Tonsillectomy Recovery Day by Day
Day 7
A collection of various experiences of adult tonsillectomy patients on their seventh day of tonsillectomy healing
I have assembled a sampling of various accounts and impressions of tonsillectomy recovery for each day. Below I share comments about tonsillectomy day 7. 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.
Please feel free to add your own experience with tonsillectomy day 7.
Tonsillectomy Healing Day 7 Recovery : Light? At the end of the tunnel?
- Tonsillectomy Day 7 :Breakdown. Crying, laughing, sucked into YouTube. Is there no end?
- During the night I noticed a weird sensation in my ears. It was a hollow feeling, kind of like I have water in my ears and they tend to pop really severely when I swallow. Other than the ears, the throat isn’t bad. I tried eating blueberry pancakes for breakfast and I was able to get a few pieces down, but then it was uncomfortable, so I stopped. The last thing I want to do is rush myself. I’ve made it this far, I don’t want to do anything that will negatively affect my progress. The swelling is finally gone – I think. My tongue and the scabs used to be white – or so I was told – but now my tongue is like a grayish color. If that is normal, I’m not sure, but I’m not that worried about it. I know I’m still recovering, but I noticed a weird feeling when I was swallowing today. The water just kind of flows down my throat now; before it used to touch my tonsils. I know I don’t have tonsils anymore and that’s why; I’m just curious if it is something I will have to adapt to once I’m fully healed. I guess I’ll have to wait and see. My ear pain is still there but it is definitely not as bad as it was from days 3-5.
- It’s been one full week as of today that I had my tonsils removed. I saw the ENT yesterday and he said I was healing very slowly. The scabs still have not come off and every day seems to hurt more than the previous day. This morning has been almost completely unbearable. I don’t understand how some of you say you eat toast. How do you choke that down? Everything hurts! Warm, cold, it doesn’t matter it feels like swallowing knives.
- Day 7 you did it! I mean I could barely stand due to the pain. Trying to coat my stomach with Ensure that morning so I could take my pain meds was like aggressively shaving my throat with a million shards of glass. And the ears! Not the ears!
- day 7 post-op and am doing amazingly well. I thought I would share my tips to help some of you out! It really is important to drink, drink, drink! Every time I woke up from my sleep I would be in such enormous pain because my throat had dried out. Every time I wake up during the night I take a sip of water which I found has helped. Twice a day I have done a saltwater gargle with a teaspoon of salt in 500ml of water for 30 seconds. This apparently removes the bacteria and the salt is good for healing. The day after my surgery I had a tiny little bit of toast.Are you concerned about pain medicine addiction? Read more…
>> Next – Day 8 >>>
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Day 7 started out rough for me, but was better by the end. I was in enough pain that I couldn’t really speak in the morning. I suffered for part of the day, then decided to take Advil along with my pain meds. They helped more than they pain meds! I got feeling better and could talk some again. And I made another decision. I was so hungry and run down from hunger, I just knew I had to eat something. So I made sloppy joes and ate the hamburger. It hurt a little, but tasted soooo good! And I think the protein gave me a little needed energy! So the night was better. Looking in my mouth I can see some pink shining through, so I know I am starting to heal. It just feels like it is going so slowly!!
35 years old and it’s Day 7 for me and it’s the first day I feel anything vaguely resembling human, that being said I’m still in a horrible amount of pain.
operation day – Coming out of the anesthetic I thought, “gee,I’m going to hurl”. Meanwhile, little did I know this would be the single most coherent thought I’d have for the next 7 days… I wasn’t breathing well and they put me on O2 – which was not great for the dry throat thing. I had a septoplasty/turbs done at the same time so All my airways were compromised. The nurses kept giving me worried looks. My mother, bless her was like a champion by my side literally feeding ice chips into my mouth. As predicted – I went to the toilet and hurled my guts out. Ate zero. Drank a little. I was just so dizzy. The only medication I could take was panadol and anti-nausea through IV. I barely slept a wink.
Day 1 – Accusing me of not eating, drinking and not breathing (!!!) the Drs kept me in the hospital for a second night. It was the best thing that could have happened as I was not in a good way. I decided to make an effort to eat and drink even if I wasn’t feeling like it. Plus I hadn’t been to the toilet for #2s yet.. I felt a little better today. The pain was pretty bearable and I was taking regular panadine forte and encode as well as my antibiotic. Slept maybe 2 hours total.
