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.
Danielle,
I had the exact same surgery as you. It was painful and all I can relate is what I did. Instead of taking two pain pills every four hours I took one pain pill every two hours. I wanted to keep the same level of drug in my system all the time. I woke up every two hours during the night to take pills. I purchased a pill crusher and mixed the crushed pain pill with two teaspoons of yogurt. 30 minutes after taking the pill I would drink a 1/2 bottle of Smart Water. Drink as much water as you can, it’s painful but it helps recovery. Also, I ate two case of popsicles…..popsicles when I woke up at night, popsicles before I ate my yogurt with my crushed pain pill, popsicles all day long. If you have an ice collar use it. If you don’t have one put some ice in plastic bags and place them on you neck to keep the swelling down. The recovery for this surgery is painful, difficult and the pain keeps getting worse for the first ten days. Again, popsicles, drink at a minimum 32 ounces of ICE COLD water daily, use the ice collar, and take your pain pills. I used yogurt so I’d have something in my stomach. Best of luck.
Someone guide me. I’m 22 and I’m on day 7 of recovery from tonsillectomy and andenoidectomy. I’m in terrible pain constantly. I’ve lost so much weight. I can’t eat or drink, let alone swallow. 🙁
I found this website two days ago and am so thankful I did! It was a relief to hear that I wasn’t the only one going through the extreme pain that I have experienced over the last 8 days. I am on day 8 after my tonsillectomy and wanted to recommend that everyone getting a tonsillectomy or anyone who is still recovering to go buy a cool mist humidifier. It changed my entire night while sleeping. It kept my mouth moist so it didn’t feel like my throat was on fire this morning. This is the first day I have felt some relief and I even decided to skip taking the Lortab and just take a couple of ibuprofens. I am praying I am close to being out of the woods. Good luck to everyone, and go get a cool mist humidifier!
Hang in there it’s get better. I bought a pill smasher and smashed my pills and ate two teaspoons of yogurt with the pill. For ten days all I had was two teaspoons of yogurt every two hours and all the popsicles I could eat and Smart Water I could drink. My first meal was mac & cheese and it a itty bitty size portion. After day 14 you’ll begin to rock and roll. Best of luck with your recovery. BTW, after it’s all done…..IT WORTH IT!
This website has been a great relief for me, I had my tonsils removed on Feb 5 , I am now on day 5 after removal and it has probably been there worst day for pain. Day 1-3 seemed like a breeze compared to day 5. Yesterday I had some Kraft dinner for supper and it was really easy going down. I have had extremely bad breath but I assume that is just a side effect of the healing. I have been on Tylenol 3 with codeine to relieve pain.I have three questions, when does the pain start to die down? And, when should I go back to eating my normal diet? And, did any of you deal with infection and how did you know you had one?
I got my tonsils out on the 5th of Feb also, the first day in the hospital was fine, I sucked on ice and thought this is no problem at all. Boy was I mistaken. They told me day four would be the worse, I had my heart set that after that it would be better! Day four came around and the pain was excruciating, I could barely swallow water let alone anything else! The pain from my throat was referring to the pain in my ears and head also! They had me on panadene forte but even though that wasn’t hitting me it was also making me feel very very sick in the stomach. I was struggling to eat soft foods, I’d have the slightest bit of jelly, water and just couldn’t hack anything else. The next day I went to my local GP and he put me on something slightly stronger, Endone. That night I had so many different medications and it relieved the pain for a hour or to, but then just went down hill from there again. I was so restless, getting no sleep what so ever. It was decided, I was going back to hospital. My mum is a nurse so she took me to the private hospital she works at, they put me into emergency because they were worried about bleeding or infection, they took blood and found out I was very very dehydrated they pumped 4L of water into me through an IV and gave me different medication through the drip. It relieved me and it felt amazing to be able to swallow and talk again! I was able to eat a sandwich and Mac and Cheese! And it was the best thing ever, through all my tears from this I had never been happier! I came home and the night was okay, but I guess everything wore off and now I’m back to how I was before the hospital. In excruciating pain! It’s day 6 and I am just praying this will end sooner rather then later but I don’t believe it will. If I could go back in time I most certainly would not want this surgery! I don’t want to wait another week plus for this to wear off and for me to be a normal eating human being again! But I guess I’m going to have to. Its reassuring reading other people’s comments saying that they were in pain to, I have spoken to some friends that have had theirs done in the past and they were fine, eating, drinking alcohol even!! I wish I could heal that easily but I guess everyone’s different and I am an unlucky one.
I had my tonsils out on February 5th also! I stayed the night in the hospital for one night. The nurses had to play around with my pain medication because I wasn’t getting any relief from morphine. Literally it didn’t even faze me. They tried another type of medication that is in the same family as morphine and this made me very sick to my stomach. It was horrible. Finally they tried one more type of pain med after calling my doctor (This was late at night), and it was awesome. I had a good first day out of the hospital, but I found the medication very hard to take. My mom mushed up my pills and I mixed them with water on a tea spoon. That was the only way I could get them down. My first three days flew by because all I did was sleep. Out of those three days though I only ate two spoonfuls of pudding. Day four, five, six, were very difficult. My pain meds, mixed with no food in my stomach really made me feel nauseated. I did a lot of crying over those few days and started to wonder if this was all worth it even though I did often suffer from severe strep. It was so frustrating not being able to eat while being overwhelmingly hungry. So far as the days have gone on I am feeling better and better. I am don’t really eat to much because I am so scared of opening my wounds. Today is day 10 post-op and I am feeling sooo much better I am barely taking any pain medication and I am eating foods such as, Kraft Dinner (lifesaver), soft cheese, soup and other soft foods. I haven’t graduated up (had the guts) to eat anything solid yet. I have found drinking tons of water does really help. I hope you all are feeling better! Here’s to a fast recovery!