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.
Hi! I’m 30 years old, post op day 2. Doing ok so far! I read a lot of horrible stories before hand and was so scared!!
But here is the bottom line: yeah, its a bad sore throat, but as long as you take your meds, stay in bed, stay hydrated and keep shoveling in ice chips…. You’ll be fine.
Hi, Its Erin again. POD 5 now. Pain definitely got worse last night with 100.2F . My whole body aches because of the fever. Broke around 3am this morning and started to feel better after that today.
Fever is expected, but definitely makes the pain worse.
Lots of water, ice tea, ice chips and yogurt.
Ice cream is too cold!! Vanilla, Greek yogurt is much better.
My question is, how long are you expected stay on narcotics? In going to run out within the next 1-2 days. Do you think my ENT will give me more to last until day 10-12?
I’m 25 years old and on day 6 post op of my Tonsillectomy/Adenoidectomy. I’ve been waking up several times throughout the night with excruciating pain in my ears and throat. They said it was supposed to get better day by day? I’m not getting any relief whatsoever… I’m taking hydrocodone (every 4 hours) and steroids and I feel like they aren’t doing a thing for me! I’ve really not eaten or drank much at all. Everything except for room temp water burns the hell out of my throat and at some primes it’s so hard to even swallow my own saliva especially with that bitter tase that comes with it so I had a “spit cup” (so gross!). I’ve tried cold, it actually feels worse so I’ve bacically been sticking to luke warm water, teas and yogurt. Everything else I’ve tried has either stung/bunrt or has gotten trapped in my throat. This is the most painful and draining thing I’ve ever been experienced in my life and I’ve heard that day 7 is the worst? I’m dreading and can’t imagine things getting worse than they are now! I’m just feeling so hopeless that I’m getting no relief between the pain, lack of food and energy and I’m just hoping this will all be over soon. Any tips would be great! ?
Water, water and more more. Drink at least 40 oz. a day. Keep ice on the front and sides of your neck. I found frozen peas worked best! Take pain meds regularly (with a lot of water) or you won’t get the best relief. Set an alarm so you don’t miss a dose. Check with your doctor to see if he/she will allow liquid aspirin or Tylenol in between narc dose. Hang in there, it WILL get better. I found days 5-8 were the worst, and then better every day. The more water you drink, the faster you will heal. Hang in there. Jan
Negative on the aspirin… that is an anti platelet and will decrease your ability to clot.
I am 33 and had a lingual tonsillectomy 4 days ago to help wth my sleep apnea. Thankfully my regular tonsils were removed about 25 years ago because I don’t think I could’ve handled all of the procedures at once. I had surgery on a Friday afternoon and I was spitting up blood from the moment I woke up. Because I was referred to the hospital from a different facility I feel like there was a huge lack in communication about what to expect during my recovery. For some reason, the nurses who were taking care of me post op seemed to think that the giant clots and never-ending blood spitting was considered “minor”…. which the paperwork told them to expect. I couldn’t even go to the bathroom without taking a cup with me for spitting because I had already made the entire room look like a crime scene. They set me up with the suction tube and I filled it with about 500ccs of blood and a some saliva (in addition to the dozens of chicken nugget sized clots in a pan beside my bed) before they took my requests to see an ENT seriously. If it weren’t for this site giving me actual experiences to compare to mine, I would’ve just gone with the flow. By the time the resident on call came up to check on me, I was cold and dizzy. Needless to say I was rushed to emergency surgery around midnight to cauterize the hemorrhage which had caused me to lose around a liter of blood. I’ve been home a couple of days but am struggling to get past my anxiety that I will start bleeding again. Because they are my lingual tonsils, I’m unable to see the scab progression and monitor their healing. The last day or so I have had a lot of periodic swelling and foamy saliva, but today the foam is mixed with runnier saliva that tastes so bitter. My entire tongue and lips were all scraped up from the second intubation so I’m not sure if it’s just because I’m gaining some taste back. Has anyone noticed a change in saliva around day 3? Also, any lingual tonsil patients that have experience with scab sloughing and/or cauterization healing? I’m trying to stay optimistic through dreaded day 5, but the lack of sleep and food has made me delirious and I’m hoping to be mentally prepared for what’s coming. Happy healing, everyone!
I am sure your post will help others too, thank you for sharing. Keep us up to date! Jan
I’m 15 and on day 4. I have to say this has to be the most unbearable pain I’ve ever experienced. Day one wasn’t too bad but I was still on a lot of great pain meds. Now I feel like I’m dying I can’t speak, eating and drinking feels like the end of the world and the constant gaging is excruciating. I’m taking Advil every 4 hours and Percocet every 6 hours and even the percocet doesn’t do much good. It’s honestly feeling like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel and the idea of starting days 5-8 is terrifying. All I want to do is cry but that hurts too. People will tell you it’s bad but believe me it’s HORRIBLE. Advice so far don’t go without water for too long and never go too long without pain meds because as soon as they ware off it’s hell all over again.
I think I did something wrong.. I really am having trouble believing things are going to get better I feel like that everytime I swallow for the rest of my life it’s going to feel this way. I feel like I’m having some pain that no one else does… I’m 16.. I’m on day 7.. only because it’s midnight.. it started out fantastic. Day one my friends stayed with me that first night after surgery I slept fine.. the next day a little worse it hurt pretty bad just to open my jaw.. the sides of my tongue hurt so bad.. when I swallowed it stung but now.. when I swallow it only hurts because on the left side it feels like there is a not in my throat muscle or something. I can’t swallow right.. I’m so emotional to. Because I’m sitting here crying thinking that this is my life now because all of these that I’ve read don’t have this problem where it feels like their throat has been tangled. Then I think
I’m so dumb I’m a whimp, I’ve gotten in physical fights with people at school (because of valid reasons) but I don’t have a pain issue until this.. I threw up today didn’t hurt my throat but I just feel so sick.. I can barely eat here is my family out having fun on my nephews 2nd birthday and I’m not going to let anything ruin that but I think I went too far, talked and tried to eat things that aren’t the best. I can’t deal with just jello or pudding that doesn’t help I hate soup and I ate all the ramen and spaghetti o’s and here I am dead on day 7 crying I work tomo… and the whole next week… I can’t do this anymore. This isn’t going anywhere pain subsides but turns into something new.. I honestly kinda wish I was dead but If I could wish I’d rather wish this tonsillitis to go away.
Hang in there, don’t stop to take your pain meds. Take it every 4 hours, even if that means you have to wake up from a good sleep. I was doing just fine until last night I decided I didn’t need to take percocet and I woke up in the middle of the night crying with pain. First time. So I guess I learnt my lesson…don’t underestimate the pain. If you’re nauseated make sure to always drink milk/gatorade/coconut water with your pain killer, get an Ice pack and wrap your neck with it. And relax for a bit.
I hope you’re feeling better by now but try to be strong. It will be all worth it.