp) for lunch, two Italian ices, and got brave at dinner time and had some cool, mashed potatoes. After all, it is Thanksgiving! The potatoes tasted great and went down smoothly, although my pain definitely spiked after eating. Took a nap and work up to new sensation of itching in my ears. Not sure if that means the infamous ear pain is right around the corner. We shall see.
HELP! My 15 year old son had golf-ball size infected tonsils and ” huge” adenoids removed yesterday . He is really tough – varsity goal keeper… Even on Lortab every 4 hours, he is in so much pain, he won’t swallow his own siliva. Just spits it into his basin. He keeps ice pack on his throat. If he accidentally swallows, he cries in pain. I’m concerned about dehydration. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Single Mom Chris
I was given Vicodin instead of Lortab, but they are fairly similar..Lortab has more acetaminophen in it. The daily Max for acetaminophen is 4000 Mg. Lortab is 500 so he could be taking it every 3 hours. Another random tip I got today from a friend who takes hydrocodone for migraines is to take it with an Excedrin migraine. The aspirin and caffeine open up the blood vessels letting more of the hydrocodone into your system (according to her doctor) I tried it and it did seem to help a bit. One down side is that aspirin is a blood thinner. If you think he is at risk for bleeding, it might not be with it (though it doesn’t sound like he will be the type to be knocking off scabs early by sneaking a piece of pizza). You could just pick up some JetAlert or NoDoze to get some caffeine in in the morning without the aspirin.
It’s now. 1036 pm of day 2. I have had much success taking pain medicine every 4 hours (2tsps of Roxicet). It tastes awful but I take Zofran a half hour before the pain medicine and it seems to let the liquid pain med go down easier. I am not in as much pain as I thought I would be at this point. Lots of ice and water are helping I suppose
Hope it stays smooth for you Nick. Keep drinking!!!
My mom came to spend the day with me while my husband went to work. I am feeling pretty good overall. We managed to wrap Christmas presents, I made some dairy-free chocolate pudding, took a really nice bubble bath. As long as I keep sipping on fluids and take pain meds every 3.5 – 4 hours, I am fine. I always make sure to eat a little something about 20 minutes before it is time to take medicine so I haven’t had any problems with nausea.
It feels amazingly good to brush my teeth (with a kids toothbrush), scrape my tongue and gargle with listerine. My uvula so swollen it rests on the back of my tongue. I constantly feel like there is something back there that I need to spit out or swallow.
Are you finding it easy to sleep upright? I wake up every so often gagging on my uvula
I have one of the “Liberator Ramp” pillows. It keeps me propped up at a decent angle, but I am on my side most of the time. If I try to lay on my back I choke on my uvula too. I wouldn’t say that I “sleep” much, but I am able to get some rest. I am taking Benadryl too to help with post-nasal drip and to help me me rest. I don’t let myself sleep for more than an hour though or my throat dries out painfully!
I had my tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (spelling?) on December 16th, and it’s recovery day 2.
I’m 15 years old by the way, and had my tonsils out because I had cryptic tonsils, which trapped nasty food bits and smelled REALLY bad if the bits broke :/
It’s pretty hard to swallow, but the pain meds definitely help. Cold water is good, but I’m currently drinking lukewarm chicken broth (low sodium, low fat) and it tastes like heaven!
Ice packs on the neck help, as long as you can get them to say on!
🙂
Day 2 was decent for me after a rough first night with little sleep. I was able to catch a nap or two here and there without too much pain, although I am nervous to let myself fall asleep due to my fear of snoring and further agitating the back of my throat. The liquid hydrocodone kept pain at bay well today, and I only took one teaspoon every four hours instead of the 2 teaspoons yesterday. I added in a little liquid acetaminophen to cover the last hour in my dosing cycle because the hydro was not quite lasting. I am keeping careful track of how much medicine I am taking and when—especially to watch the amount of acetaminophen due to the possibility of liver damage. I continued to drink fairly comfortable today, mostly ice water with crushed ice. Swallowing the ice feels great on my throat. I ate some chicken broth (room temp) for lunch, two Italian ices, and got brave at dinner time and had some cool, mashed potatoes. After all, it is Thanksgiving! The potatoes tasted great and went down smoothly, although my pain definitely spiked after eating. Took a nap and work up to new sensation of itching in my ears. Not sure if that means the infamous ear pain is right around the corner. We shall see.