My not completely horrible experience

cflo · Newbie Joined: 20 Mar 2008 Posts: 2

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to share my experience after having my tonsillectomy and uvula shaving. I had the procedure to deal with a sleep apnea condition. I am currently on day 15 post op and I am back to work, eating solid food and generally back to 100% health. I am not going to lie, I went into surgery expecting the worst after reading the horror stories other people had posted. In this case my mentality was expect the worst but hope for the best.

So, day 1 and under observation following surgery I was feeling fine due to a liberal helping of morphine. The doc used a "plasma knife" for my surgery which is supposed to reduce pain and recovery time. I spent about 2 hrs in the hospital after I woke up, had some ice chips and apple juice, then they made me pee and I was allowed to leave. About 8 hrs post op I was still not feeling too bad, but attributed this to the morphine. I had an ice pop and lots to drink during this time. I took some of my liquid Lortab following people's advice to "stay ahead of the pain." Quickly following this I threw up. That kinda put me off the pain meds but I was able to sleep decently, but kept a garbage bin by my bed so I could continuously rinse my mouth out.

Days 2 through 5 were pretty much a breeze (throat felt like I had a bad sore throat) and I thought that maybe I got extremely lucky and wouldn't have to use the pain meds at all. I was even eating eggs and bread during this time and hadn't took any pain meds since day 1. Sleeping was tough, as I would wake up numerous times during the night to clear my throat.

Days 6&7 were when I had the worst pain. I guess the scabs had formed and I started taking the Lortab. I tolerated it much better this time and was very thankful for that because I needed it. It was really hard to sleep during this time, and I was tired all the time. On day 7 I threw up about 6 times. I was expecting it to be alot worse than it was. Besides the normal discomfort associated with throwing up there really wasn't that much pain.

Day 8, I woke up and felt like a new man. Pain in my throat was minimal but I still took that pain meds so I could start trying to eat normally. I went to see the Doc for a follow up visit that day. He said everything looked good except I had developed a fungal infection in my mouth. He gave me a script for Nystatin (a type of mouthwash you swallow) and that was gone two days later.

Day 11 I was visting my sister's house to celebrate a family member's birthday and I was even able to eat some corned beef, cabbage, and mashed potatoes (st. paddies weekend). That was my first real meal, but after that I was able to eat normally again.

All in all it was nowhere near as bad as I expected. Not sure if I just deal with pain better than most or if I just got lucky. Yes, I had one or two days that were genuinely unpleasant, but the overall experience was not too bad. Pain was generally around the level of a bad sore throat, it got worse around day 6, but it was still manageable. But the pain meds definitely made me more comfortable than I would have been otherwise during the worst two days. I had a script for Liquid Lortab that was a 7 day supply and I barely got through half the bottle.

So, for everyone out there reading all these horrible stories, take heart and know that it is not always as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

twisted_angel · Newbie Joined: 30 Jan 2008 Posts: 8

I agree....my tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy weren't nearly as bad as many of the other posters. It seems the positive posts get lost among all of the terrible ones, tho! Surprised

Liza3

I had the same experience. I do not have a pain tolerance at all so I was terrified before the surgery. Days 5-8 were the worst. I took the liquid Lortab every 3 hours and ran out two days before I could get it refilled so that was rough. Overall it was not anything like what I was expecting. So even if you dont have a high pain tolerance your experience does not necessarily have to be horrible. I am on day 16 and I woke up this morning and didnt even have a sore throat! I sneezed and now it hurts just a little but not bad. I hope this helps someone else to have hope and not be so afraid. It does get better and you can get through it ,just follow all the instructions and stay hydrated.

My not completely horrible experience

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