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.
Alicia,
My daughter, Amelia, is having a much better day today, after a very rough night. I got her some small heat packs, and they seem to help a bit. The salt water helped a bit too. Thanks so much! She had 3 episodes yesterday with the ear splitting pain but none today!
Unfortunately she did have 2 bleeds last night, both quite considerable but we were able to stop it so no ER visit! I took her to the ENT today and they gave her the Benzocain drops for her ears and she is easily eating some soup right now! Yay! She did have some fluid behind one of her ears, thinking that could be contributing to the pain. And they said her scabs were gone so it’s sounding good.
I think we are on the road to recovery finally!
Thank you for your concern! Hope you’re doing better also 🙂
I’m glad some of those things worked for her. Glad she’s feeling better make sure she stays right on top of the meds to the minute.
Its so hard for them to work once the pain hits – is she still drinking a lot of water?
Thank you Matt and Alicia – I can’t reply to the comments?? I will certainly try the warm towel as her biggest complaint is her ears. She has had a much better day after all but just had an episode with her ears 🙁 Her spirits seem to be lifted and I pray she is turning a corner.
I have another question – does anyone know whether or not a salt water rinse would be helpful or harmful. I’m very old school when it comes to medicine and salt water gargles growning up always helped my throat. I know this situation is different but was curious all the same.
If I remember correctly Alicia had some luck with salt water. Anything involving salt made my throat burn for hours afterwards around that time in my recovery. It is probably something worth trying but I would go very light on the salt for the first try. I am interested to see what Alicia has to say about this.
Hi Monica, yes I was advised by my physician assistant to gargle with warm/room temp. salt water (I use sea salt) to help with the thick saliva and mucus 2-3 times per day. It didn’t burn me at all and it actually helped to break it down. Just keep an eye on any bleeding if that happens immediately gargle w/ ice water to stop the bleeding if it doesn’t stop – call doc immediately.
Also, I had a miniature heating pad I used on each ear for a few minutes. I’ve also heard people say they put cotton balls in their ears and that helped…didn’t help for me. In addition I was prescribed some ear drops but when I went to fulfill it i couldn’t use it because it had benzocaine which I’m allergic to so I couldn’t use it. You may want to ask doctor about the ear drops tomorrow.
I hope this has helped. Don’t forget have her keep drinking as much as possible; shoot for 64oz a day.
Alicia
My daughter, age 11, had her tonsils and adenoids removed on Aug 6. She seems to be getting worse, depressed like and in considerable pain. She is still on Lortab around the clock and the biggest complaint is in her ears. She is chewing gum like prescribed but nothing seems to be helping. Her scabs are white but it’s red around the area. She has no fever but her breath smell a bit infected. She lives off Ensure and water as most everything else is uncomfortable 🙁 I’m hoping to find some words of wisdom here and maybe some ideas on how to help lift her spirit. Thanks 🙂
I had my surgery on the 2nd and this is very similar to what I experienced. Things got worse and worse until right around that day 6/7 range when my scabs fell off. At this point I had the worst pain of my recovery followed by a quick turn around and steady progress towards less pain. I found that ice packs around my neck and a steady diet of popsicles were some of the best things I could do for my throat. It is miserable and sometimes seems unending but you do get better.
Monica, I didn’t have much luck with the gum for my ears as there was too much saliva and the gum tasted horrible. Try a warm towel or heating pad for her ears ONLY. Don’t put them on her throat at all as heat will increase the chances of bleeding. Also, a cool mist humidifier will help for when she sleeps as it will allow her throat to sty moist. Make sure she takes her meds on time exactly no matter how she feels for the first few days…don’t let the pain creep up on her or it will be worse. Have her drink or eat about 20-30 min after the meds as this will be the best time to get the fluids and food in. If no help call Doc I and was advised to change up the frequency of the meds. Try to be patient..this too shall pass…I had tonsils removed on 8/6 and still waiting for the final scabs to come off…but I feel so much better.
Day 6, very painful. Had an episode with hiccups again this morning but they have subsided. Throat, tongue, mouth, gums, etc extremely sore. Still have scabs, have not noticed them coming off. Edge of my throat is very agitated and looks bruised – maybe from hiccups? Able to get down some more food today but nothing crazy. Replacing narcotic meds with liquid Tylenol and it seems to be helping just fine. The swelling and pain is intense today. Still have some narcotics just in case. Hopefully tomorrow is not as painful. I want to get out of the house but today I didn’t feel like doing anything.
This is the worst day yet. Over night was horrible. The only way I am surviving is constant icing of my neck and jaw. I now have 7 ice packs in the freezer and may get a couple more… The ear pain is the worst. And of course I’ve got some bad nausea popping up as well… I am so hungry, all I have eaten in the last two days is popsicles and a bowl of ice cream…
Things got better later in the day. I hope this means I have turned the corner. I was able to get about a 1/3 of a box of macaroni and cheese down tonight. It did still hurt, and I still don’t have much of an appetite, but it is nice to have some food in my stomach that is not sugary. I get acid reflux pretty bad and all the sugar and acid of popsicles along with the meds have been ripping up y stomach pretty good. Time to sleep now, I hope its not as bad as last night with pain.
