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.
I had my tonsils taken out last Friday 3rd June, it pretty much hurt from the moment I woke up and even the morpine wasn’t helping. I got home on Friday night with paracetamol, ibuprofen and tramadol. Saturday I was very sore but by Sunday it felt a bit easier only to be hit with a terrible infection that landed me going to A&E to get penicillin. The infection has been disgusting, the taste was like a rat had died in my mouth and I would wake up feeling it dripping down the back of my throat. I followed the instructions to the letter so I don’t know how I ended up infected so early. The antibiotics seem to be taking hold so the bad taste has almost gone but my throat is a whiteish/green lumpy mess. The pain is only there if I try to swallow and even with the pain meds it’s still sore. I hope this ends soon and was worth all this pain.
Jane UK
I am 16 years old and day 6 post op. The first day and a half were minimal pain compared to what was to follow. I was able to have friends over to check on me, I watched movies, I colored, etc. I was also able to eat jello, mashed potatos, macaroni and cheese, and sausage bits. I drank some Gatorade but mainly water. The night of day two was when everything went downhill. I set alarms to wake me when it was time to take my pain medicine, but it ended up that I would wake an hour before in pain. The next day (day 3) was very painful. This is when my ears started to hurt. I am supposed to take my pain medicine every four hours, and around hour 3 my ears would be in pain as well as my throat. I found that placing a cold wet washcloth around my neck soothes the pain. I didn’t have an appetite for anything that day. Of course I was forced to put something in my body, but if I remember correctly all I ate on day 3 was half a jello cup and an individual cup of sherbet. On day 3, I also began to have a horrible taste in my mouth. It made everything, even ice water, taste bitter and just felt out disgusting. That was another reason I didn’t have a big appetite. The night of Day 3 was the same as day 2, but a little worse. In addition to the inevitable sore throat, my ears were hurting as well as my tongue and jaw. The pain of my ears was so bad it had me in tears a couple of times. I forgot to set alarms for my medicine this night, which was a big mistake. I got a little more sleep, but not without consequences. Because I slept past the four hours my pain medicine was due, I woke up several times in excruciating pain. I would wake up, refill my ice water, chew on some ice from Sonic (it’s much easier to chew), take my medicine, and wrap a cold washcloth around my neck and go back to sleep only to repeat the process about 4-5 hours later. One thing that I found did help is keeping a humidifier on my nightstand. It’s nothing fancy, it releases just enough to keep the air around me moist. Day 4 was a tiny bit better compared to day 3, but still very very painful. Still had no appetite, still had a bitter, nasty taste in my mouth constantly, I wasn’t able to drink as much as I should because of how painful it was to swallow (in my ears mainly but my throat as well), I slept a lot, considering I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep the night before. By this time I figured out that I should probably wake up every 30 min-1 hour to sip some water to keep my throat moist so it wouldn’t be so painful when I wake up, but sleep has always been precious to me so that didn’t happen. Day 4 was blah. The night of day 4 was much better. I didn’t set alarms to take my medicine, but it didn’t seem to matter. I would wake up in pain, but it wasn’t unbearable. I would do the same routine, drink water take medicine chew ice etc, and go back to bed. I woke up on Day 5 and felt the best I felt since day 1. I felt as if I was able to get out of the house and run some errands with my mom. I woke up and got a shower, but I think I may have gotten overheated or it took too much out of me because as soon as I got out I had to lay in bed and rest for a few minutes. I blame that on me not eating as much as I should. We ended up going into town and running the errands, but by the first one I was over it. The pain in my ears was back, I felt nauseous, I felt tired, I still had no appetite, it was bad. We didn’t get to finish the errands. When I got home I could hardly talk and I went straight to sleep. However, I had to wake up because of a mandatory Europe meeting. (I’m going to Europe in a little less than 3 weeks so pray that I’m better by then). I went to the meeting feeling bad but it is what it is. However, about thirty minutes into the meeting I felt tired and very sick to my stomach, and I was cramping as well, and I could not talk without having a sharp pain in my ear. And by sharp I mean like knives being stuck in my ear. It. Was. Horrible. We stopped by my grandmas house on the way home because she made me my favorite soup and pie, but I was in so much pain I couldn’t take one bite before I was in tears, once again. I went home and began to feel a little better, but that didn’t last long. Maybe 45 min. I went to sleep last night (day 5) and woke up at 4 am and was in excruciating, unbearable pain. I was, again, in tears. I did the routine, took medicine, drank water, wrapped cold washcloth around my neck, etc. it took a while for that to help but I think I only went back to sleep because I was so exhausted. I woke up again at 6 coughing. I coughed before but this was like a choking cough and I’m wondering if my scabs are coming off (even though my dr said it wouldn’t happen until about day 10) I took more medicine but less dosage. I went back to sleep and woke up at 8 and took the same dosage. So far, I still have no appetite, still have a horrible taste in my mouth (which btw is the only thing that is making me feel even the least bit nauseous. It’s THAT bad.), still have pain in my ears, etc. I also find myself spitting a lot. I think it’s partly because it hurts to swallow and partly because it taste like the horrible taste in my mouth, so swallowing it is double the taste.
