Tonsillectomy Recovery Day by Day
Day 5
A collection of various experiences of adult tonsillectomy patients on their fifth 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 5. 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 5.
-Greg Tooke My short bio
- Tonsillectomy Day 5 : Can I take the pain killers every two hours?
- Oh God. PAIN. …And why am I constipated??
- So, the pain is a little better today. I took Tylenol at 2:00am and didn’t need it again until 12:00pm – I’d consider that progress! The coughing is still present. I’m trying to avoid it, but it’s harder than you think. There isn’t much to say about today. I’m talking a little more, but don’t want to strain my voice even more, so I’m still writing a lot down. I had soup again today and canned peaches are awesome – even though I had to puree them. All in all, the throat is feeling okay; the ears – still painful.
- Day 5 and so far it has been pretty tolerable
- Day 5: so today i woke up feeling pretty good, my throat was a little tender but once i took the meds the pain was almost gone and i didn’t need to have any ice or Popsicles. i ate some noodles and pesto sauce. drank water and coca-cola and had some ice cream. I ate potato smileys for dinner. they went down pretty well although thier was a little pain but once i drank some pop it went away. The scabs fell off today as well and i didn’t feel it at all just the occasional tickle and i could feel them hanging down but then i looked in the mirror and they were just gone, so i’m assuming that i just swallowed them :s ( kinda gross)
- Day 5 and still not getting better. When does it start getting better?! Im nauseous all the time because I have no food in my stomach but i have to take my pain meds because the pain is incredible! I started out weighing apprx 108lbs and weighed myself today and I weigh 101lbs. I hope I dont lose much more. This is depressing
- Day 5 for me and definitely the worst day yet…woke up so nauseated and was so nervous about throwing up and ripping a scab off..got a hold of my doctor who ordered me some anti Nausea med’s
- Day 5. I’m very thankful that I’ve had a great recovery so far. No major pain other than a sore throat. Today I substituted a dose of the Hydrocodone for a dose of ibuprofen and am doing well. I’ve been eating since the very first day (applesauce, grits, milkshake)
- Day 5 and I had my best night sleep yet last night. Had to stop by Drs office yesterday. My tongue felt swollen and getting a lot of itching with the Roxicet. He said I was doing fine. Still taking Benadryl at night though. I find if I talk I pay for it later on so trying to talk as little as possible. Went to my office for an hour to do payroll but had to leave as I wanted to talk. Still eating good and no stomach issues at all. Hoping to get out of the house tomorrow even just to take a short walk.
- Throat is a little more tender today, and ears hurt when i swallow now. From what i have read/heard it is just the progression of the healing.
- Day 5-7–nothing exciting to tell, tried to eat a few more interesting things, but throat hurt too much since I wasn’t taking pain meds. Soft boiled eggs were my friend. Getting bored being home by myself all day so I went shopping for an hour and had to come home and take a nap!
- day 5 and so far it has been pretty tolerable. First day I had only soft food and lots of coke and water but from day 2 I ate normally. Doctor prescribed Voltaren 100mg suppositories which works like a charm for 8 hours, the 4 hours before the next dose however is excrutiating to say the least.
- Day 5- horrible morning, good during day.
- Recovery Day 5 (post-op day 6):This day was pretty much a blur. More pain and not a lot of food or water. Was in too much agony to do much of anything. Taking the liquid Tylenol and chasing it with a teaspoon of lortab each dose time.
- Tonsillectomy Day 5 : Day 5: I am still trying to just get through the day. I sleep much better at night and have noticed a major difference in how I feel; I have more energy and I feel rested after sleeping. I cried today over mashed potatoes and small curd cottage cheese. I am not a happy camper.
>> Next – Recovery Day 6 >>
Pain today was Brutal!! Scabs fell off around 6pm while I was watching TV. It was very random but I started to laugh then looked in my throat to see a small amount of blood and no scabs. I was miserable all day, could barely eat, my throat was driving me absolutely crazy!! I was very irritable, mainly because I was food deprived and couldn’t get comfortable.
