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 >>
I am 25 and I had my surgery on Tuesday, January 7th. I’m on day 5 of my recovery and it has been pretty awful. Day 1 and 2 were not too bad, but 3, 4, and 5 have been a lot worse. Before the surgery, I did not drink water at all and now ice is my best friend. I have only been able to have ice, Gatorade ice, coke, and Jello. Yesterday I was able to have a scrambled egg but it took me two hours to eat it. We don’t have an icemaker so we bought a bag of ice and have gone through many, many ice trays. I find it helpful to smash the ice with a mallet to break it into smaller pieces. I find this to also be good therapy although my ears hate it.
Luckily, I haven’t been nauseous at all. Days 1 and 2 I was able to do a little talking but as of day 3 I haven’t talked at all as it makes the pain a lot worse. For the first three days, my doctor had me on a newer pain med called Nucynta but it wasn’t working well for me so I switched to the liquid hydrocodone and it has been working better. I take it every 6 hours and take children’s liquid Tylenol in between every 6 hours. I am also on Penicillin. I keep an excel spreadsheet of my med schedule because it can be hard to keep track of everything.
I did a lot of research before having this surgery and people consistently said that sleeping could be your worst enemy. I sleep sitting up and set my alarm for every 20-30 minutes so I can stay hydrated. I occasionally sleep through my alarms and I wake up with a very dry throat and it takes over 30 minutes to get the pain under control.
On day 3 my tongue was very swollen but I rinsed several times a day with warm salt water and the swelling went down within 24 hours. My major issue today is swallowing and the ear pain. I’ve been icing my ears and find some relief but does anyone have any other suggestions? I read that chewing gum will help so I will try that today.
Hey Danielle! So glad to see were the same age and had our surgeries the same day. SO I’m really not going thru this alone although it feels Ike I am lol. How did you manage to eat scrambled egg? I can barely swallow ice any longer 🙁 I’m starving but I’m not able to eat a thing, not even Popsicles help anymore. Sleepings not too bad but yea you do need to put an alarm to keep yourself hydrated or else suffer the consequences. Lol I heard gum does help with the ear pain but when I keep trying it it actually burns a little so chew slowly. Hope your recovery goes well and good luck! Message me if you need to talk because I’m in the same boat lol
I’m on day 4 post-op, force down some jello, or lukewarm soup. I ate ramen today, but i boiled it til it was all noodles no water, they were soft enough to just slide right down my throat. i’ve found that big swallows hurt less than little sips. Massaging my neck has seemed to help a bit with ear pain. I’m trying to do today without the pain meds, cuz i’m pretty sure that’s what’s making me nauseous. Hope you feel better soon!
Day 5 – That’s it. I think I am going to lose it. I cant take this anymore. The pain never ever goes away. I havent felt even semi normal in 5 days. My throat still hurts, my ears feel like they are going to explode. I cant stop crying and I want to scream. I have severe aches in my neck and shoulders from trying to sleep sitting up for the past few days. My stomach aches from hunger. I feel completely helpless. I need this to end. My Husband is starting to become a little short tempered with everything that I need on a constant basis. Please someone tell me this will all be worth it….
I am now just over 3 weeks post-surgery and am close to feeling normal. I am so glad I had the surgery because I am looking forward to not having tonsillitis 6 – 8 times a year for the next 60 years of my life! During the first 2 weeks of my recovery, I cried almost every day because it did not seem like it could possibly be worth the pain. But now that it is past (but by no means a distant memory) I can already be glad it is over.
I did not sleep sitting up. I had a wedge shaped pillow that kept me at about a 45 degree angle and that was good enough to keep me from choking or anything. Maybe just propping up on 3 or 4 pillows would be better than trying to sleep completely upright?
I ate something every 3 hours before taking my pain meds…chicken broth, jello, sorbet, liquidy mashed potatoes, applesauce, etc. I was actually never hungry and never lost any weight (darn it!) I would ice my neck down for a good half hour before eating and that would make the swallowing a bit easier.
I also found that getting myself up and getting things for myself actually made my outlook a bit more positive. My husband was actually very supportive and almost babied me too much. Once I started taking more care of myself after a couple of days, I felt stronger, less helpless. I also made sure to pamper myself with a bubble bath every day (one of my absolute favorite things) to keep my spirits up. If you are denying yourself some of your favorite pastimes that are accessible, make sure you get them in each day!
I wish you a speedy recovery and hope you are feeling better very soon!!!
Bethany – Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. Today I am feeling better and looking forward to the positive outlook that you have now. Thank you for suggesting to get out do something that I usually do. I went yesterday to have my eyebrows waxed. I know that sounds silly but I feel like a normal person again. Thanks again!
LOL! That is awesome! It is funny how the simplest things can make us feel better. I actually became obsessed with brushing my teeth. I had read so many people talk about having this horrible taste in their mouth, and I really did not want that. I started brushing, tongue scraping, flossing (as much as I could with limited ability to open wide), and rinsing with mouthwash. It made me feel so much better to feel like my mouth was sparkling clean, and it never tasted bad!
Day 5 – aka Christmas Eve. The pain is pretty awful today. I am taking hydrocodone/acetaminophen every 3 hours but it only lasts me an hour an a half. I find myself staring at the clock waiting for time to pass so I can take more. After about 2.5 hours, I will go eat something (sorbet, applesauce, etc.) really slowly and by the time I am done it is time to take some medicine.
Since I went to church yesterday and ended up spiking a fever, I am staying home tonight and missing out on the family Christmas eve dinner. This is only adding to the post-tonsillectomy depression. I have had about 4 serious meltdowns today. Crying is bad because it is just about impossible to blow my nose. It is weird being unable to do such a simple task I have been doing for 30+ years.
I have still not had any nausea and the pain in my ears has never been all the bad. I just feel a little bit of pressure (like flying on an airplane) and I chew a piece of gum and it gets much better.
Tonight I did have a really bad spell of dizziness for the first time. I assume it was from the hydrocodone, just not sure why I have not had this side effect until now. It felt like the whole room was spinning, and I got a really bad migraine. I took a Relpax (my usual migraine medicine) and laid down in the dark. It took several hours for the dizziness to pass, essentially until that dose of medicine was out of my system. I had had a glass of champagne a few hours earlier…not sure if the two were related. (I had champagne again today and have not had the problem again.)
anyone else getting really sore watery puffy eyes from all the drugs or is it just the pain?or is it from something else?its driving me crazy??
I am growing weary of announcing each day of recovery as the “worst day yet,” but unfortunately, this is the case with Day 5. The pain is sharper and less influenced by medication. In fact, within an hour of the relief I feel from heavy duty narcotic pain medication, my pain seems to ramp right back up to where it was before, if not higher. Perhaps I am losing some of the scabs around the edges. I have not felt anything come off or coughed anything up, but the scabs appear just a tiny bit smaller than they were before, and the borders are inflamed and super sensitive. If this is what’s in store for the next few days, I’m not sure how I’ll cope. I’ve decided that everyone who texts me with messages like “Aren’t you better yet?” or “Still feeling bad?” is going to receive a photo of my throat in reply. One look at that, and they’ll understand a little better that this is not a better-in-3-days situation. Despite all the pain, I still know this was the right thing to do and will pay off in the long run. Getting from here to there is the unknown right now. Ouch.