TIPS I HAVE FIGURED OUT:
•sit up slightly while sleeping. It helps for some reason
•keeping something cold around your neck may help with throat/ear pain
•humidifiers will probably be your bff
•Sonic ice will probably be your bff too
•have a trash can beside your bed at all times
•try to eat, even if you don’t want to. You will thank yourself later
•stay on top of your medicine by all means
•stay hydrated
I had mine out on 31 May. The first couple of days were uneventful, the pain was uncomfortable but not severe. I was able to eat food that I would normally eat. However, on Friday I started to bleed. I let this run its course and it stopped, but later on it started again. I went to my GP and was informed it was infected and I got antibiotics. He told me to go to A&E if it started again. Which it did, on Saturday morning.
So I went to A&E and they just kept me for observation while giving me painkillers and intravenous antibiotics. During the night I had a further bleed, which was a bit worse. Again we just let it run its course.
The following day (yesterday) I was bleeding on and off throughout the day. I was given hydrogen peroxide mouthwash to gargle and the doctor suctioned a blood clot then got me to gargle. This stopped the bleeding, for about five minutes. For nearly an hour I could feel a steady stream of blood trickling out of the side of my throat. Eventually I went back into surgery to get it (I think) recauterised.
Today, so far, I have had the occasional tiny bit of blood but hardly any really. I am now back home and got another two weeks off work. The surgeon told me I am now “back to square one”, but I believe other people have had their recovery continue from where it left off after having this done. I hope this is the case for me because, despite the pain having not reached severe levels, this has so far been a nightmare.
Dan, UK
Hi I’m on day 6 and the scabs started falling off last night. The taste in my mouth is even worse than the
Tonsil stones I had. My throat, tongue uvula is still really swollen. When I drink sometimes it comes straight down my nose! I still have no energy due to not eating enough. I am drinking more and find that Diet Coke takes a lot of the taste away. The pain is the worst about 3am I have to sit up in bed and take more codeine then after about an hour it subsides again. I am a 43 yr old female in the uk. I have had 4 major operations I’m my lifetime and I think this has got to be up there with the worst. Anyone know how much longer the swelling will take before it doesn’t feel like I have a rock permanently at the back of my throat?
Thanks Claire
I am on day twelve and its the the first day with no pain medication and the ability to swallow normally. I read so many blogs on this before my procedure on May 27,2016 I almost scared myself to death. I have a very low threshold for pain, but I must admit it was tolerable. I followed the doctor’s orders precisely, took my pain medicine around the clock and only ate very soft foods that were easily swallowed like broth, jello, yogurt etc… I also took a multi vitamin and B12 to keep me from not getting in nutrition. I tried Gatorade but it was like a flame torch to my throat. But today I am happy to say I am still alive, I also experienced some bleeding on day 10 but it stopped soon after gargling with ice water. My advice would be to take your medicine as prescribed try not to eat hard foods and just rest until you start feeling better. Good luck to you all.
Sincerely,
A successful tonsillectomy recovery patient ☺
I’m now on Day 13, have been off vicodin since Day 10. Used ice packs & cool mist humidifier religiously first 8 or so days. Have been drinking fluids consistently since Day 1, managed to eat some sort of food every day (not just jello), hit peak pain end of Day 6. I’ve been getting up and going for short walks pretty much the past 5 days. I feel pretty good – but I don’t think my scabs have come off yet. Is that normal?