Tonsillectomy Recovery Day 11 and Beyond

Tonsillectomy Recovery after Day Eleven

 

At some point I hope to add pages for day 12, day 13, day 14, day 15, day 16, and another page for days 17,18,19, and 20.  For now, please share your tonsillectomy recovery experiences here.  I wish you the very best of health!



  1. ty
    Hey. Its me again. Had the surgery last week and OMG! The worst days of my life. I will make it but geeze!! This sucks bad. I had to read your comments again because I began to get depressed, lol. Im driving my husband and doctor crazy by keep asking them how long will this last. Its good hearing from someone that understands the process and pain. Your experiences are helping me through girl. Thanks again:)

    Edit

    Reply ↓
    1. Kate
      Horrible flashbacks reading your message Ty! I have just returned from a business trip, meeting lots of new people, and I didn’t have to worry about my breath: so liberating and confidence building. I discovered that one of my colleagues had her tonsils removed 2 years ago – when I happened to mention that I was just a few weeks on from my operation, she gave me a big bear hug because she could empathise with my more recent experience. You WILL eat, sleep and enjoy life again – I promise! Stay positive: you made the right decision.

      Edit

      Reply ↓
  2. Kate
    I am now four weeks post surgery (in the UK), and life is good! I had a tonsillectomy due to tonsil stones (I had small, pitted tonsils, and was unable to remove the stones myself, whatever method I tried) – private medical insurance and a past history of throat infections helped get me the surgery. I knew it was a drastic option, but I was prepared to do ANYTHING to solve my bad breath problems. I did nearly cancel when I read this forum the day before surgery though! But I didn’t, and I survived, and my tonsil stones and bad breath are finally GONE!Having found this forum so much help during the dark days post-surgery, I wanted to share my experience/what helped me. If you are about to have surgery, or are still in recovery, I can promise you it will get SO much better in a few days – hang in there!1. Don’t plan ANYTHING for the two weeks post surgery – and make sure you book at least two weeks off work. Days 5 – 8 were the worst for me, although in total I had about 10 days of constant pain/medication and sleep deprivation.
    2. I cried A LOT on day one – a mixture of the anesthesia/trauma, relief at getting through surgery, and pain! I had one night in hospital.
    3. Sucking on crushed ice helps a lot – make sure you have some in stock. I did not use a humidifier – we didn’t want to pump damp air into our bedroom!
    4. Take as much pain medication as you can – I used Tramadol, ibuprofen and paracetamol – you will not get addicted, and you WILL need them. But keep a drug diary so you can recall what drugs you took and when – you will not remember!
    5. Sleeping with my face/throat on a hot water bottle helped me a lot in days 5+: your throat muscles tighten up in response to the surgery, and I think this helped relax me a little
    6. The nights were the worst, as I would wake up in a lot of pain and then struggle to swallow more medication/get back to sleep. Listening to the radio really helped get me through the dark, lonely hours. My husband moved into the spare bed for the first 10 days, to ensure he could get some sleep and I could thrash around the bed as much as I needed to get comfortable!
    7. In the UK we are advised to eat rough food e.g. toast when we can. I did manage this a couple of times, but I mostly lived on soup (no bread!), fish in sauce (you can buy this frozen in handy microwaveable pouches), yogurt, porridge and hot chocolate. I tried making smoothies but the fruit was too acidic and hurt my throat. There were a couple of days when I could not face eating anything due to the pain. I did not get constipated, and I did not lose much weight – because I spent two weeks resting, and most of what I DID eat was high calorie!
    8. You will be too tired to read much – have a good set of DVDs on standby
    9. I did not have any bleeding. I felt so ill that completely resting in the first week was an easy option – and I made sure I had someone on call in the first few days, just in case
    10. I was able to speak on all days, although about half an hour of conversation was enough
    11. I went for my first short walk one week after surgery. Four weeks on, I am now exercising as normal – running, swimming and pilates.
    12. I stopped regular pain relief on about day 15, having gradually cut down on what I was taking.
    13. I gradually re-introduced different types of food after two weeks. I still have a sticky feeling in the back of my throat, which I expect to disappear over the coming weeks.My tonsillectomy recovery was the worst 10 days of my life. But ridding myself of tonsil stones is one of the best things I ever did!