Doing well. Off the narcotics tonight for the first time. I am giving a try to go to the midnight showing of Bourne Legacy tonight. It feels good to be getting out of the house. How are you doing Alicia?
-Matt F.
I’m just seeing this because I just finished having an episode. I know you’re at the movie, but you’ll see this in the am. I fell asleep just to wake up 3 min later choking,,,afraid i’d busted something….ran to bathroom to spit….you guessed it….scabs and mucus. Have you had any come off yet? I think your surgery was on 8/2 right? Mine was 8/3 and I’m surprised this happened tonight..I didn’t feel pain as I’d just taken night time meds about 40 min prior. Now I’m afraid to try to go back to sleep. After spiting the multiple chunks and stuff out I gargled w/ warm salt water out of panic then gargled with ice water for a few min. Not sure what to expect next…more scabs to come off i guess but when?? Let me know how u like the movie…i may try one this weekend…
For some reason it won’t let me post to your most current post… Oh well, anyways I had mine come off in my sleep two nights ago. I did not wake up for the scabs so I assume I just swallowed them. That being said I woke up during the night with the worst pain I had experienced through the whole recovery. I would rate it at a 7/10 with a fresh dose of pain meds and ice packs on my neck. It was a bad night. But I got through it in about 6 hours and have been on a steady recovery since. The only thing I notice is my throat is sensitive to acid, salt, carbonation, and mint. I made it over 12 hours between half doses of my codeine today. I took a big 1000mg dose of liquid tylenol at about 7:30pm. I probably pushed it a little too far again tonight so I am going with some narcotics to help me get the pain to a place where I can sleep. But the time out was fantastic, even if I couldn’t talk with my friends much. The movie was a decent mindless action movie. No plot but good chase scenes so it was worth while. I may be giving another run at a movie tomorrow with my girlfriend if I’m up for it but this one did really tax me. I am definitely ready to crash. Good luck at sleep tonight. I hope you don’t have a night like I did when my scabs came off.
Alicia,
My daughter, Amelia, is having a much better day today, after a very rough night. I got her some small heat packs, and they seem to help a bit. The salt water helped a bit too. Thanks so much! She had 3 episodes yesterday with the ear splitting pain but none today!
Unfortunately she did have 2 bleeds last night, both quite considerable but we were able to stop it so no ER visit! I took her to the ENT today and they gave her the Benzocain drops for her ears and she is easily eating some soup right now! Yay! She did have some fluid behind one of her ears, thinking that could be contributing to the pain. And they said her scabs were gone so it’s sounding good.
I think we are on the road to recovery finally!
Thank you for your concern! Hope you’re doing better also 🙂
I’m glad some of those things worked for her. Glad she’s feeling better make sure she stays right on top of the meds to the minute.
Its so hard for them to work once the pain hits – is she still drinking a lot of water?
Thank you Matt and Alicia – I can’t reply to the comments?? I will certainly try the warm towel as her biggest complaint is her ears. She has had a much better day after all but just had an episode with her ears 🙁 Her spirits seem to be lifted and I pray she is turning a corner.
I have another question – does anyone know whether or not a salt water rinse would be helpful or harmful. I’m very old school when it comes to medicine and salt water gargles growning up always helped my throat. I know this situation is different but was curious all the same.
If I remember correctly Alicia had some luck with salt water. Anything involving salt made my throat burn for hours afterwards around that time in my recovery. It is probably something worth trying but I would go very light on the salt for the first try. I am interested to see what Alicia has to say about this.
-Matt F.
Hi Monica, yes I was advised by my physician assistant to gargle with warm/room temp. salt water (I use sea salt) to help with the thick saliva and mucus 2-3 times per day. It didn’t burn me at all and it actually helped to break it down. Just keep an eye on any bleeding if that happens immediately gargle w/ ice water to stop the bleeding if it doesn’t stop – call doc immediately.
Also, I had a miniature heating pad I used on each ear for a few minutes. I’ve also heard people say they put cotton balls in their ears and that helped…didn’t help for me. In addition I was prescribed some ear drops but when I went to fulfill it i couldn’t use it because it had benzocaine which I’m allergic to so I couldn’t use it. You may want to ask doctor about the ear drops tomorrow.
I hope this has helped. Don’t forget have her keep drinking as much as possible; shoot for 64oz a day.
Alicia
Hi Monica, how is your daughter doing now? Did any of the suggestions help?
