Planning and Recovering From Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy
Let’s start with my own tonsillectomy recovery story. I wasn’t always this healthy. As a kid I ingested more penicillin than a corporate-raised chicken. I was in the doctor’s office several times each year with a sore throat. As the doctor or nurse peered into my mouth, the reaction was always the same: “Whoa, those are some big tonsils!” The diagnosis was usually tonsillitis, or strep throat. As the doctor wrote the prescription, he’d explain that years ago, tonsils like mine would have been removed, but, “these days,” we try to hang onto them. “These days,” were the 1970’s. I guess the tonsillectomy pendulum had swung back from the days when kids got their tonsils out because their brother was getting his out.
Aunt Kate’s reassurance helped, but I still wrote out some just-in-case instructions for my brother and hid them in my closet. I sheepishly told him where they were, just in case.
“This is temporary. You WILL feel better. Hang in there and stay hydrated!” -Greg Tooke
As an adult I continued to suffer from frequent bouts of tonsillitis. It seemed that I caught every bug that passed through my house or workplace. I guess those big ugly tonsils were a nice home for those nasties. It wasn’t until my 40’s that I also became aware that I suffered from something called, Obstructive Sleep Apnea -a condition in which a person stops breathing while asleep. I snored often and would awake abruptly, gulping in big breaths. I felt tired most days. After raising four babies, I had come to accept fatigue as a normal part of life! One day at a routine physical my doctor remarked about the number of episodes of strep throat and tonsillitis I’d had. We also talked about the sleep problems. While he didn’t formally diagnose obstructive sleep apnea, he suspected that I had it. He recommended a tonsillectomy, because of all the tonsil problems I’d had. As a bonus, I might find relief from the sleep apnea as well. If not, I’d undergo a sleep study. Forty four years old and father of four boys and a doctor finally said it: Those tonsils are doing you more harm than good! As much as I hated those tonsils, I was terrified at the thought of going under the knife. I started reading about tonsillectomy recovery on the internet and talking to friends. That didn’t help. “My cousin knew a guy who got a tonsillectomy and bled to death.” “At your age, tonsillectomy is dangerous.” When I met with the ear, nose and throat specialist, (an otolaryngologist), he told me that the risks are the same for an adult undergoing tonsillectomy surgery as for a child, but tonsillectomy recovery is longer and more painful. He was right about that!
Deciding to get a Tonsillectomy
I scheduled the surgery for the day after Thanksgiving. A traditional day of feasting in the United States. If it was to be my last meal, I planned to make it a good one! As it turned out, I was so nervous and scared that I could hardly eat on that day. I was recently divorced and had shared placement of my four boys. So many people counted on me that I began to question my decision. What if I died on the table? How reckless to leave behind a family, simply to avoid frequent tonsillitis? My aunt, a registered nurse reassured me about how simple the surgery was, and how far anesthesiology had come. I had nothing to worry about. Aunt Kate’s reassurance helped, but I still wrote out some just-in-case instructions for my brother and hid them in my closet. I sheepishly told him where they were, just in case
“My tonsils were like a 400 pound gorilla on my back. I don’t miss them at all. Ever.” -from the forum ________________________________________________________________________________
I took a week off from work, asked my ex wife to take care of the boys that week, and asked my uncle to drive me to and from the hospital. (a requirement with anesthesia) That was about all the tonsillectomy recovery preparation I did. I was about to learn a lot! Surgery went fine. I awoke in recovery with a serving of Jell-o in front of me. (“Jelly,” to my British friends) The nurse said that I had to finish it before I could check out. I swallowed it with great relish. It was divine! I called my uncle and we were out of there. I felt ok. I told him thanks and not to worry. I’d be fine. I believed this. Aside from a couple visits, I spent the next ten days alone in misery. The pain set in after about 24 hours. Streaming movies and television shows were my friends. Sleeping became my worst enemy. I’d wake up with my mouth dried out and my throat on fire. Oh my God. I was not prepared for this! I ran out of Popsicle’s on day three. I ran out of pain medicine on day five. The pain peaked on day seven. I broke down and cried in front of my brother on day eight- a combination of pain, drug induced depression, and sleep deprivation. Since then, I’ve read thousands of similar accounts on the tonsillectomy forum I created. It didn’t have to be so hard. If I’d known what I do now, I could have done so much to make my tonsillectomy recovery better. I hope to reach as many people as I can to help guide them through the tunnel. It has been my passion and taught me more about compassion and the amazing strength of the human spirit than any other life experience. When you shine a light for others, you also light your own path.
