My daily adult tonsillectomy recovery "blog"

wedgewog · Newbie Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 1

I'm 25 years old and had my tonsillectomy on may 14. I had a look at a lot of blogs before my op and found them really useful. The doctor didn't really give me any idea of what stages there would be in the healing process, or what to expect at all. So here is a step by step summary of my experience. I hope it helps someone...

before surgery you will need to buy.......
paracetamol- the hospital don't give you enough to last the full recovery. capsules go down quite well.

jelly - stock up on this as it will be the easiest thing to eat. better than ice cream that sits like a thick layer on the throat

straws - makes sipping water easier for first few days when jaw aches.

May 14 -day one- pain 4/10
went into surgery at about 2.30pm. woke up after op desparately wanting water, which was given to me straight away with the aid of a straw. was shaking a lot after general anesthetic, was given oxygen and was on a drip. Then taken to a ward and transferred in a very drousy state into the bed. must have been around 3.30pm. managed to keep sipping water in between sleeping for 10-15 mins at a time and kept having my blood pressure taken by the nurses. throat sore but had no trouble swallowing. keep burping for some reason which hurts a bit. After a couple of hours I was given some painkillers in tablet form. the nurse kindly cut the tablets into smaller bits for me to swallow. was given some ice cream for dinner as was now about 6pm. wasn't given toast which my friends had told me would happen. after I had eaten I was given some ibuprofen and more painkillers. then slept again, given some more painkillers around 11pm before sleeping a few hours at a time.

May 15 -day two-pain 3/10
woke up around 5am, throat sore and dry. had a few sips of water and asked nurse for painkillers. felt better around 15 mins later when painkillers kicked in. kept sipping water as seemed to ease discomfort.
kept sleeping for brief periods as didn't sleep too well. the surgeon came to have a look and I was given my 2 week sicknote and meds to take home. paracetamol and codine for the pain, an antiseptic throat spray and ibuprofen for the swelling. Was discharged from the hospital around 11am. Throat sore, jaw ached a little and tongue a little swollen. couldn't open mouth very far. throat looked red with white and pale yellow gunge covering where tonsills used to be. tastes like a cross between onion relish and cheese, not very pleasant. managed to talk a little when got home and ate slice of toast with butter cut into little squares.

may 16 - day three- pain 4/10
woke up at 5.30am. throat sore and dry again, had water and paracetamol and codine straight away. again felt better after around 15 mins. ate some jelly.... a lifesaver over the next week. spent the day in bed sleeping for small periods and drinking lots of water. got up to try eat more toast as had been told by doctor this is what I should try to do to slough off white gunge forming on throat. had taken ibuprofen earlier before managed to eat anything and so was sick when tried to eat the toast. wasn't as painful being sick as I thought it would be. went back to bed and just sipped water took painkillers at 4 hour intervals but found ran out of daily allowance before end of the day, took some more around 8pm but probably shouldn't have. throat looks very similar to yesterday but more pale yellow than white gunge. taste still not very pleasant.

may 17 - day four- pain 6/10
woke up as yesterday at 5.30 am. took painkillers, and drank more water. pain is lot worse today in my jaw and neck. feeling quite weak due to lack of food. spread painkillers through day as follows
5.30 paracetamol and codine
7am ibuprofen after eating jelly
9am paracetamol
11am codine
12pm ibuprofen
3pm paracetamol
4pm codine
5pm ibuprofen
7pm paracetamol
8pm codine

worked much better this way as pain eases a little in the middle of the day. throat looks quite gungy today. thick white gunge developing on top of other gunge. taste still not great. managed to brush front half of teeth with toothpaste today, could only brush with water before. rinsed mouth and gargled with water to try get rid of taste in mouth.

may 18- day five- pain 5/10
morning ritual repeated, similar day to yesterday. thick white gunge is getting worse.

may 19- day six- pain 9/10
thick white gunge has now turned a deep yellow. these must be the scabs forming then. pain in my ears is unbelievable. throat is so tender that it hurts to swallow, jaw aches, tongue swollen, neck sore. this is some serious pain, the painkillers don't really take the edge off this either, not good.

may 20 - day seven- pain 12/10
didn't sleep at all last night. most of the deep yellow scabs have gone except one big bit with black bits in it. throat feels like swallowing needles. ears excruciating, just laid holding my ears all day. most disgusting experience when final chunk of gunge came away, tasted like a mature cheese, yuck. throat now looks mostly red but with new white layer forming.

may 21 - day eight - pain 6/10
still in pain but not like yesterday. ears keep popping. throat covered in thin white layer again. taste in mouth much better now the yellow gunge is gone.

may 22 - day nine- pain 4/10
pain is mild again. ears much better today. looks like the worst is over now. white layer on throat is only in patches now. managed to eat minature, mushed up version of a roast dinner today. took ages but was worth it after all that jelly, I abandoned the toast idea after being sick on day three. can talk a little too but makes my throat hurt if I talk for too long.

may 23 - day ten- pain 2/10
throat only hurts when I swallow now, talking better. feel almost normal now, but still quite weak, lost over a stone in 9 days and clothes quite baggy.

its now may 30 and over the last week I have gradually been getting back to normal. throat still twinges a little in the mornings and when I swallow but no painkillers are necessary. noticed a hole in one side of my throat which was a bit worrying but just read a few blogs that say they had this too and that the holes fill themselves in over the next month so I'm not worried now.

good luck to anyone who is about to go through this, I hope my account of this experience is useful to you, my heart is with you. just remember the pain will end soon and you won't have to suffer with bad tonsills anymore. it's still the best thing I ever did, and the only days when was really painful was days 6 and 7.

just as a final note, you will get people who had their tonsills removed as a kid say to you they were fine in 2 days, and accuse you of skiving off work for 2 weeks.....these people are idiots...ignore them.

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Linz89 · Newbie Joined: 20 Jun 2008 Posts: 4

So tomorrow will be 2 weeks since my surg. Im still not eating solids.. mainly just jello.. and those new ice cream things called DIBS there little individual pieces they just melt down your throat its nice haha.. my ears still bother me when i swallow and i can sort of talk now which is nice because all of week one i was a mute and it hurt to even swallow spit. its comforting reading that people are going through similar situations. My doc did however warn me its different for everyone and must worse the older you r... but i can feel my scabs forming-exciting, gross and painful at times. I havent really read anything about other people having trouble eating.. my ears just hurt so bad when i try and i want to cry haha

anyone else have trouble eating?

but water, propel, sweet tea from mcdonalds Smile

all have been wonderful. DRINK DRINK DRINK

ps tylenol 3 or whatever did NOTHING for me. Percocets worked much better for pain.

Guest · Guest

hey. i just read your whole blog, im on day 5 and im in so much pain, its almost unbearable. fortunately, the pain only appears when i swallow, but... when i wake up in the mornings my throat is really dry, i cant actually swallow anything, so i spend 2 hours spitting in a tissue. and when i do take my med i get a sharp pain straight from my throat to my ears as you have described. but i cant bear it, its so painful i cant even cry. cos when i do cry it hurts even more. im not sure if my throats infected, it sounds as if it is.. but no pain killers are helping me, and i dont think im coping well. plus i'm going through my holidays and i really dont want to spend the rest of my holidays indoors not being physical like im used to. im seeing the doctor today to ask for stronger painkillers. other than that im stuck on what to do :/

My daily adult tonsillectomy recovery "blog"

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