WHAT HAPPENS FOLLOWING TONSILLECTOMY SURGERY?

colinm12 · Newbie Joined: 09 May 2008 Posts: 2

I am on my 9th day post op, counting the day I went in for my tonsillectomy(had it early morning)

I had a coblation tonsillectomy, which is supposed to heal faster and have much less pain. one thing I haven noticed almost everywhere is that people go into this procedure not knowing enough. Find a doctor that does this type of procedure. If not, you most likely stand the chance of a much longer healing time.

I am 26 and Male. The first 2 days were crappy I could not swallow unless I really concentrated and prepared for the pain. It just got better from there. I was given percocet, which helped alot with the pain. I am still taking it on the 9th day, but do not need to take it every 3-4 hours as I was before. I only took a whole pill every 4 hours the first two days, the rest of the time, just half a pill.

Like I said before, I am on the 9th day and on half a percocet every 4 hours I feel no pain at all. none. Even as the pain killer wears off, I feel almost nothing. I take it just to be sure since I have a few days off.

The ONLY problem I have run into is a little post op bleeding. On day 5 I was sitting around and started to bleed for no reason. I got real scared and remember to gargle with ice and it stopped within 4 minutes. I went to the ER anyway just to be sure but the doctor called me on the phone and told me it was cool and I could go home, that as long as it stopped it didnt need to be checked. On day 7 this happened again on the other side, and I once again became very nervous, but after gargling with ice/water it stopped within 2 minutes. I made an appointment with the ENT the following day and went in and he said I was just unlucky and he cauterized the two areas with some chemical. It didnt hurt, didnt have to go under, I just sat there and it took 2 minutes.

Today on day 9 I bled a little again, but this time it was superficial scab bleeding, so I just stuck to ice water and am fine. Thats about it. I feel good. Do your research because you should know what kind of tonsillectomy options you have. Coblation is very new, and very effective apparently! Smile

NewHavenPatriot · Newbie Joined: 08 May 2008 Posts: 4

Hey everyone,

Just writing to update you on how things have been going. I'm now on Day 3 after my tonsils and adenoids came out, and I am doing okay. The tonsils aren't bleeding and I have been religiously drinking water, juices, and taking my medicines (Tylenol w/codeine and Amoxicillin). I am still living on popsicles, pudding, and mashed potatoes, and I'm not too sure when I'll be able to progress, so I'm taking it slow.

I woke up today with a very stiff neck and my jaw really hurt, but once I was up and I drank some water and took my meds, it got a lot better. I woke up around 11:30 a.m., and it's now 4:30 p.m. here. Just took my pain medicine at 3:15, and I feel fine right now. I'm waiting for the mashed potatoes to cool down so I can eat them, as the doc said I'm not supposed to be eating warm foods for a while. I am going to call in and report how I'm doing and schedule a follow-up appointment, since I can talk at the moment. Sometimes it's difficult to talk, and it's pretty much impossible to yawn, due to the muscles you use for that in your throat.

Hope I'm helping someone with these posts -- any questions, just send a reply and I'll try to answer within a day or so. Cheers.

NewHavenPatriot · Newbie Joined: 08 May 2008 Posts: 4

Day 4:

Doing pretty well... I've still been drinking a lot of water. I actually went downtown today and walked around, and I was able to eat some cheese fries with sour cream, so the recovery is going pretty well. I really had to chew the fries well, but I was able to get them down. I'm eating some oatmeal now and drinking more water, and we'll see how things are tomorrow. One thing that sucks is that I'm just about out of my pain medication, but maybe I can just fight through it. I don't know.. maybe I'll call my doctor tomorrow about it. I'll keep everyone posted. Smile

bonzai · Newbie Joined: 21 May 2008 Posts: 1

I'm having my tonsils out in two and am pretty nervous! I'm 19 and have heard stories ranging from the surgery was a piece of cake, and others that are extreme, like it was the worst experience ever. I need all the advice I can get and would love to know what everyone bought foodwise before the surgery to be prepared for when they got home. Any other random advice would be appreciated as well!

