A collection of various experiences of adult tonsillectomy patients on their sixth day of recovery
From thousands of post comments to the forum I have assembled a sampling of various accounts and impressions of tonsillectomy recovery for each day. Below I share comments about tonsillectomy day 6. 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.
Tonsillectomy Day 6 Scabs bleeding! : I can only eat popsicles. That is all.
Tonsillectomy Day 6 : At 5:30am, I started to panic because I coughed a lot and when I spit up some saliva in a tissue (which I have a habit of doing to see if there is any blood); I saw a slight hue of red. RED=BLOOD! So, of course I got nervous. After drinking some water, I tasted some blood but I didn’t see anymore and I was able to swallow with a bit more ease. It wasn’t the full scab that came off, but a piece of the scab on the right side. When I woke up, I drank water and felt a burst of pain in my ear and stinging in my throat for a couple minutes. When I brushed my teeth this morning, there was a little more blood when I spit into the sink, so I’m assuming I lost a little more of the scab. I’ve been sucking on ice chips the past few days and it really feels nice on my throat. I ate applesauce and soup today with a little ease. I’ve notice my ears get worse when I eat. I was craving pizza tonight and it was sitting on the counter (my family had it for dinner), so, I decided to be a champ and try it. I was able to eat all of the toppings off of a slice of pizza minus the spicy pepperoni. Let me tell you, it was a blessing! I tried gargling with cold water and even though I refuse to look at my throat, I can tell that it feel fresher and cleaner. Good news – I was able to swallow the amoxicillin today; it feels awesome because if I had to eat another cup of jell-o and medication, I’d die! Fifth day post-op and I actually stepped foot out of my house today. Since we have a huge snow storm, I had to make sure I was fully covered. Nevertheless, even though I only sat in the car, it felt good – it was progress! I was told that taking a warm shower before bed will help moisten my throat and potentially prevent coughing at night, so I tried it.
Tonsillectomy Day 6 scabs Healing
Tonsillectomy Day 6 : Day 6 and the pain is just about the same as yesterday, but that relentless ache is exhausting. I know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel (and it’s not a train) but when I am tired and weak and freaking out because my Mom went home and my husband decided to sleep in this morning leaving me to take care of my nearly 7 year old son…. Well, I got a little teary.
My husband took a gander at my throat today and declared it “gross, but healing.
Tonsillectomy Day 6 : Day 6 = Ouch
Tonsillectomy Day 6 : day 6 here and I have to say, it definitely has been the hardest two days so far. I am spent and am sick of not eating the way i want to. I have been sticking to cold drinks and liquid meals. Spoke with my PA today and she said to do my best to keep the scabs on for a minimum 10days by drinking tons of liquids. The longer they stay on, the better the new skin underneath will be…so I am doing all I can to keep these puppies attached. I have given up on eating anything warm or slightly solid,I just want this over with!!
Tonsillectomy Day 6 : Yeah, so I slept for about 12 hours. But now I think sleeping that long was the worst idea ever! My hot pot ran out of water and I wasn’t sipping on water for those 12 hours. I just drank a smoothie mix every 4 hours to take my meds. I woke up with about 8/10 pain, tried to get up and passed out in the hallway. Oh Joy! My ears are killing me!
Tonsillectomy Day 6 : Side note, i have lost like 12 lbs. Probably not healthily as all i have consumed it water, gatorade, jello and apple sauce. Those products are not known for their nutritional content. I have made two healthy juice drinks using my juicer, but don’t think that compensates for the lack of nutrients for the last week.
Tonsillectomy Day 6 : The pain is rather terrible today, it was much worse last night.
At about 3am i woke up with pain, it was as if someone was stabbing my throat with a needle or pin
and i woke up this morning with blood in my mouth. Not a lot but it still scared me! I rinsed my mouth with ice water and sucked a piece of ice and it stopped.
Tonsillectomy Day 6 : Day 6- good morning, post op app’t- stints in nose removed, I can BREATHE again 🙂 went shopping at the mall for a few hours after- got home exhausted & later in pain ;(
Tonsillectomy Day 6 : Recovery Day 6 (post-op day 7):
Another day filled with pain. Was able to drink an ensure today but did not eat much. Was able to eat some popsicles. During the evening time had horrible pain shooting from the right side of my throat and it felt like a burning feeling when I would drink anything almost as if I was drinking acid even when I drank water. Had to take a bit more Lortab to curve the pain. Looked at my throat with a flashlight for the first time since the surgery and it looked like a battle zone in there. Lots of white coating all over the tonsil beds and my uvula is still swollen very large and kind of sticking to one of the sides of my throat. Could see the white scabs as well.