My daughter, age 11, had her tonsils and adenoids removed on Aug 6. She seems to be getting worse, depressed like and in considerable pain. She is still on Lortab around the clock and the biggest complaint is in her ears. She is chewing gum like prescribed but nothing seems to be helping. Her scabs are white but it’s red around the area. She has no fever but her breath smell a bit infected. She lives off Ensure and water as most everything else is uncomfortable 🙁 I’m hoping to find some words of wisdom here and maybe some ideas on how to help lift her spirit. Thanks 🙂
I had my surgery on the 2nd and this is very similar to what I experienced. Things got worse and worse until right around that day 6/7 range when my scabs fell off. At this point I had the worst pain of my recovery followed by a quick turn around and steady progress towards less pain. I found that ice packs around my neck and a steady diet of popsicles were some of the best things I could do for my throat. It is miserable and sometimes seems unending but you do get better.
-Matt F.
Monica, I didn’t have much luck with the gum for my ears as there was too much saliva and the gum tasted horrible. Try a warm towel or heating pad for her ears ONLY. Don’t put them on her throat at all as heat will increase the chances of bleeding. Also, a cool mist humidifier will help for when she sleeps as it will allow her throat to sty moist. Make sure she takes her meds on time exactly no matter how she feels for the first few days…don’t let the pain creep up on her or it will be worse. Have her drink or eat about 20-30 min after the meds as this will be the best time to get the fluids and food in. If no help call Doc I and was advised to change up the frequency of the meds. Try to be patient..this too shall pass…I had tonsils removed on 8/6 and still waiting for the final scabs to come off…but I feel so much better.
Day 6, very painful. Had an episode with hiccups again this morning but they have subsided. Throat, tongue, mouth, gums, etc extremely sore. Still have scabs, have not noticed them coming off. Edge of my throat is very agitated and looks bruised – maybe from hiccups? Able to get down some more food today but nothing crazy. Replacing narcotic meds with liquid Tylenol and it seems to be helping just fine. The swelling and pain is intense today. Still have some narcotics just in case. Hopefully tomorrow is not as painful. I want to get out of the house but today I didn’t feel like doing anything.
This is the worst day yet. Over night was horrible. The only way I am surviving is constant icing of my neck and jaw. I now have 7 ice packs in the freezer and may get a couple more… The ear pain is the worst. And of course I’ve got some bad nausea popping up as well… I am so hungry, all I have eaten in the last two days is popsicles and a bowl of ice cream…
-Matt F.
Things got better later in the day. I hope this means I have turned the corner. I was able to get about a 1/3 of a box of macaroni and cheese down tonight. It did still hurt, and I still don’t have much of an appetite, but it is nice to have some food in my stomach that is not sugary. I get acid reflux pretty bad and all the sugar and acid of popsicles along with the meds have been ripping up y stomach pretty good. Time to sleep now, I hope its not as bad as last night with pain.
-Matt F.
hi Matt how are you today? better i hope!! just checking on you.
Doing well. Off the narcotics tonight for the first time. I am giving a try to go to the midnight showing of Bourne Legacy tonight. It feels good to be getting out of the house. How are you doing Alicia?
-Matt F.
I’m just seeing this because I just finished having an episode. I know you’re at the movie, but you’ll see this in the am. I fell asleep just to wake up 3 min later choking,,,afraid i’d busted something….ran to bathroom to spit….you guessed it….scabs and mucus. Have you had any come off yet? I think your surgery was on 8/2 right? Mine was 8/3 and I’m surprised this happened tonight..I didn’t feel pain as I’d just taken night time meds about 40 min prior. Now I’m afraid to try to go back to sleep. After spiting the multiple chunks and stuff out I gargled w/ warm salt water out of panic then gargled with ice water for a few min. Not sure what to expect next…more scabs to come off i guess but when?? Let me know how u like the movie…i may try one this weekend…
For some reason it won’t let me post to your most current post… Oh well, anyways I had mine come off in my sleep two nights ago. I did not wake up for the scabs so I assume I just swallowed them. That being said I woke up during the night with the worst pain I had experienced through the whole recovery. I would rate it at a 7/10 with a fresh dose of pain meds and ice packs on my neck. It was a bad night. But I got through it in about 6 hours and have been on a steady recovery since. The only thing I notice is my throat is sensitive to acid, salt, carbonation, and mint. I made it over 12 hours between half doses of my codeine today. I took a big 1000mg dose of liquid tylenol at about 7:30pm. I probably pushed it a little too far again tonight so I am going with some narcotics to help me get the pain to a place where I can sleep. But the time out was fantastic, even if I couldn’t talk with my friends much. The movie was a decent mindless action movie. No plot but good chase scenes so it was worth while. I may be giving another run at a movie tomorrow with my girlfriend if I’m up for it but this one did really tax me. I am definitely ready to crash. Good luck at sleep tonight. I hope you don’t have a night like I did when my scabs came off.
-Matt F.