    Edit

    Reply ↓
    1. Ty
      Thank you for sharing. I also have tonsil stones and thought I may be going to far getting surgery to remove them. I’m a married woman and nothing’s is more damaging to a marriage than insecurity. TMI, I know just wanted to say thanks for sharing your experience. I’m going forwadr with the surgery.

      Edit

      Reply ↓
      1. Kate
        I am also married (and 47 – forgot that bit!) and would not even discuss the problem with my husband. So I feel your insecurity! It will hurt a lot – stay focused on the goal and remember that in a few days you will be much better, and also liberated!

        Edit

        Reply ↓
  3. Ellen Howard
    Day 9 of my recovery.I’m not sure how relevant this will be to anyone because I’m not entirely sure how common it is. I’m just turned 18 and have been having a lot of problems with my tonsils for the best part of three years. One thing I always found when digging out those god awful tonsil stones was that my tonsils were extremely prone to bleeding – something my ENT surgeon also found out on the day of the op!He said no one in his experience had bled that much in a tonsillectomy procedure in years. I had to be stitched right up on my right side and let me tell you, we all know how sore recovery is without stitches right? Imagine being wheeled out of theatre with those bad boys in you. It’s been sore, for the first few days it was the actual space at the top of the back of my throat that was painful and white and scabby. I was throwing up old blood so frequently (and a lot of it might I add) that I couldnt keep anything down; not food, not painkillers. It was awful.But I powered through and ate as much as I could, despite the pain, because I thought ‘you know what I’ve put up with enough sh*t from my tonsils this time I’m gonna show ‘em what I’m made of!’ And after about day three or four the pain subsided from my tonsil bed area and is now a horrible stingy/achy feeling further down my throat, which apparently is due to the whole stitching procedure, I guess a lot of tubes were bumped around in this process and it’s seriously bruised me inside. I find the pain really hits me at night and I’m starting to get severe earaches to accompany that, which is nice! My co-codamol painkillers ran out days ago so I’m going strong on paracetamol and Diclofenac.

    I hope everyone else is managing to power through! Just think of all the tonsillitus and nasty tonsil stones that you’re gonna get to avoid for the rest of your life! Remember, at most this recovery process is going to take 17-20 days, which in perspective, is more than worth it to be tonsil free!

    Stay safe xxx

    Edit

    Reply ↓
  4. Lindsey
    I am a 24 year old female, I had my tonsils removed on July 23. I had my tonsils removed due to horrid tonsil stones. Let me start off by saying DRINK WATER NO MATTER HOW BAD IT HURTS!!!! Day 1: after procedure you’re so loopy from meds it flys by. I was offered a blue slushing and teddy Graham’s. 8 bags of teddy Graham’s later I am ready to keave!! After surgery I even had McDonald’s I don’t even remember eating it. Throat was numb all day long. I received percocet 5mg. All you will want to do is sleep. Have someone wake you up to drink and take meds!!Day 2: pain was still tolerable I started taking the pain medication every 4 hours so the pain doesn’t get out of control. I was eating mash potatoes ( the pre made bob Evans kind was the smoothest), I noticed ice cold water stung my throat so room temperature worked. I was drinking every 20 mins to keep the throat moist. Sleeping was horrible, I ended up sleeping on couch so my head would be propped up. Waking up every 45 mins to sip water, you get no sleep at all. I didn’t want my throat to dry out because it is so painful. I set my alarm every 4 hours so I would take my medicine.Day 3,4,5: Worst days ever! Extreme pain 10/10, that pain medicine didn’t help! Ear pain started kicking in. I had ice constantly on my throat to keep swelling down. Scabs were formed in back of throat very thick. Drinking water was a task. Everytime I swallowed felt like razorblades. I had to force myself to eat. Ended up getting a blood clot on my left tonsil on day5 and started bleeding. On call dr told me to drink ice cold water and it helped. Woke up after and blood clot resolved on its own. I was having mini hot flashes all day.Day 6: I felt like a new person. Pain was a 6/10. I was eating drinking taking my neds around the clock

    Day 7,8,9: scabs started falling off day 7. It feels like something is caught in back of throat when them fall off. Throat is very sensitive after they fall off that any liquid or food stings the throat. I have bumped my meds down to 1 pill every 4 hours instead of 2 pills. Sleeping longer through the night.