Tonsillectomy Day 6 : Day 6: I cried over applesauce and pudding. It hurts to swallow, I can’t yawn and just try to blow your nose without wanting to fall over and die. This pain is ridiculous. I woke up in the middle of the night with a dry throat and more pain than I could imagine so I dragged myself downstairs and forced down some pain meds to help me take the pain.
Tonsillectomy Day 6 :day 6 of my recovery and in the worst pain ever. I thought I was on the mend, only having pain on the one side but then I started to cough, and it kept me up all of last night and all of that white membrane over the surgery site is starting to come off as well as some of the scabs… is that normal? I am very scared that with my coughing it’s going to cause issues that will result in another surgery.
Good Morning Day Six,
I am up before the sun because I just cannot make it to med time while sleeping without complete pain recon. I started getting the little cough many of you are talking about last night and I do feel like I am going to drown in my own sticky spit. I am still having a mild grade fever, but I do not feel it is anything to rush to the hospital for, thanks to a little knowledge from Greg. The pain level is equal to what I experienced on day five. As the scabs come off, I am experiencing more of a stinging pain. The best thing for that so far is keeping it numb with ice water and packs on my neck.
So many of you are talking about pain meds; I think I have the gem for the pain. Hydrocodone-Acetamin 7.5-500MG it is generic for Lartab Elixir. It is a liquid so it gets to work fast, within one minute I start to feel it. In 10 minutes, I have relief. It taste like poison and it stings madly, but I can take it every 4 hours so I don’t have the 2 hour lag with an every 6 hour med. I am also talking Advil. The Advil helps with the swelling and it is a good backer for the pain. I can also take that every four hours. When you stagger them, you are having pain control every two hours. Not all doctors recommend this and you can’t take Advil with all pain medications. However, if you can I highly recommend it. The only time I run into issues is during the night; I normally sleep through one of the doses and get myself off track. I end up taking them together because when I wake up the pain so horrific. When I do that, I go 6 hours with the Advil so I can get back to having something every two hours. When you do this, you are never truly without something working on the pain.
As far as eating, this morning I had lumpy mashed potatoes. More like potato soup. My wonderful husband is keeping the fridge stocked with homemade mashed so I can heat them up while he is at work or sleeping with little effort. I add a lot of milk and shredded cheddar so it is more like a thick soup. The lumps scratch my throat a little, but from what I am finding that is a good thing. I am going to try to add some meat today, either grilled chicken or fish. I would rather the scabs go down with a meal than cough them up like I was this morning. So gross.
As long as I can keep my fever under control, and do things like this blog to keep my mind busy I think I might make it through another day.
We will see what today brings.
20 year old, thought spring break would be the perfect time for a tonsillectomy. Had surgery March 8th, Day 6 3:30 am, I don’t want to eat or drink it hurts so bad to swallow. It feels as if someone is stabbing my throat and almost as if my throat is freezing cold, I’m thinking maybe this is a sign of my scabs forming. I have not look edat my throat to see what’s going on, so that is just a shot in the dark. Does anyone else have excess mucus production in their throat? I am constantly spitting this out, but have yet to see any blood in it. The furthest I’ve ventured out with food is macaroni and cheese, I think my diet today will be much simpler due to this pain. I haven’t been able to sleep due to the pain. I had to quit taking Lotab as it kept making me puke, which was not fun, so Extra Strength Tylenol it is. Happy 6th day to all, the end is there somewhere!
I have tons of mucus. its so gross and gurts when I cough it up. I makes me feel as if I’m choking everytime I swallow. ugh I haven’t eaten anything and im trying to stsy hydrated but its so hard. I also had my surgery March 8th and im so over this! im ready to better and eat/drink whatever I want.
March 8th here as well. Woke up in the middle of the night with spontaneous tears of pain from the pain – in my ears, neck, jaws, teeth, everything.
I also have mucus overflow but I try to spit it out as little as possible – each drop of liquids had to get in with pain, I’m not letting it out that easily.
Can any of you people speak? I haven’t been able to express myself verbally since the surgery. It’s just not happening.
