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:-)
I’m on day two…I woke up at midnight to take my roxicet and then woke up every few hours because my throat was dry and sore or because I had mucus in my chest. I finally got up at 4am and went to the living room because I didn’t want to keep my fiance up all night with my coughing or movement. My throat was in extreme pain, but I stilI had another 2 hours before I could take more pain medication. I made some cream of chicken soup which helped a little. When 6am came around, I took my pain medication along with my first dose of liquid amoxicillin (which was yummy compared to the roxicet). I propped myself up at an angle on the couch and fell asleep for a while. I woke up about ever 30-45 minutes to take a sip of water because my throat was dry and sore. At noon, I ate some chicken and stars soup (I wasn’t ready to go for the full size noodles yet) and took another dose of pain killer. After an hour, I got really nauseous ran to the bathroom. I came really close, but did not throw up, thank goodness! I didn’t want to know the feeling of throwing up right after a tonsillectomy. I went back to the couch and fell asleep. I woke up feeling a little better. Swallowing is still difficult today and the pain is the worst as I get close to hour 6 when I can take another dose of medicine, but I’m surviving. Sleeping on the couch at an angle is giving me a headache and neck cramps, but it’s better than waking up choking on saliva or mucus from laying flat. I really hope day 3 is easier, but I’m not convinced it will be.
I had mine out yesterday @230 night time was the worst I would wake up suddenly coughing up mucus it feels gross. Every time I try Applesause or ice cream it feels like its stuck
I’m going to have my fiance pick up some mucinex (the kind without acetaminophen so it doesn’t react with my current meds) for me tonight and see if that help with the drainage/congestion. I’ll let you know how it works.
UPDATE: So the nausea took over and I got sick 🙁 The good thing is, it wasn’t any worse than throwing up without a sore throat. The bad thing is, I had just taken my pain meds and my antibiotics 30 minutes ago. I’m thinking of taking another dose of the pain meds. I didn’t take the max dosage anyway, but I’m also afraid it will make me sick again. I called my doctor and she is calling me in a prescription for percoset, which shouldn’t cause nausea, but the pharmacy will be closed before I can pick it up tonight. Currently, my stomach feels better but my throat is in pain. Looks like I might be in for a night of hell…
33 year old here. Day 2 and feeling ok so far! I got a call from the doc last night and she said my tonsils were so large that she was able to use some of the mucosa to stitch together instead of completely burning the area. As a result, I have less burned membranes and I should heal faster. I am lucky to have found a doc that thought to do that! If you can, remind your doc before going in to surgery to do this for you, because I can tell it’s made a world of difference for me!
So far, the pain is completely manageable and just feels like a strep throat. It’s still difficult to talk and my tongue is a bit swollen. I can now feel scabbing on the burned areas around my uvula. I’ve kept ice packs on my throat since the surgery, per doc’s order. Also taking liquid vicodin every 4 hrs and gargling a thick lidocaine syrup as needed. Been able to eat pudding, yogurt, ice pops, and a Jamba Juice. Drinking a LOT of water to keep hydrated and membranes moist. Chewing gum once in a while too.
I’ve got to say, for someone that doesn’t take pain very well, I am doing fabulous! lol!
Didn’t sleep at all, hiccups all night. Terrible, painful, horrible hiccups. 14 hours straight. Apparently a result of anesthesia and narcotics. I know what every single movie on Netflix is, all of my email is caught up etc. because I can’t sleep. Pain is bad but meds help a lot. Was able to eat 2 scrambled eggs and a soft brownie. I did get an hour nap sometime this afternoon. Able to speak but it is painful after a while. Tons of water and trying to swallow as much as possible. Pain is definitely not better than yesterday. Feels like a bad case of strep right now. Jaw is sore and basically trying to keep my mouth shut for the most part, which my wife is happy about. If you have had a throat access opened up, it’s about twice as bad as that pain. I am 31 years old and should have had this done 20 years ago.
Well, its day two…I got a good 6-7 hours of sleep last night. I woke up, took the pain meds and went back to bed. My neck, shoulders, and abs are pretty sore like I worked out big time yesterday. Not sure if its from the surgery or sleeping on a couch. The pain is worse, but not too bad. Probably a 4-5 out of ten. I don’t notice it if I don’t move.
The pain was barely there, although I still found swallowing tricky. I had been advised to eat normal foods, so I tried to eat a banana and some bread, but really I just nibbled, and ended up on soup. Swallowing was an uncomfortable sensation, not really because of the pain (as there wasnt much at all) – but more the fear that somehow the gulping is doing some sort of damage. It was almost like a reflex that I just needed to get over.
But honestly, day two was very manageable. The worst thing was the unpleasant taste in the back of my throat, so things could be a heck of a lot worse.