    Day 10 and on: pain has started to be controlled with Motrin. I feel 100% better!! I am starting to eat solid foods. I had PBJ sandwhich and it was easy to go down. I feel back to my normal self. Throat still hurts but just like it would as a sore throat.

    I think keeping myself hydrated non stopped helped with my speedy recovery. I go back to wk in a few days and feel comfortable going back. I still have to drink water so throat doesn’t get dry. My scabs are 75% gone. I’ve had someone with me the whole time and you DO need that. Milk never seemed to cause the phlegm in my throat as others posted. It soothed the burning. I lived off mash potatoes and chick n star soup mix for the first days. Keep taking medication when it’s due so pain stays under control!! Take the full two weeks off dr reccomends because you will need it. I would do this surgery again knowing it is going to cure my tonsil stones and stinky breath! Sorry this blog is all over the place my mind is going crazy! I hope everyone as a good recovery as well as I’ve had!

Check out our new tonsillectomy recovery video- Caution: Not always pretty

A collection of various experiences of adult tonsillectomy patients after their tenth day of tonsillectomy recovery
From thousands of post comments to the tonsillectomy recovery forum, I am assembling a sampling of various accounts and impressions of tonsillectomy recovery for each day. Below I share comments about tonsillectomy recovery after day 11. These comments are from tonsillectomy patients who were kind enough to share their experiences to help others as they navigate the bumpy road of tonsillectomy recovery.

 

Many will experience depression toward the end of of their tonsillectomy recovery.

Depression after tonsillectomy
Depression After Tonsillectomy?

-Greg Tooke 

343 comments

  1. I’m on day 11 now, worst surgery I’ve ever had! But I feel sooo good now, it just feels like a bad throat, but as my tonsils were constantly inflamed I’m used to it. Eating is still a problem but I love food so I will force it down me and once I’ve eaten it I feel so much better lol, I’m going for a Chinese buffet tomorrow ill see how that goes but today I’ve eaten a pot noodle, sandwich, toast omelet and salad and it only took me about 15 minutes longer to eat it, I’m so closed to being fine!

    The recovery itself was horrible, the doctors didn’t let on to me at all about the pain, I thought it’d be a breeze, I didn’t even research before hand, big mistake. Days 1 and 2 were bad at the time but once I got only days 3-6 I thought they were nothing. Days 3-6 is when the scabs start forming and they absolutely killed me, my ears sufferd so bad! After that it had its difficultys but weren’t too bad.

    I did bleed on day 7 and 8 quite heavily but I just drank chilled water and after that I was fine, I wish everyone the best on their surgery and recoverys, I don’t know about everyone else but after I’ve got through this I feel like I can do anything!
    Good luck everyone xx

    Reply

  2. Hi all,
    I’m a 45 yr female and I’m now 11 days post op and while this site has been great for me to read the pictures of what the tonsil area looks like post op on a daily basis is nothing to how mine looks. Mine looks like two “curtains” of skin on either side of the uvula with the uvula being attached to the skin on the left hand side. Is this normal?
    I have a post op appointment on the 17/4/13 but was wondering if anybody else had a similar thing going on in their throat. Really wouldnt want more surgery it’s not normal.
    Kim

    Reply

    2. Hi Kim,
      Not sure of the answer to you question but we must’ve had the surgery on the same day. I’m off the pain meds for 2 days now, which feels great since I’m not as nauseous and can focus again. I had a scare yesterday morning as I work up bleeding from the right tonsil bed. The whole scab fell off and it took 2 hours of gargling ice water to get it to stop completely! Had another short bleeding episode later last night and now I can’t sleep for fear of bleeding. I’ve been drinking tons of water and icing, hopefully I’m nearing the end because I’m so hungry and tired. On a side note, has anyone experienced aching muscles/joins without a fever? I’m also really cold all of the time!

      Reply

    3. Don’t worry Kim. Mine looked just like that 11 days or so after the surgery and it’s all fine now (4 months after). I don’t know if it happens to everyone, but i know it happened to me. No worries 😀

      Reply

  4. Hello everyone, I’m 16 days into my recovery!!!! Yeah!!!! However, I’m having a lot of trouble eating. I have to choke down my food with much difficulty. The food feels like its sticking to the roof of my mouth as it tries to go down; practically gagging to get it down. Is anyone experiencing this problem? Is this normal? Does this eventually stop?