Day 4-5
Morning on day four was exactly the same as the others .. Awful 🙁 I’ve found a rhythm with the medication and have taken to writing down what time EXACTLY I take tablets and trying to alternate my panadene and icy so that they take effect before the other wears off… I’m glad to have finally started by quartz tablets which help a lot. I’ve been feeling fairly good from midday day four all the way up til now (afternoon, day 5). I slept well and woke up ready to go to visit work and the docs in the morning. It was nice to get out of the house for a bit. I think I’ve got a bit of scabbing though because I find myself randomly choking on sharp things at the back of my throat (and coughing is a real no-no..) so maybe it’s healing well afterall…. I have discovered my criptonite though… The one thing I cannot and WILL NOT EAT right now – bananas. I know right?! It’s soft and great for the tummy but ive been fooled twice now – both times I’ve been left in excruciating pain in my throat that brings tears to my eyes.. And this comes from someone who eats toast every day without issue. Beware it!
Ok, the end of Day 5. Pain is and has been a 4-5. It’s just a different kind of pain every hour, or so it seems,
This morning the pain was at the site of the offending tonsils….really dry scabbed and hard to swallow. Then this afternoon the pain shifted to the Uvula and related sutures…same thing, kind of dry and scabbed and uncomfortable to swallow. This evening, back to the tonsils.
I’ve tried to phase out the Roxicet…fact is that it’s pain killing properties are good. About the best thing I have done is stretched it out to 5 or so hours…. Also finishing up antibiotics for swelling and adding in a little Iboprofen alternating. I was concerned about running out of Roxicet and Dr office called to check on me…another script awaits.
I worked for about 2 hours this morning…that was all I could do. Really surprising me that I can’t hang longer. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
On a positive note…I am sleeping better than ever. What little I get is really good solid sleep, with no snoring complaints from my wife. She said it sounds as if I am really sleeping! Novel concept.
Last thing…I started doing a little lukewarm gargling and it has been pretty liberating. Starting to lightly thin out some of the scabbing, which has brought on some terrible breath. From what I understand, this is expected and a move in the right direction. It also feels good to kind of clean it out a little without bleeding, etc.
On to Day 6.
Today was a great day. Sore throat is at a 4 pain scale most of the day. Tired still but not feeling like this is going to get worse! I think I’m out of the woods.
its actually 1am in the morning of day 6 as I type this only now that I am feeling well enough after what I can safely say is one the most TRAUMATIC experiences of my life on day 5. In a nutshell I suffered hemorrhage and joined the 2% of extreme cases.
Read at your peril…
Ok so day 5 started with extreme pain after sleeping for 5 hours so throat was sore and parched. I took oxycodones and 2 paracetomols and went to the mall to buy a slurpee for breakfast which still hurt to swallow and did some shopping. I drove to the mall to do this. When I got home I tried to cook 2 boiled eggs and tried to force that down my throat with 4 pieces of white sandwich crust removed. This was painful even with the extra strong pain meds. I tried to chew on some frozen watermelon shake I prepared with my meals which helps. Come 3pm and I cook some macaroni and cheese on advice others on this forum and elsewhere to try something different. After it cooled down I could only manage 3 bites and had to stop after extreme pain again. I took 2 paracetomols to try manage this pain. I waited an hour to see if that would do but at 4pm I felt crap so took the oxycodone to boost. Watched an hour of Sons of Anarchy while I waited for the pain to reduce which it did but was now feeling diarhea. Problem was I was sooo constipated from the oxy that as I went to the toilet I could feel my stomach churning so bad to let loose but it was like my bowel simply refused to open no matter how hard I push. I decided it was time to get some laxatives to help. So off I go into my car and drive to the nearest grocery store. As I’m walking through the store I felt something warm trickling from the inside of my throat. Initially didnt think anything of it but then it came again and again in frequent bursts. Immediately knew it was blood as I could do nothing but swallow each spurt of blood somewhere in the back of the throat. I started to panic and ran quickly to my car and drove the hell out of there back home. As I got out of the car I spat out a 2 mouthful of blood. I ran in the house and cried out to my mom for help. She gave me a bucket to spit