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’m 17 and i can say this has been the worst pain in my entire life. I had the option to get them out but of course that scared my mother too much so she convinced me that it would be better to wait in hopes that my tonsils would stop making me sick and i would grow out of it. Well, unfortunately i never did grow out of getting strep, tonsillitis and other nasty infections in my mouth and tonsils. So we decided to get them out.
Day one (the day i got them out) was a breeze. i felt so good in the hospital and it must have been due to all the pain meds.
Day two was also fine… it hurt a bit more but i didn’t think much of it. Both days so far i was able to eat mac and cheese and some other foods.
Day 3 was pretty bad. i made the mistake of leaving the house for the day assuming I would be fine. I tried to eat a muffin and it was a no go. I got home and I believe that I just had a frozen drink and popsicles.
Day 4…. ugh the pain started to set in here. I started to feel helpless! i was able to eat a really thinly sliced hot dog. I tried canned ravioli and that was extremely painful. I had a few popsicles but wasn’t able to finish my last one. my tounge started to swell badly this day.
Day 5 – so bad! i slept the whole day for the most part. my scabs were starting to come off. it stung so bad. i could hardly drink water. I can’t eat anything without my tounge swelling and stinging. i tried oatmeal and ate about half of what i made for myself. it wasn’t as much my throat in pain that it was my tounge and ears burning. the night was bad. the roof of my mouth stung horribly! even my humidifier felt drying.
Day 6 – today it is 9am and the start of my 6th day. very painful and similar to yesterday. but i feel a little more hopeful because more of my scabs have fallen off. my throat is bright bright red and hurts so bad. it feels extremely dry.
for pain meds i was told to take liquid acideminophin (sorry that is totally spelt wrong.) but luckily yesterday my dad was able to get me some acideminophin and codeine. i’m not sure if it makes that much of a difference. but i find the pills fairly easy to swollow.
now i’m just waiting. last night i broke down and cried. this is worse than any of my tonsil sicknesses. i know that when i am healed it will be awesome. but for now i feel helpless and lonely even though i have a lot of support. I wish i could post pictures of my removed tonsils on here since i have been taking daily photos. i am not sure how they are healing and i would like to be able to compare my photos to others. hopefully the pain is over soon.
you guys don’t know how bad i’m craving some spice!! ahh!! hopefully soon.
Ahhhh I remember feeling the exact same. That was in November and now I dont even think about it and I haven’t had any sore throats or dry throats. It took a little while but my taste buds have returned to normal near enough. I’m not snoring/holding my breath in my sleep. No nasty smelly and sore tonsil stones. Just when you think you can’t take any more it will all start to ease up and get better. I remember wanting to cry because I felt so sorry for myself but decided that it would just hurt my throat more so wouldn’t have made me feel any better lol I would do it again and I imagine most other post tonsilectomy peeps would agree. It will all be worth it. Nearly there ?
I’m 21 year old male going on day 7.
First 3 days were a breeze, day 4 the pain started to kick in and now it is very bad. Drinking water is a challenge and the stinging in my ears is almost as awful as the taste in my mouth. This is the first day I haven’t been able to eat anything. Definitely use a humidifier 24/7, gargle salt water, keep on top of the pain meds, and take a stool softener every 8 hours. Did anyone else begin developing dark blood clots on their scabs around day 7?
I’m 37…I had my tonsils and adenoids removed on 11/29/16. Last night my boyfriend said that I was still snoring. Has anyone else had any problems with continuing to snore after your surgery?
Yes I have been snoring more than ever after surgery. It will happen for atleast 2 wks after surgery.
I am a 16 yr old female who decided to get their tonsils out on December 22, 2016. My family and I made this decision based on the fact that I kept getting recurring sore throats and colds. After visiting with my ENT doctor, he said that it would not be an easy recovery but it would definitely be worth it in the end. I did some research about a few weeks prior to surgery to prepare myself, and make sure I knew what I was getting myself into. It came the day of surgery and since my surgery was at 11am, I didn’t have to suffer not being able to eat for too long. After I woke up from surgery, I remember balling my eyes out and seeing my dad holding my hand and my mom putting a wet washcloth on my forehead. From reading multiple stories that all said people woke up in no pain, that was what I was expecting…NOT THE CASE. The nurse that was in the recovery room tried feeding me crushed ice to help relieve the pain, however it did not help. Eventually they put more pain meds in my IV and I went back to my room. They tried giving me a popsicle but I was in too much pain to eat it so I tried applesauce instead. After eating a few bites, they told me I was ready to go home. Once I got home I felt a little nauseous from the anesthesia so I took a nap. After waking a few hours later, my pain intensified. I took more pain meds but those made me sick so I had to switch to children’s liquid ibuprofen. Throughout the night I woke up every 2 hours to take my medicine and drink lots of water to keep my throat moist,.
