Tonsillectomy Recovery Day by Day
Day 8
A collection of various experiences of adult tonsillectomy patients on their eighth day of recovery
Check out our new tonsillectomy recovery video- Caution: Not always pretty
Please feel free to add your own experience with tonsillectomy day 8.
-Greg Tooke My short bio
Tonsillectomy Day 8 : Crying. Just… Crying
Tonsillectomy Day 8 : So I woke up this morning with a dry throat. I wasn’t able to sleep more than 30 minutes at a time without coughing. Even while drinking water, my throat has been so dry, it’s like it just isn’t staying moist. I got so fed up, I asked my mom to go buy me a humidifier today. I know I’m a little late, I should have had it from the beginning, but I guess I thought I really didn’t need it. My post-op appointment is in 1 week and I really can’t wait. I definitely have a few questions to ask him! So, I finally got the nerve up to look into my throat, and even though it was a little hard to see, I do see a lot of gray areas. I thought I lost more scabs than I see in my throat, so I was wondering whether or not all of the gray areas are scabs, or if some of it is not scabs. I was told that it is all scabs, so I guess the scabs are going to take longer to fall off than I thought. So, I thought I was doing really well today and then all of a sudden my throat started squeezing really tightly when I swallowed. I slept for about an hour and woke up and it was gone. After talking to my dad who has dealt with panic attacks his whole life, he confirmed that he has had the same thing before and it is in fact mini panic attacks. Great, panic attacks – that’s all I need! I had one in the afternoon and then another one at night. The best way for me to deal with it is to sleep through it.
Tonsillectomy Day 8 : day 8..I thought someone had tried to bite off the back of my tongue and tried to scrape the white spots off with a nail filer…Also my feet were swelling, and I began to have a migraine and vomit, I was afraid i was going to rip my stitches..they had become so big me and my bf had named them “shrek ” feet
Tonsillectomy Day 8 : day 8 today and I felt terrible when I woke up! The pain was like a bruised/burning pain. I also feel like I have hay fever(which I don’t). However it’s now lunchtime and I feel considerably better. It feels like day 7 which I can cope with. Hoping day 10 will be the major turnaround day. I swear this feels like the longest recovery!
Tonsillectomy Day 8 : Day 8. 33 yrs old. Thanks for the info on the swollen tongue and the marks on it from my teeth. That makes total sense!! My throat feels much better, but the difficulty in eating seems to be coming from the underside of my tongue and my jaw. I will continue to take it easy in hopes that everything will continue to heal up. Im down 12 pounds. Its going to be hard not to put all of the weight back on. I’m starving!! lol
Tonsillectomy Day 8 : Days 8 – today – Pain has slowly begun to decrease, however, it’s remained at about a 3/4 for the last two days. However, my body has slowly begun to feel better. I feel like a human again. That’s a refreshing feeling.
Tonsillectomy Day 8 : Days 8-10–able to eat a little bit more everyday, but it was different every day. Pudding and mac & cheese were good one day, bad the next. Chicken noodle soup was also good, couldn’t eat anymore jello 😛 Throat still sore, still doing the Advil/Tylenol rotation. Waiting for scabs to fall off, but throat still all white.
Tonsillectomy Day 8 : Day 8, Ok I am feeling much better. Last night was rough. I had taken my pain meds around 11:30 PM , and around 12:15 my earache was unbearable. I had a problem eating yesterday. I just wanted to eat a Popsicle. I got down on my knees and prayed to God to let the pain go away so i could eat. A few minutes later, the pain in my ears subsided (Thanks God!). I ate 2 Popsicles.
Tonsillectomy Day 8 :Day 8- while I felt really crappy all day long I stayed home all day & rested and this evening I feel just a lil better.
Tonsillectomy Day 8 : Recovery Day 8 (post-op day 9):
Had another relapse of pain today on my right side and into my right ear. At this point I am just so exhausted from lack of sleep and lack of proper food. I had my post-op appointment with my surgeon today. He said i still have a ways to go but it is beginning to heal. He said my tonsils were extremely large and that the tonsil beds (where the tonsils were) that are now left behind are so massive that it will take extra time to heal since there is so much damaged tissue back there from the cauterization. I was able to eat some of a baked potato today with cheese and bacon.