Day 2 – Home day! But I woke up nauseous. They kept feeding me anti-nausea meds through my IV until it was time for me to go home (about midday). Pain getting worse. At home I’m feeling constantly dizzy and sick. I keep trying to down my meds. I realise that I cannot swallow the panadine forte as it makes me gag. Switch to panadol soluble. This kicks pain up a notch. Sleep, I realise is overrated, when I wake up weeping from the pain from only 1/2 hour. This is despite my humidifier being on. I watch the clock waiting for med times. I need them an hour before they are due. In so much pain.
Day 3 – didn’t think the pain could get worse – it does! So does the dizziness and nausea. I’m trying hard to eat, knowing that eating keeps me as well as can be expected. My ears start chiming in with co-pain. I just sit and cry as it seems to me the most constructive thing I can do. Still no poo. At night, that waste of time between 8pm – 8am I just try to bide my time. Every so often I’ll fall into sweet sleep but wake up with razor blades down the back of my throat. To make matters worse at 4am – I throw up everywhere.
Day 4 – Realising that my meds are going to run out I ask my mum to place a call to the ENT about getting me some more meds. He seems reluctant. Also as it is the Queen’s birthday holiday weekend he’s about to head off on a holiday. Eventually he agrees to come and see me at home. He breezes in all dimples, running shoes and from what I can see in this deep delirium a picture of perfect health. I want to kill him. I can’t believe there are people doing normal things, while I wallow. I decide this is the last day of wallowing. He tells me that Day 5 is usually the worst and that while it may not get ‘better’ it won’t get too much worse after that. This does not sound comforting to my painful ears. I hear the song “My Sweet Lord” (Harrison) on the radio and cry my eyes out. It’s like I’ve discovered that I understand everything at a deeper level now. Everything is sad and everything is horrible. Oh right, I wasn’t going to wallow.
While I am so grateful to mum for looking after me (she is a champ) I look over at her meal tonight and have never felt so jealous. It’s crispy skin roasted chicken with crispy baked potatoes and yummy pumpkin. I have the same… blended into puree. I feel so sad. At 10pm I throw up – so dizzy. such pain. I decide I need a break from the meds because I am so ill. I know I can’t make it but I try… No poop.
Day 5 – I sleep a little (maybe 3 hours) and awake in agony. Dizzy – check, sick – check, stabbing pain in throat – check, miners in my ear canals with picks – check. Oh good, just wanted to check and see if the status quo was up and running…chhhhhheck.. Decide the ENT was right, definitely the most painful day. I can barely eat and I’ve decided to see how long I can survive without meds. That’s right. NO MEDS. NOOOOOOOOO MEDS. I’m still dizzy. I’m still sick. I’m in so much pain.. Feel like I have no choice though. This day is pure hell. Sleep about 30 minutes. Seriously, what’s the point? This no pooping thing is really getting me down.
Day 6 – Dizziness slowly going away. I’m hungry… But of course I’m in so much pain that I can’t eat what I want. Remember I’m on no meds at this stage so I’m just on survival. My nose keeps feeling funky. I try to ignore it most of the time because it clearly plays second fiddle to the star on stage – my tonsils. Sometimes though, it’ll chime in with a sympathy pain and sears through my head… juuuust letting me know it’s there. Yeah, thanks buddy. I know I’m not supposed to be doing any home operations but things are so crusty up there that I want to get at it. I carefully poke a cotton bud up there and with it comes out the most satisfying piece of booger, bloody, crusty thing ever…plus, I pooped. Maybe it was non Med stance that did it. I’m so happy that I gave birth to a poo baby, you have no idea.
My friend gives me the idea to eat aloe vera, known for it’s healing properties. I mash some up into a green juice. Now, before I went into this operation I thought to myself that I would stick to my normal healthy lifestyle… lots of green. Green juice daily. Organic, no sugar, no wheat, no refined carbs, no preservatives etc. That went out the window on day 1. It’s been jelly and ice blocks everyday. Today was the first day I had a green juice. I was so happy. The aloe was blended into it and tasted good. It was a bit “sour” (though I didn’t include any sour veggies – just alkaline ones). It took me a long time to drink but I was so proud of myself that I did. 2 hours sleep. 🙁
Day 7 (today) – No meds. Poo baby has a sister. Green juice again. My hunger is back but I’m still pureeing everything. I don’t know how you are doing things like toast. I can do soft bread and honey but that’s as far as I get. I still get occassional stabs of white hot poker pain as well as the normal horrible swallowing pain. I look at the back of my throat… it doesn’t look like my scabs are coming off… In fact it just looks white.. like a creepy snow cave in there. How do you know when you start scabbing – does your throat look different? Today is the first day I feel kind of human. I’m still crying at all the sad songs on the radio and tbh I weep when eating a bit too. Then I think – far out I am STRONG – I am doing the worst days on no pain meds watsoever. I am so amazing. I’m not proud of doing that but it was from necessity alone. I feel like it’s something I can remind myself it the darkest moments though. I hope day 8 will be better…
In comparison to the comments I’ve read from day 1 – 6 I’ve had a pretty easy journey for the first two days I was able to eat toast and normal foods, then it went downhill and everything stung a little bit. I’ve not thrown up at all and not had any post op bleeding, I was only given ibuprofen and paracetamol from the hospital and everything was going well… Until day 7, oh my god! I woke up with sharp pains in the right side of my throat and the driest mouth, I attempted drinking water which only made the pain worse. I took my tablets and this took the pain away quite quickly but after 3 hours it was back again, I actually wanted to cry. One of the scabs at the back of my throat is hanging off and I assume this is what is causing the pain but the other side doesn’t feel ready to come off which is why it is so sore.
