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.
DAY EIGHT
In closing day 7 I decided I wouldn’t take any pain pills as I’m just tired of grinding those pills up 12 times a day and frankly, when I die and come back I never, ever want to see any more yogurt. You know when have too much of something when you get that gag reflex and it’s not because your throat feels like you have a thousand itty bitty soldiers armed with chainsaws working their way back and forth across the back of your throat. No, in this case it’s yogurt overload; whether it’s peach, strawberry, blueberry or whatever, thinking about pain pills and yogurt doesn’t work anymore.
I continue to surf the Internet until 12:30 AM researching tonsillectomies. My interest in researching tonsillectomies was zilch until I had this procedure. I’ve derived a hypothesis while rooting about the Internet. There are three basic categories of recovery. Those who recovery very quick with a very limited amount of discomfort; those, who like most of us feel the pain is like a roller coaster at Magic Mountain, the up & downs, the instant acceleration and coming to an instant stop. Lets not forget how our stomach feels when you’re upside down and weightless, what was it I just ate? ☺ Finally, those who have things go wrong that fall into that 2 to 4 percentile when recovering. It’s this group that has it the roughest time during recovery. Everyone loathes thinking what it would be like if I were a 2 to 4 percenter?
Sleep for night number 7 did not exist, it seems as though it was indeed a figment of my imagination. Since the surgery, I sleep with three pillows behind by back, so I’m sitting up right and I can’t get comfortable, the swelling mixed with discomfort and pain was the perfect formula for no sleep. This went on throughout the night and I found just before sunrise I did indeed dose off for a bit. I decided for some unknown reason to try to sleep on my side and that’s when it happened.
At 6:10AM I ran to the bathroom and coughed up phlegm and it had some scab and blood in it. I spat into the sink and saw part of the scab and small dark red balls of blood. Thinking to myself the right scab is breaking lose I hope I don’t hemorrhage and fall into that 2 to 4 percent group. Again, more dark balls of blood, all different sizes this time. The dark red color told me this blood is probably coagulated from the initial cauterization during surgery. Again, I spit into the sink this time the blood is bright red, this confirmed I’m bleeding but I don’t know how bad it is? Huston, we have a problem. I immediately grabbed a large glass filled it with ice, grabbed some cold water and started to gargle with the ice water. Each time I expectorated the ice water it had bright red blood in it. The more I rinsed my mouth the more bright red blood I observed. I went back grabbed the ice pack for my neck used it while I was gargling. After 15 minutes, not 5 minutes as the Doctor recommended, the bright red blood seems to have diminished. By 7:00 AM the blood was gone. This was not at all painful. I was more concerned what it did to my psyche than me physically. Lets just say your mind starts to move like a blender at high speed while this going on. Should I call 911, should I wait, what happens if I wait to long and pass out…….all these questions popped into my mind? Probably won’t affect you the same way it affected me!
The thing I do notice now is the left scab, which is still intact, has a burning sensation to it. I didn’t notice this before because both scabs had this feeling; however, with one scab now gone, there is a discernable difference B/T the right and left side of throat. Also, after this happen I realized I lost my appetite, which was beginning come back before this happened. I looking forward to a meal of fresh mashed potatoes.
I ‘m still forcing the water down. A minimum of two quarts a day to ensure I keep hydrated. Almost forgot, once the scab removal starts, those pesky little bits of scab keep coming off throughout the day. Oh boy, I can’t wait until the left scab comes off. ☺
Im going to say this now, i have been allmost painless and sleepibg soundly since i was given emtec.
for those of you thinking you need to go through with pain. This is not true. I sleep allmost solidly through the night and i have not had any pain of note since i threw up my antibiotics prior to med change over.
seek out your doctor and get emtec if your in the beginning stages as you will greatly apprexiate it. I can go withoutbpopsicles mostly as swellig is not too terrible. 🙂
Day-5, woke up today after 5-6 hours of sleep(the most I’ve had in one nap since surgery) and wasn’t in as much pain as I have been in. Immediately drank cold water and ate a Popsicle which helped my throat. Took my pain med and just relaxing. Decided to try some mashed potatoes and got them down with no issue(swallowing still hurts of course). So far a better day for today, we will see what it brings. So far weight loss is 6 pounds for day 5. Will add that sometimes when I drink, the water tries to go up my nose. This is new to me so I’m guessing I will learn to swallow food and drinks again. It does seem like I can breathe better, maybe it’s just me. I’ve read day 6-8 can be pretty rough so we will see what it brings. Good luck to all going through this!
Michelle, if you get to read this I hope your doing better and get to go back home soon.
No i was told if i bled minor not to worry. They didnt expect me to i guess.
No the surgeon said go to the ER if I have bad bleeding and he would meet me up there, I guess cause they would call him and he lives near the hospital. I didn’t get specific instructions other than that. And yes, thoughts and prayers for Michelle….