Day 8 is the day the hammer fell. I thought I was having an excellent recovery. No nausea. My throat was painful, but the pain easily managed. Drinking and solid foods went down easy. Then this morning. This morning burning razors blades danced in my throat. I barely forced down a few sips of water to swallow my ineffective Percocet. I knew this meant the scabs were falling off and it was just the next phase of this torment. But my goodness, it hurt like nothing has hurt before. My wife talked our way into seeing the doctor and the doctor said my recovery is going to suck because of the size of my tonsil beds and that the beds scar tissue had grown around everything requiring more cutting. Then she prescribed 2 mg Dilaudid. Dilaudid is supposed to be good stuff, but it didn’t help a bit. My wife checked with a pharmacist friend who said that Dilaudid is more powerful than Percocet, but the dosage is so low it was maybe a tenth stronger than my Percocet. Great. Anyways, this surely is my peak and everything will start getting better soon. It may be nearly unbearable now, but it’s going to be worth it when I recover.
I just want to make sure everyone stays hydrated no matter how much it hurts. Two days ago I was in so much pain, the pain meds weren’t touching the pain, and I would wake up with such a dry mouth. My tongue felt like a cat’s tongur and my saliva was extremely thick also. I was extremely nauseated and was throwing up even though I had barely eaten in 6 days. Come to find out I was dehydrated and had to go to the ER for two IV drips. After that the pain meds worked! So please be careful of dehydration!
Jen: I am 42 and my tonsillectomy was Nov. 19, 2012-had chronic tonsilitis, strep, and sleep apnea. My favorites have been diet ginger ale (keeps your stomach settled) and a good ole heating pad on my neck and ears. Chewing some Trident gum helps relieve the ear pain instantly. Also some days cold feels good and some days a warm drink is better. Salty and sweet are excruiating in my mouth, gums, jaw and throat. I see more scabs on one side than the other and one side of my throat feels more healed than the other. I keep my meds going round the clock and alternate tylenol in between advil liquid gels. I am down to 2 doses of pain medicine a day. I plan to spend 14 days in recovery before returning to work. I feel like I can breathe better already from the removal. It is difficult to yawn, cry, or move my tongue around but hoping for a pain free day.
Thanks Jen. Best of luck in your recovery and new life without tonsils!!
Day 8. WHEN is this going to start getting better!?!? I thought 5-7 were supposed to be the worst. But today is a definitely 9/10 pain day. I woke up in agony, took pain meds, went back to bed, and I must have really needed sleep because I slept another 2 hours straight – which I had not done before. Had 2 scrambled eggs for breakfast. Scabs don’t seem to really be doing anything. Although some places are not as white, so maybe they kind of “wear away” instead of falling off? Not sure. Anyone know? I have been losing a pound a day. For me, this is NOT good! I recently went on a weight loss program to lose 20 lb. and before surgery was finally down to my goal weight (skinny). Now losing a pound a day, I am looking sort of anorexic, which is scaring me! I just can’t keep my weight steady now! I had chicken & stars soup and mashed potatoes w/ gravy for dinner. After eating though, my throat is extremely irritated and feels like it’s on fire. This seems to happen with every meal, as if there’s a limited number of times that I can swallow before it starts hurting. My stomach really wants more food, but my throat just won’t let me. Anyone else experiencing this too? Also, I find that no matter how many times I brush my teeth/tongue, this crappy film covers them. Yuk! But I try to brush at least twice a day now so it won’t turn into thrush.
YES, I’m on day 8, well its 2 am here, so officially morning of Day 9. I’m so sorry you feel so terrible, but as I feel exactly the same as you’ve described, I feel somewhat relieved that I’m not alone. I’ve been a little scared.
My pain today, specifically tonight (which is why I’m awake at 2am) is as bad as it was the first day in the hospital. I was feeling great day 4 to day 6 and then night of day 6 my throat got tickly at night and I woke up coughing until I had tears.
I was really feeling pretty great though and was even proud (so dumb of me to have pride over this) that I didn’t need pain meds after a few days. I’m sure glad to still have it! My pain tonight is pretty bad.
Im a 21 y/o male day 8 post op. The journey so far has been extremely painful. Thank God for this website and for everyones stories. I woke up this morning feeling like i had sand in my mouth after taking my pain meds i forced myself to eat some breakfast, after i managed to eat acouple forks of scrambled eggs i went back to bed. As i lay there i felt what i thought was a pool of saliva forming, i tried to swallow it but when i did it felt weird i knew then it wasn’t saliva. I marathoned to the bathroom and when i spit there was ribs of blood, the scary thing was that it kept comming. After 5 min of spitting up blood it stopped. Never been so happy before it looked like a scene from a horror movie. It gets better i hear. Lets go day 9!!