the continuous blood now coming out of my mouth and then she drove us to the nearest ER 15 mins away. On the way I really felt like vomiting but held it in there. Once inside the ER I couldnt hold it and vomited 2 times all the blood which had flowed into my stomach and made me sick. The nurses measured my blood and put me on IV and contacted my ENT to come. I was told by the nurses I looked pale in the face from the blood loss. By this time around 7pm a clot seemed to have form to stop the bleeding as I waited for the operation. It took till midnight before they started operating since beds were at a premium and other surgeries were going on. The surgery which I was told my ENT did not cauterize but stitch the bleeding area. After I woke up I could feel a huge lump in my throat where the bleed was from and had a hard time adjusting my breathing with it. That night in hospital I had worse ever pain in the throat now been operated twice and the nurses didnt prescribe me any painkillers. I demanded an oxy and they gave me one which only worked an hour before the pain kicked in again so I begged for another but it was too soon and had to wait another 2hrs. I was also still constipated but constantly felt diarhea and had to go to the toilet only nothing came out. On top of this every swallow of water burned like hell and so I couldnt sleep at all. I decided the diarhea was a bigger problem than the sore throat and wanted to fix the constipation so I could at least have some comfort from the bowels. I avoided any oxy for the rest of the day and when
I was discharged I got my mum to buy some laxatives to help with the constipation. Got home and avoided any oxy just took 2 paracetomls for pain relief , my prescribed antibiotics and steroid and the laxative for constipation. After about 2 hours I rushed to the toilet and finally emptied my bowel. I noticed nothing but dark red liquid in the toilet bowl and knew it was blood from the stomach. Another hour and I went again. After this I started feeling dizzy and wanted to throw up but stopped myself because was scared of opening the bleed site. Even when I wanted to burp which was often since drinking all the time I tried to stop it as it felt like the throat is being stretched and agitate the wound. I got worried also as I could still taste some blood when I swallow and felt like the quick fix for the nausea was to throw up any more blood in my stomach. Got my mum to call the ENT for advice and he reassured us its mostly the antibiotics because I truly hadnt eaten a thing since the macaroni the previous day. I didnt feel hungry at all despite this but tried to force down half a small cup of jelly and one piece of tofu. That seemed to make my stomach like something inside which felt a little better but now my throat started to increase in pain so I stopped as I wasnt at all hungry. I took another 2 paracetomil to manage the pain and went to bed.
Im still quite upset with the experience and don;t know how else I could have done to prevent it. If you read my previous days post on this blog I tried to follow the recommendations from this site and others. About me I’m 39 had the op which the ENT used cauterization method on friday 25th October which was fine . Been using mist humidifier by my bedside the whole time. Been trying to manage the pain without oxy up until day 3 when things got harder. I tried to eat soft food like jello but changed it something different that others suggested here like cooled soups, mashed potatoes, smoothies, ramen noodles, scrambled eggs, macaroni. I didnt eat anyhing hard like toast which some others have tried. I didnt exert myself too much other than to go for a drive to the mall and walk around a bit. I can’t blame my ENT since he operated twice on my nose in the past successfully and was happy with the results and the T op was fine no problem or pain initially. The only thing I think I can do differently if I could go back to prevent this was to keep the diet strictly jello and nothing more for a week. But with the debate about eating soft vs hard food post surgery Im not 100% sure it would matter but for the safe side believe soft food is what I would recommend. The tonsil area needs to heal and I notice like everyone it hurts when you swallow or eat with or without pain meds. So this cant be a good thing while the throat heals. Sure you need food but keep it strictly soft as possible and eat only when necessary to give yourself the greatest chance of no bleeding. As for the 2% of cases which result in hemorrhage bleeding I am now in that category but god how I tried desperately to avoid this after researching and reading as much as possible to prevent this. I can still taste a little blood sometimes when swallow which is still a worry so I’ll check again tomorrow to see if it is nothing to serious.