I’m on day two…I woke up at midnight to take my roxicet and then woke up every few hours because my throat was dry and sore or because I had mucus in my chest. I finally got up at 4am and went to the living room because I didn’t want to keep my fiance up all night with my coughing or movement. My throat was in extreme pain, but I stilI had another 2 hours before I could take more pain medication. I made some cream of chicken soup which helped a little. When 6am came around, I took my pain medication along with my first dose of liquid amoxicillin (which was yummy compared to the roxicet). I propped myself up at an angle on the couch and fell asleep for a while. I woke up about ever 30-45 minutes to take a sip of water because my throat was dry and sore. At noon, I ate some chicken and stars soup (I wasn’t ready to go for the full size noodles yet) and took another dose of pain killer. After an hour, I got really nauseous ran to the bathroom. I came really close, but did not throw up, thank goodness! I didn’t want to know the feeling of throwing up right after a tonsillectomy. I went back to the couch and fell asleep. I woke up feeling a little better. Swallowing is still difficult today and the pain is the worst as I get close to hour 6 when I can take another dose of medicine, but I’m surviving. Sleeping on the couch at an angle is giving me a headache and neck cramps, but it’s better than waking up choking on saliva or mucus from laying flat. I really hope day 3 is easier, but I’m not convinced it will be.
I had mine out yesterday @230 night time was the worst I would wake up suddenly coughing up mucus it feels gross. Every time I try Applesause or ice cream it feels like its stuck
I’m going to have my fiance pick up some mucinex (the kind without acetaminophen so it doesn’t react with my current meds) for me tonight and see if that help with the drainage/congestion. I’ll let you know how it works.
UPDATE: So the nausea took over and I got sick 🙁 The good thing is, it wasn’t any worse than throwing up without a sore throat. The bad thing is, I had just taken my pain meds and my antibiotics 30 minutes ago. I’m thinking of taking another dose of the pain meds. I didn’t take the max dosage anyway, but I’m also afraid it will make me sick again. I called my doctor and she is calling me in a prescription for percoset, which shouldn’t cause nausea, but the pharmacy will be closed before I can pick it up tonight. Currently, my stomach feels better but my throat is in pain. Looks like I might be in for a night of hell…
33 year old here. Day 2 and feeling ok so far! I got a call from the doc last night and she said my tonsils were so large that she was able to use some of the mucosa to stitch together instead of completely burning the area. As a result, I have less burned membranes and I should heal faster. I am lucky to have found a doc that thought to do that! If you can, remind your doc before going in to surgery to do this for you, because I can tell it’s made a world of difference for me!
So far, the pain is completely manageable and just feels like a strep throat. It’s still difficult to talk and my tongue is a bit swollen. I can now feel scabbing on the burned areas around my uvula. I’ve kept ice packs on my throat since the surgery, per doc’s order. Also taking liquid vicodin every 4 hrs and gargling a thick lidocaine syrup as needed. Been able to eat pudding, yogurt, ice pops, and a Jamba Juice. Drinking a LOT of water to keep hydrated and membranes moist. Chewing gum once in a while too.
I’ve got to say, for someone that doesn’t take pain very well, I am doing fabulous! lol!
Didn’t sleep at all, hiccups all night. Terrible, painful, horrible hiccups. 14 hours straight. Apparently a result of anesthesia and narcotics. I know what every single movie on Netflix is, all of my email is caught up etc. because I can’t sleep. Pain is bad but meds help a lot. Was able to eat 2 scrambled eggs and a soft brownie. I did get an hour nap sometime this afternoon. Able to speak but it is painful after a while. Tons of water and trying to swallow as much as possible. Pain is definitely not better than yesterday. Feels like a bad case of strep right now. Jaw is sore and basically trying to keep my mouth shut for the most part, which my wife is happy about. If you have had a throat access opened up, it’s about twice as bad as that pain. I am 31 years old and should have had this done 20 years ago.
*abcess not access -spell check
Well, its day two…I got a good 6-7 hours of sleep last night. I woke up, took the pain meds and went back to bed. My neck, shoulders, and abs are pretty sore like I worked out big time yesterday. Not sure if its from the surgery or sleeping on a couch. The pain is worse, but not too bad. Probably a 4-5 out of ten. I don’t notice it if I don’t move.
My day two experience was not bad at all.
The pain was barely there, although I still found swallowing tricky. I had been advised to eat normal foods, so I tried to eat a banana and some bread, but really I just nibbled, and ended up on soup. Swallowing was an uncomfortable sensation, not really because of the pain (as there wasnt much at all) – but more the fear that somehow the gulping is doing some sort of damage. It was almost like a reflex that I just needed to get over.
But honestly, day two was very manageable. The worst thing was the unpleasant taste in the back of my throat, so things could be a heck of a lot worse.