Keep calm and carry on. And keep the painkiller levels high…
I actually speak really we considering. I went to my ENT and h said my tonsils look great and the mucus should go away by tomorrow. So im really excited about the mucus to be gone. I am dehydrated though so he said I need to drink a ton more liquids. im sticking to water. And haven’t tried food yet. Im just not brave enough. im not in much pain and haven’t taken my pain meds since day three. he did say its almost over. which is beyond exciting. I was wondering if maybe I missed something or if I want healing correctly because everyone on here says they are in excruciating pain. but its just thr large amount of mucus that I choke on when I drink or try to sleep flat.
oh and March 8 th was the day I had mine taken out.
I was not prepared for the mucus/nasal drip issues. I think waking up Days 3-6 with a thick coating of goo covering my mouth was the hardest part of this entire recovery. I felt like my body was a slime producing machine and having to scrape away all the nastiness before taking a drink of water during wake-up dry mouth moments was no fun at all. I was so happy when I was finally able to successfully blow my nose on day 5! Today is day 7 and the slime is gone!
If bleeding is more then 2 teaspoons then you need to go to hospital but pain is apparently worse days 5-8. I feel awful, exhausted. Can’t talk yet and swallowing water is like razor blades sometimes the throat gets stuck doing that. Toothache, ear splitting ear ache and a drill going through my head is common on top of the burning, swelling and throbbing I mouth, throat and neck! Apparently day 10 is a turn around. I need day ten now. I use an ice pack under my chin, ear muffs, ice lollies, Luke warm chicken soup, and bottles and bottles of cold water. On max pain relief but still nothing :-/
ive been dealing with a ton a phlegm. like enough to make me cough everytime I swallow. And it gives me panic attacks because I can’t breathe. I haven’t been able to eat anything yet and water is so.hard to swallow because of the phlegm… any suggestions?
I’m on day 6 of recovery and I too have been dealing with a ton of phlegm. It hurts to spit so I have actually been shoving a tissue in my mouth to sop some up b4 drinking water. As long as it’s ice water, it’s been ok for me. I’ve also made frozen jello and it is the most soothing thing I’ve had! Just make sure you don’t use sugar free because it doesn’t work as well. I haven’t had a whole lot of pain until today because I think I tore a scab but I haven’t seen any blood. I have 6 hour medication so I’ve been taking half doses every 3 hours and it seems to help.
I had my surgery on March 6th, and I’m currently on Day 6 post-op. I was hoping I’d wake up today and feel much better, however, that wasn’t the case. I’m feeling nauseous from taking so much pain medication and not having anything on my stomach. Yay for Promethazine suppositories…nope. My tongue has finally cleared from most of the white coating. However, my taste buds are completely out of whack. They are swollen and feel raw and whenever I try to take a tiny bite of something, it tastes like complete crap. Anyone else having this problem? I want my sense of taste back. Haven’t been able to eat much…some chicken broth. Tried eating peas, carrots, apple sauce, mashed potatoes, but it all gets stuck in the back of my throat. I basically haven’t eaten in a week and all I can think about is food. Also, I’ve been much more tired today. Since I haven’t been getting any calories, I have no energy and have taken at least three naps today. Some of the scabbing has been coming off in bits and pieces, most of which I spit up. I looked in the back of my throat for the first time today (it’s really the first time I’ve been able to open my mouth that wide), and I wish I hadn’t. White scabs, swollen Uvula, and some little red spots, which I’m sure are bleeding sites/clots/healing areas. Everytime I swallow, I can feel the scabs and it makes me sick to think I’ve been swallowing some of this junk. If I could go back, I would NEVER have had my tonsils out. Don’t get me wrong: I know I needed it, but this is completely ridiculous.
I had chronic tonsilitis forever and always thought I had strep. I hope that this will get rid of consonant doctor visits especially since I work with children at a hospital. Plus I have vocal nodules as well aka a hot mess so I am praying this procedure was worth it!
Glad we are all in the same boat, soon to be exiting this torture boat soon!
But golly have I caught up on some tv shows and movies 🙂
I had my procedure done on march 8th and I am now on day 6. I am speech therapist so I am used to looking at the back of the throat, but my god its nasty! I started to experience spotting of blood in my spit yesterday. During the 2nd-4th day I was eating mashed potatoes and small pasta, now I feel like I have reverted back to ice chips and slurpes. So is more pain and bleeding common 5-7 days post surgery? I dont need to call the ENT regarding the slight bleeding?
My ent told me there’s no need to panic if its a really small amount of blood – like one dose of cough medicine or a teaspoon or something lime that.
If it’s constant bleeding, however, go straight to the emergency.