In the pages at follow, I’ll share tonsillectomy recovery tips with you that I learned from my tonsillectomy experience and years of coaching others through tonsillectomy and recovery.
HEP!! IM DYING!!!! Its day 6 csabs came off day 3&4 and im out of meds inlos of pain havent even tried to eat ..im 28 female
hey all first i wanna say this blog was so comforting during my surgery i’m glad there’s something out there like this. i’m 20 year old female who had my tonsils removed on july 11 so i’m on day 17 WELL the surgery went well was never too much pain. i live in LA on my own so i came to stay with my parents while recovering which was a smart idea
the day of my surgery went well i wasn’t in too much pain i was just shaky from the anesthesia
day2-4 were pretty normal too just sleeping all day eating soup and macaroni, my doctor prescribed me percocet so i was pretty fine with the pain level.
on day 5-8 was a little more pain with scabs falling off and i had a horrible cough but as long as i took pain meds i was fine
on day 9-10 i thought i was healing perfectly normal even went to go visit some friends with my boyfriend
however day 11 came and it was about 1 in the morning and i noticed i was staring to swallow a little weird i ate some ice cream because i was gonna take some pain meds and didn’t want to upset my stomach when all the sudden i feel my mouth fill with blood i ran to bathroom and couldn’t stop throwing up blood and it literally felt like it was gushing out. my mom and boyfriend came to help me and bring ice water but nothing would stop do i was rushed to the ER the whole time i continued to have huge clots forming making me gag and throw up i vibe through the whole course of this fiasco i maybe had about 7 clots come out of my mouth. the ER doctor tried to stop the bleeding but was unsuccesful so the on call ENT came and used silver nitrate to stop the bleeding and oh my goodness that was the worse pain i have ever felt. they said it was very unlikely that i had bled on the 11th day considering i was almost healed. so i’m not sure what happened there
I am now on day 17 and my led side looks healed however my right side(where the bleeding was) is a little swollen and there’s still some patches of white around. i visited my ENT two days after the bleeding so on day 13 and he said everything looks fine and healed but it still feels like i have a little sore throat. i know this was a long comment but anyone have any thoughts?
51-year-old male from the UK. Tonsillectomy to try and cure sleep apnoea.
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Day 1 – Had tonsillectomy about 3:30pm. Woke up in recovery with minimum pain (3/10).
Given morphine for the pain.
Ate ham sandwich and packet of quavers in evening. Drinking chilled water constantly.
Slept well
Day 2 – Pain about 4/10 and given liquid morphine.
Ate cornflakes and marmalade on toast for breakfast. Drinking chilled water constantly.
Discharged from hospital at 10:00am.
Ate a normal dinner and sleep was near normal.
Day 3 to 5 – Pain about 4/10, been taking paracetamol 1000mg (every 6 hours) and ibuprofen 400mg (every 8 hours) round the clock.
Waking myself up to take the pills throughout the night. Sometimes taking pills will result in water running out of the nose
At times, it is hard to swallow but still drinking chilled water constantly.
Eating normal food. With lots of sandwiches and toast.
Sleeping close to normal with maybe a couple of hours less sleep.
Day 6 – Pain ramped up to about 5/10 so added codeine 30mg to the mix every 6 hours, taken same time as paracetamol.
Still trying to eat normal diet and drinking chilled water.
Sleeping maybe 6 hours a day.
Day 7 – pain between 4/10 and 5/10 throughout the day and night.
Still managing to eat normal food but much less than I would like. Still drinking plenty of chilled water.
