Days One to Nine of Tonsillectomy Recovery – Tips
Hey, I’m an 18 year old female a little over 1 week post op tonsillectomy surgery. I feel like I’ve been reading through so many of these forums so I’m going to share my experience and tips I’ve picked thus far to see if it will benefit anyone in the future because this sucks.
Days 1-3 are tolerable. I was on acetaminophen with codeine which helped these days, but by day four it made me sick so I stopped taking it. This also made me very tired so I slept most of the day. I was also taking children’s liquid Advil because my throat was too swollen to swallow pills yet. Honestly the tongue pain was the worst part in this stage. I definitely recommend eating cold things like smoothies, protein shakes, yogurt, and ice pops. Also try to avoid sugar because it creates a thick mucus in your mouth which is very inconvenient to swallow or spit out. The taste that develops in your mouth is absolutely disgusting but I guess I can say you get used to it because there is really nothing you can do about that.
Days 4-6 are the downfall. I was just on Advil, but I’d rather do that instead of going through the process of vomiting from the pain meds again. My doctor warned me that it gets worse in the middle and he was right. This is when I developed that ear pain that felt like someone was either punching me or slicing me from my jaw up into my ear. Just a burning pain, especially with movement. It was very difficult to swallow anything, even water. But PUSH THROUGH because that water is going to really help your recovery and you can’t get dehydrated when your body is going through something like this. On these days I ate chicken noodle soup and ramen, and tried to get down some mashed potatoes but even those were a little too thick. Sleeping with an ice pack really helped me get through the nights because it numbs that pain a little.
Days 7-9 are when my scabs came off. Basically my day consisted of feeling horrible right when I woke up. I’ve noticed that mornings are when I had my most pain because my throat got so dry from sleeping. I learned that taking a hot shower helps loosen things up and gets some moisture in your mouth. Once you get out of the shower, gargle warm salt water and you’ll be amazed at what comes out. After the shower that morning pain becomes less severe and helps get you to feel able to eat something. I had protein shakes every morning. The 1-3 hours after I woke up on these days consisted of constantly coughing up mucus and bits of those scabs. I don’t know if a lot of people cough them up more than they swallow them but I for sure did. They’re nasty so I think I was more grossed out to swallow them anyways. I kept a cup next to me where I would just spit everything out. I had slight bleeding in my saliva and a couple small clots, but I called and that was normal and went away after about 15 minutes. Throughout the day though I felt pretty good, just occasional ear pain and a “strep feel” type of sore throat, so bearable. I do not recommend cold anything on these days though when the scabs are coming off. The fresh tissue is exposed and drinking cold water will bring a burning sensation directly to that area, and it kills. I kept on having the soups and always adding extra broth to help when I swallowed the noodles. I recommend drinking hot tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and definitely having warm water instead of cold to stay hydrated.
I think I am on the road to recovery and only have a couple more days feeling like this. I’m craving so many kinds of normal food haha I can’t wait. I hope this could help someone and hang in there! The recovery definitely sucks but the benefits will make it all worth it!