    Reply

  5. I had my tonsillectomy on Feb 22. I was told the surgery went well. I’m in my late 30’s, but I’m healthy, so I could fly through recovery and get back to work. Nope. On day 4, I hemorrhaged at home alone, called 911, rushed to ER, given 4 liters of fluids and silver nitrate to close the bleeder. Sent home. Day 6, hemorrhaged again, went to ER, went to pre-op for emergency surgery. Began hemorrhaging worse… I lost 2 pints of blood in the 5 minutes it took them to get me into the ER, thought I was going to die. Spent the night in the hospital. Went home and had another hemorrhage on the other side two days later. Back to the ER and in the OR within a half hour. Hemoglobin dropped to 8, nearly needed a blood transfusion. Was on disability for the month. Worst imaginable pain for 2 weeks, nerve damage, so much extra jaw and mouth pain from the emergency procedures. I still have taste distortion that won’t go away. My last operation to stop the bleeding was Mar 4. Its now April 2nd. I still have intermittent ear pain. Still have a sore throat and pain with swallowing. Still have white patches in the back of the throat. Weird taste in my mouth… bitter, sweet, unpleasant. Its been nearly a month since my last surgery, and I understand I had a lot of complications, BUT when are things going to get back to normal? I’m just so shocked by and disappointed with my recovery. In the 10 days following my first surgery, I ended up 4 hemorrhages, a 911 call and ambulance ride to the ER, bedside cautery, 2 more ER trips, 2 emergency surgeries with hospitalizations and pain beyond my wildest dreams. And I did everything right. I took my pain medicine every 4 hours around the clock, drank plenty of fluids, used a humidifier, followed all activity restrictions, rested, did not take any blood thinners, ate the correct foods. There is no such thing as a routine surgery. I’m still healing and not sure where the finish line is. I’m not sure if my throat will every be the same.

    Reply

    1. wow, you really have had it tough. I don’t have any advice for you, I’m just another tonsillectomy recipient. I thought I had it bad, but then I read your story. I am really sorry that you’ve had such a tough recovery, and I just wanted to let you know you are in my prayers, that you do obtain a full recovery, and that your throat will be the same again. I hope you don’t have any further complications, and that you will start to feel better soon and that you will be back to doing your normal thing again and that the tonsillectomy pays off for whatever reason you had it done in the first place.
      Pray! God has the power.

      Reply

      1. Hi, I had my surgery Feb 8 th and although I had a tough time with recovery and am so much better, is it normal to have the feeling that youve something constantly stuck in the back of your throat… I’m now regretting having the op if I’ve this to live with… It’s depressing me…

        Reply

        1. I had mine out on November 6, 2012 and I still feel like something is stuck in my throat. It does seem to be getting marginally better. I read somewhere it can take up to a year. At least I think I read that. I came back to this forum (which was so helpful) to see if anyone else experienced the same thing.

        2. I am now 6 weeks post op and am now experiencing this feeling like something is stuck in my throat, but apart from being irritating, it is causing me some difficulty in breathing. I Truly hope it does not take a year for it to go away.

        3. I’m 6 weeks out and that is what I’m experiencing now…I’m like…do I still have a scab back there??? Trying certain foods make me not want to eat…

    3. Hi Linda,
      I had serious bleeding after my surgery too.. though not as many times as you did (so far, as I’m still in recovery, day 11, and after reading your post im a little nervous haha). It was one of the scariest things I’ve ever dealt with and I thought my poor mother was going to have a stroke watching me bleed like that and trying to get me into a car and to the hospital. I lost almost 3 pints of blood and my count was down to 8 as well, my blood pressure dropped to 89/58…. I had to spend 2 days in the hospital waiting to see if I’d bleed again or need a transfusion. Neither happened thankfully. Though I did get thrush by day 6…. This whole experience has been terrible.. I went through a C-section and a gall bladder removal without taking a painkiller once I left the hospital… This.. I’ve been taking it like clock work. I still haven’t eaten anything “solid” I’ve been living off of liquids.. I was supposed to go back to work next weds but my boss wants me out at least another week (I am a preschool teacher, between the germs I’m around and the need for my voice etc she wants me to rest for a bit longer). The surgeon on the other hand says I should still be able to get back to work.. I think he’s crazy….

      Reply

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.