We must be patient…
It is common for pain to increase because your scabs are coming off. Small amounts of bleeding are ok. Drink ice water or eat Popsicles to make the bleeding go away but if it gets worse or doesn’t stop, call the doctor. I just had the first piece of scab come off today and it hurt!! No bleeding for me though thankfully, not yet.
Good Morning Day Six,
I am up before the sun because I just cannot make it to med time while sleeping without complete pain recon. I started getting the little cough many of you are talking about last night and I do feel like I am going to drown in my own sticky spit. I am still having a mild grade fever, but I do not feel it is anything to rush to the hospital for, thanks to a little knowledge from Greg. The pain level is equal to what I experienced on day five. As the scabs come off, I am experiencing more of a stinging pain. The best thing for that so far is keeping it numb with ice water and packs on my neck.
So many of you are talking about pain meds; I think I have the gem for the pain. Hydrocodone-Acetamin 7.5-500MG it is generic for Lartab Elixir. It is a liquid so it gets to work fast, within one minute I start to feel it. In 10 minutes, I have relief. It taste like poison and it stings madly, but I can take it every 4 hours so I don’t have the 2 hour lag with an every 6 hour med. I am also talking Advil. The Advil helps with the swelling and it is a good backer for the pain. I can also take that every four hours. When you stagger them, you are having pain control every two hours. Not all doctors recommend this and you can’t take Advil with all pain medications. However, if you can I highly recommend it. The only time I run into issues is during the night; I normally sleep through one of the doses and get myself off track. I end up taking them together because when I wake up the pain so horrific. When I do that, I go 6 hours with the Advil so I can get back to having something every two hours. When you do this, you are never truly without something working on the pain.
As far as eating, this morning I had lumpy mashed potatoes. More like potato soup. My wonderful husband is keeping the fridge stocked with homemade mashed so I can heat them up while he is at work or sleeping with little effort. I add a lot of milk and shredded cheddar so it is more like a thick soup. The lumps scratch my throat a little, but from what I am finding that is a good thing. I am going to try to add some meat today, either grilled chicken or fish. I would rather the scabs go down with a meal than cough them up like I was this morning. So gross.
As long as I can keep my fever under control, and do things like this blog to keep my mind busy I think I might make it through another day.
We will see what today brings.
But seriously….I am ready for this to be over!
~Amanda
20 year old, thought spring break would be the perfect time for a tonsillectomy. Had surgery March 8th, Day 6 3:30 am, I don’t want to eat or drink it hurts so bad to swallow. It feels as if someone is stabbing my throat and almost as if my throat is freezing cold, I’m thinking maybe this is a sign of my scabs forming. I have not look edat my throat to see what’s going on, so that is just a shot in the dark. Does anyone else have excess mucus production in their throat? I am constantly spitting this out, but have yet to see any blood in it. The furthest I’ve ventured out with food is macaroni and cheese, I think my diet today will be much simpler due to this pain. I haven’t been able to sleep due to the pain. I had to quit taking Lotab as it kept making me puke, which was not fun, so Extra Strength Tylenol it is. Happy 6th day to all, the end is there somewhere!
I have tons of mucus. its so gross and gurts when I cough it up. I makes me feel as if I’m choking everytime I swallow. ugh I haven’t eaten anything and im trying to stsy hydrated but its so hard. I also had my surgery March 8th and im so over this! im ready to better and eat/drink whatever I want.
March 8th here as well. Woke up in the middle of the night with spontaneous tears of pain from the pain – in my ears, neck, jaws, teeth, everything.
I also have mucus overflow but I try to spit it out as little as possible – each drop of liquids had to get in with pain, I’m not letting it out that easily.
Can any of you people speak? I haven’t been able to express myself verbally since the surgery. It’s just not happening.
Keep calm and carry on. And keep the painkiller levels high…
I actually speak really we considering. I went to my ENT and h said my tonsils look great and the mucus should go away by tomorrow. So im really excited about the mucus to be gone. I am dehydrated though so he said I need to drink a ton more liquids. im sticking to water. And haven’t tried food yet. Im just not brave enough. im not in much pain and haven’t taken my pain meds since day three. he did say its almost over. which is beyond exciting. I was wondering if maybe I missed something or if I want healing correctly because everyone on here says they are in excruciating pain. but its just thr large amount of mucus that I choke on when I drink or try to sleep flat.
oh and March 8 th was the day I had mine taken out.