Has anyone got any advice on how to get the rest of the scab off without crying in pain? 🙁
Right, UPDATE.
I have survived day 7.
Things that I am learning –
Food is for losers, I totally dont need to eat – its all in the mind. Also swallowing its also not really needed anymore, I can be a fully functioning adult without the need to swallow. Where does it say that ‘To survive Humans Beings must Swallow’. My heart is beating, the other organ things are doing their thing well (However gotta give a shout out to my liver (After surviving years of abuse via me binge drinking in order to cope with my social life, its now being treated to copious amount of strong pain killers – im going to (HAVE TO) give it a break once I am healed….DETOX baby!)
Also pain. Pain is a funny ol’ thing isn’t it. Its like my bodies natural way of getting attention, now as a trained social worker with children I live by the philosophy to only give a child positive attention, to ignore all negative attention. So by using this theory I i’m planning on ignoring my pain levels and just make myself believe that the burning hot acid feeling that in my throat is equivalent to a 3 year old poking me. So I just have to be strong and ignore the little s**t….i’ll ignore it by taking loads of strong pain meds and going into a drug induced coma.
The other thing that I think as a human I can live without, is sleep. Now sleep is something I adore, up there with food and Long Island Ice tea’s. However If I use a bit of Cognitive behavioural psychology I will be able to make myself believe that Sleep is no longer needed, just Drug induced comas.
So yeah, to sum it all up – in in lot of pain, the thought of eating makes me want to cry and sleeping is just a thing of the past. However I am alive….so pretty crap really.
Oh well bring it on day 8! How bad can you be compared to day 7? Lets get it on!
M
This was hilarious & made me laugh!!! I need that laugh tho.. I had T&A surgery last Friday and baby…let me tell ya…y’all ain’t lying about the pain!! Whew!! Today is day 6 for me and I woke up thinking I was going home to Jesus (wayyyyy too much pain!) and to make matters worse, some asshole stole 7 of my percocets (I had a fiend for a caretaker apparently) so imagine how l feel. Pray for me..this pain makes me feel weak!!
Today is day 7 and I feel terrible. My eyes hurt, I’m spitting up blood and it hurts to laugh. I hate my mom for not getting these damn things removed when I was little. Sheesh!
So…this is how I taste like when dead :(. Taste in mouth so gross even when I brush my teeth and gargle often ! Whole head is in burning pain, earache, toothache, painful jaw- everything. And my breath! Day 7 and i still do not want to look inside my mouth. Not that I can open it anyways. AAAAAARGH!
You’te not alone. Jaw, ear and throat pain is so intense for me today as well. You’re not alone. My Dr told me today that Fri pain should go down dramatically. I just keep saying Tomorrow’s Thursday and then Friday…
Oh my teeth hurt too btw.
I’m feeling really ill from the pain meds as well!!
This is not a good day, not a good day at all.
And for the pain meds to work best, we need food – so a huge challenge!!
Hey Vince, got operated on the 25th as well?
Yes. The 25th. I was eating low sodium chicken broth, vegetables and
chicken all ground up in the blender when I started bleeding again. It stopped in 5 mins. The whole bleeding thing just scared me…
Yes…Friday…now! Been sucking on one pancake for almost an hour now 🙁
At least when we are dead we won’t feel this pain!
It’s horrendous isn’t it?? tonsillectomy’s should come with some kind of health warning.
My ENT nurse told me to eat toast, muslie and crips (chips for the yanks that are out there!) at this point I’m giving myself praise if I manage water never mind the rest!!
🙁
I was warned. But not enough :(. They should say ‘Be afraid…be very afraid…’ .
It should have flashing neon lights as soon as you walk into the ENT dept.
Hahaha Mel 🙂 but I agree!!!
You are making me feel better by laughing! It’s all true though. I’m so hungry…