Been harder to sleep but managing up to 4 hours at night and maybe a couple of hours in day.
Day 8 to 9 – pain between 5/10 and 7/10 throughout the day and night.
Ear ache now too at about 1/10 to 3/10 for pain.
Now very painful to talk. struggling through eating toast and sandwiches as pain eating is so great.
Even painful to drink chilled water now and stings to do so but, as room temp water does the same, I have stuck with the chilled water.
Sleep is reduced to a few hours at most.
Day 10 – Pain about a 4/10 so hoping I have turned the corner and over the worst of the pain.
Slight ear ache has now subsided.
Back to eating my normal diet with minimum pain.
Chilled water is soothing to drink rather than stinging.
Sleeping much better.
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Overall, I am glad I had the op and hope it has improved my sleep apnoea. If not, it was worth the shot.
Swallowing hurts but it is most painful to yawn, sneeze or cough.
I think most of the pain up to day 5 came from my swollen uvula which was 3 times its normal size.
This also caused the sensation that something was permanently stuck in my throat, when the uvula was brushing against my tongue.
Pain after day 5 I think was from the scab forming and then falling off.
The pain mostly never got much worse than my worst bout of tonsillitis but it is the duration of the pain that got to me.
Seemed like there would be no end to it.
Not the most painful experience of my life. that was an acute attack of gout. I would rather have my tonsils out than go through that experience again.
In short keep hydrated and try to eat your normal foods (avoiding any spice etc).
Take your meds regularly through the day and night.
I think this is what helped me get through this.
I’m 18 I had my tonsils out on Wednesday the 19th July its now Sunday 23rd so it’s day 4/5 and I’m in agony my throat is killing and it was bleeding a tiny bit today and it doesn’t help the earache you get with it, I have been crying at the table eating I think my boyf has had enough. Does it get any better?!
Hi,
Im a 20 year old female. Had my tonsils out on 20th July so currently on post op day 4 and I’ve got to say it’s been a rollercoaster already!!
The operation went well and had no complications, I wasn’t in that much pain to start with, the nurse even made me eat a ham sandwich which was really painful!
Day 3 was the worst for me as I felt as though I couldn’t breathe, woke up at 4am in tears which was painful enough, not being able to swallow my tablets or eat or drink anything, was regretting having it done all together and my mum spent 20 minutes on the phone to the nurse trying to come up with solutions. I couldn’t lie still as my earache pain was through the roof, to solve my earache I just took regular pain relief and had a heat pad pressed against my ear, always sleep on my side and just dozed off then when I woke up the ear pain had gone. Chewing gum is also good to relax ear pain as it gets the jaw muscles moving.
I’m on day 4 now and I’m actually already starting to feel like I can cope with the pain. I’m just dreading when the scabs start to come off and it all goes back downhill again.
The main advice I could give anyone that’s just had their tonsils out is to eat jelly first thing in the morning as this moistens your throat as it’s been so dry whilst you’ve been sleeping. Then about 30 mins after you’ve taken paracetamol eat some toast with butter on, this sounds painful and it is a little bit but eating solid foods early on does help clear the throat and it gets the muscles in your throat used to chewing and swallowing meaning it won’t be as difficult and painful later on in the recovery process and as horrible as it sounds it scratches the bad stuff off your throat too.
Also when you’re drinking water only ever take tiny tiny sips as it can end up coming through your nose or hitting your pallet and you get that stinging sensation when you’re in the sea and a wave catches you off guard. But make sure you take plenty of sips just take your time when drinking it. Also another big savour of mine was Coca Cola, the nurse advised me to drink this as the fizz in it helps clear the throat. at first I thought she was joking but it does really help! I haven’t been out since I’ve had mine done yet, only walked around the house as I catch colds quite easily and don’t want to get an infection but some people can go out pretty soon afterwards I’m just playing it safe.
I’ve still got the worst part of recovery yet to come which I am dreading but today I’m feeling good so continuing to do what I have been doing! I’ve also had no trouble sleeping what so ever, I can sleep for 6+ hours and wake up with just a little pain in my throat and ears.