I was not prepared for the mucus/nasal drip issues. I think waking up Days 3-6 with a thick coating of goo covering my mouth was the hardest part of this entire recovery. I felt like my body was a slime producing machine and having to scrape away all the nastiness before taking a drink of water during wake-up dry mouth moments was no fun at all. I was so happy when I was finally able to successfully blow my nose on day 5! Today is day 7 and the slime is gone!
eat something before you take the lortab..ensure,soft scrambled eggs. narcotic pain meds don’t do well on an empty stomach. good luck
If bleeding is more then 2 teaspoons then you need to go to hospital but pain is apparently worse days 5-8. I feel awful, exhausted. Can’t talk yet and swallowing water is like razor blades sometimes the throat gets stuck doing that. Toothache, ear splitting ear ache and a drill going through my head is common on top of the burning, swelling and throbbing I mouth, throat and neck! Apparently day 10 is a turn around. I need day ten now. I use an ice pack under my chin, ear muffs, ice lollies, Luke warm chicken soup, and bottles and bottles of cold water. On max pain relief but still nothing :-/
ive been dealing with a ton a phlegm. like enough to make me cough everytime I swallow. And it gives me panic attacks because I can’t breathe. I haven’t been able to eat anything yet and water is so.hard to swallow because of the phlegm… any suggestions?
I’m on day 6 of recovery and I too have been dealing with a ton of phlegm. It hurts to spit so I have actually been shoving a tissue in my mouth to sop some up b4 drinking water. As long as it’s ice water, it’s been ok for me. I’ve also made frozen jello and it is the most soothing thing I’ve had! Just make sure you don’t use sugar free because it doesn’t work as well. I haven’t had a whole lot of pain until today because I think I tore a scab but I haven’t seen any blood. I have 6 hour medication so I’ve been taking half doses every 3 hours and it seems to help.
I had my surgery on March 6th, and I’m currently on Day 6 post-op. I was hoping I’d wake up today and feel much better, however, that wasn’t the case. I’m feeling nauseous from taking so much pain medication and not having anything on my stomach. Yay for Promethazine suppositories…nope. My tongue has finally cleared from most of the white coating. However, my taste buds are completely out of whack. They are swollen and feel raw and whenever I try to take a tiny bite of something, it tastes like complete crap. Anyone else having this problem? I want my sense of taste back. Haven’t been able to eat much…some chicken broth. Tried eating peas, carrots, apple sauce, mashed potatoes, but it all gets stuck in the back of my throat. I basically haven’t eaten in a week and all I can think about is food. Also, I’ve been much more tired today. Since I haven’t been getting any calories, I have no energy and have taken at least three naps today. Some of the scabbing has been coming off in bits and pieces, most of which I spit up. I looked in the back of my throat for the first time today (it’s really the first time I’ve been able to open my mouth that wide), and I wish I hadn’t. White scabs, swollen Uvula, and some little red spots, which I’m sure are bleeding sites/clots/healing areas. Everytime I swallow, I can feel the scabs and it makes me sick to think I’ve been swallowing some of this junk. If I could go back, I would NEVER have had my tonsils out. Don’t get me wrong: I know I needed it, but this is completely ridiculous.
I totally agree with you as I’m on day 6 of recovery. If I knew how painful this would be I never would have done it.
I had chronic tonsilitis forever and always thought I had strep. I hope that this will get rid of consonant doctor visits especially since I work with children at a hospital. Plus I have vocal nodules as well aka a hot mess so I am praying this procedure was worth it!
Glad we are all in the same boat, soon to be exiting this torture boat soon!
But golly have I caught up on some tv shows and movies 🙂
I had my procedure done on march 8th and I am now on day 6. I am speech therapist so I am used to looking at the back of the throat, but my god its nasty! I started to experience spotting of blood in my spit yesterday. During the 2nd-4th day I was eating mashed potatoes and small pasta, now I feel like I have reverted back to ice chips and slurpes. So is more pain and bleeding common 5-7 days post surgery? I dont need to call the ENT regarding the slight bleeding?
My ent told me there’s no need to panic if its a really small amount of blood – like one dose of cough medicine or a teaspoon or something lime that.
If it’s constant bleeding, however, go straight to the emergency.
We must be patient…
It is common for pain to increase because your scabs are coming off. Small amounts of bleeding are ok. Drink ice water or eat Popsicles to make the bleeding go away but if it gets worse or doesn’t stop, call the doctor. I just had the first piece of scab come off today and it hurt!! No bleeding for me though thankfully, not yet.