Day 2- I woke up in the morning very dizzy so I was not able to get out of bed pretty much all day. The pain was a little bit better than the actual surgery day so I was feeling good, aside from the fact that I was super dizzy. I continued taking naps throughout the day because I had no energy and couldn’t stay awake, probably because I didn’t really get any sleep the night before. Food/drink I had: lots of water, applesauce, chicken broth
Day 3: Today I woke up feeling so good! I took my pain meds and the pain was almost gone so I decided to run errands with my mom. We went to the mall and got coffee and I felt like I had superpowers. This continued throughout the whole day until night time. Around 7 pm the pain came back but I was grateful I could spend a whole day in minimal pain. Food/drink I had: lots of water, caribou coffee, mashed potatoes, chicken broth
Day 4 & 5: These were hands down the worst days ever. I cried constantly for 2 days straight and got no sleep at all. Swallowing water was not pleasant and did not feel good. My pain meds did not seem to help and I had no hope on these days. There is no point in sugar coating these days because this was easily the days where I had the worst pain I have every had in my life. Food/drink I had: water, few bites of applesauce
Day 6: Today was better than days 4 & 5 in that I was able to go out to lunch to get soup. While swallowing, I didn’t have pain, I just had a stinging sensation which was very uncomfortable. Throughout the whole day, it just stung when I swallowed. My scabs did come off in bits as I ate food today. It was not painful but I am assuming that is why I had stinging when I swallowed. Food/drink I had: lots of water, few bits of tomato basil soup, spaghetti o’s
Day 7 & 8: These days were a lot better than the previous days however the pain started to come back but it was definitely not as extreme as it had been. I was able to go hangout with friends and actually leave the house. Food/drink I had: lots of water, milkshake, mac n cheese
Day 9: Today was much better than every other day. I was able to have my first real meal! I had shrimp Alfredo and was able to eat it just fine. Friends came over and I continued to have minimal pain all day. Food/drink I had: lots of water, shrimp Alfredo, scrambled eggs, malt
Day 10 & 11: These days were better and the pain was almost completely gone. Food/drink I had: lots of water, scrambled eggs, chunky soup, pasta with meatballs
Day 12: This is by far the best day. I could basically eat anything I wanted with minimal pain. Food/drink I had: lots of water, scrambled eggs, salad, pasta, chips.
TIPS:
-drink a ton of water, it will keep your throat moist and keep the pain down
-gargle salt water, it seems like it would be gross and painful, but it helped speed up the healing process and keeps the site clean
-have a humidifier in your room to keep the air moist; helps your throat to stay moist so it won’t dry out and become even more painful
-take your pain meds on schedule; my mom created a chart that layed out when I should take each medicine so that really helped me stay on track
Even though it was the worst pain I have ever experienced, I am so glad I did it, and do not regret it one bit. It will benefit my greatly in the future. I had no bleeding probably because I drank so much water and kept it super moist which helps. However, your voice will be scratchy and not sound like normal for a few days. But it gets better, I promise!!
Hey guys! Thought i’d also share a few tips that are helping me through. I am from the UK so hopefully we have the same meds (just different brands). Remember everyone’s pain tolerance is difference, just because someone recovered more easily than you doesn’t mean you should be a hero and try and cut back on the pain killers, seriously, if you are hurting, take them. You need your strength to recover quickly.
I am post-op day 6 (inc day of surgery), had massive nausea attack from anaesthetic, spewing every 15 mins so they kept me in over night. If you do find that you literally cannot handle the nausea, ask for something called DEXAMETHASONE, usually administered by IV. Sorted me right out. False sense of security for day 2,3 & 4, the likelihood is it will get worse before it gets better because of the scabs, so brace yourself! Just remember why you had it done, never have to worry about tonsil issues again! Hopefully we’ll look back and laugh (or cry, or completely repress the memory of it lol).
Here’s a few things helping me through;
Humidifier – (warm or cold) doesn’t matter as long as you’re getting some moisture in the air. Also if you have central heating crack a window slightly.
DO NOT LAY FLAT – If you can as uncomfortable as it is, prop pillows behind you so you are almost sitting upright, if you are that tired you’ll nod off soon enough.
Drink as much as you can (pref water) – i’ve found anything else stings more for my throat but everyone is different.
Soluble Solpadeine Max – If you are in the US i’m not sure if they have it or what the equivalent is but these pills have been a god send, they aren’t like the liquid pain killers (gloopy and acidic), I feel as i’m drinking it it’s numbing my throat as it’s passing all the nastiness. (Genuinely tried to switch to cocodamol last night as solpadeine can be addictive, huge mistake woke up in agony this morn.) Everyone reacts diff to medications just find the right one for you, morphine for some reason does nothing for me except space me out!
Scratchy/Soft foods – I alternate them right now as I want to scrape the crap off but need to be careful in case they come off prematurely, do noooooot want to go back to that hospital. Just eat what you can. For some reason quavers have been amazing.
Also finally, STEAM! – This has worked wonders for me especially with jaw ache etc, get a pan/pot chuck some boiling water in it and put a towel over your head and in hale it. It’s taken the edge off when the meds are starting to wear off.
I won’t lie there’s been a few times I have wanted to cry, it seriously sucks, that being said it’ll be over at some point and I can eat a burger again, that day will be god damn glorious!