Guest · Guest

I'm on day 5 and doing ok. I am 29 year old male. Knock on wood, no vomitting, no bleeding and no complications. Hopefully, it will stay that way. My diet is pretty consistent. In morning I have two boiled egg whites and then drink water and chicken soups throughout the day. I have an apple sauce and jello at times, but I noticed acidity of apple sauce is not the best.

I stay away from anything creamy or contains milk. My post-operative procedure mentions I should stay away from milk based products as they increase mucus. I had some ice cream and my throat felt all sticky for few hours. I also constant feel I have to swallow. Gatorade is full of salt and citric acid so it is also not the best for you. Light soups and water is the best. Egg whites are full of protein and easy to swallow.

My pain progressed from throat only in first 2 day to neck, ears, tongue, jaw pain in day 3,4,5. I was prescribed hydromorphone for pain. 1-3 2mg tablets every four hr. Dr said because I am a bigger guy (225lb) 3 tablets are ok. I am forcing myself to take only 1 tablet every four hours as this one is potent and it all goes through your liver. Considering we are not eating anything, it cannot be good to overwhelm your liver on empty stomach. I also take sweet tasting, liquid antibiotic 2x a day for 7 days.

I am actually returning to work tomorrow (day 6) because I have to Sad

In summary, morning and nights are the worst. My uvula is swollen and touching the tongue so I have constant need to swallow, which is a nightmare when you are trying to fall asleep. Even now on day 5 uvula is still swollen. I call doctors office they said it was fine and normal. Judging from responses here, looks like lots of people have swollen uvulas.

At night it helps to apply ice pack on your neck area, it really relieves fever and helps you fall asleep (if you can). My post operative procedure mentions that incidence of bleeding is highest withing 24 hr of surgery and 7-10 after surgery. My guess is that scabs start to fall off or people reduce their fluid that causes this second bleeding.

Keep away from anything that has citric acid in it (most juices do)
Keep away from milk based products (it increases mucus production)
Keep hydrated and keep well.

Good luck to everyone.

Guest · Guest

I'm 17 and I just had my tonsils removed 3 days ago. So far, popsicles have been really good. No ice cream, the phlegm is not fun to deal with when your throat is hurting. I tried tomato soup on day 2. Bad idea. The heat burned my throat and it stuck to my throat so I had a lot of spitting, which isn't fun when your mouth is hurting. I've been on vicodin for the past 3 days, but what's really helped has been advil. It doesn't just make you high, it actually helps with the pain. Really recommend it. I didn't eat much today, just been trying to drink as much water as possible. I don't recommend trying to eat solid foods for awhile. Apparently days 4 and 5 are supposed to be the worst so... hooray... Movies have been working wonders for taking my mind off the pain.

Guest · Guest

Thought I'd add my experiences;

I'm a 41 year old Scottish male and had a single tonsillectomy on 9th May 2008 for a very enlarged tonsil. I've never had tonsillitis in my life and there were no visual signs of tonsillitis on the tissue.
The medical staff told me it would take about 10 days to heal and day 5 would be the worst when scabbing would begin.
I was prepared for some pain, but when I awoke following the operation I couldn't believe how much it hurt. I discharged myself the same day after eating soup and a sandwich and convincing the consultant I was feeling fine (which I was, apart from the pain). They sent me home with Co-dydramol (10mg codeine + 500mg paracetomol) which were completely ineffective at numbing the intense pain - I could barely swallow them even after breaking them in half.

Day 1) I managed to eat some toast for breakfast, washed down with chilled water. Pain unbearable, like my throat was on fire. Barely able to sleep because of the pain. Gargling salt water every 4 hours as advised
Day 2) Really bad pain, barely able to eat, unable to sleep
Day 3) As day 3, noticed bad smell/taste in mouth. Contacted hospital for advice on pain relief supplements and was told to take 400mg Ibuprofen 3 times a day.
Day 4) constantly wishing the pain would go away, pain relief still not working, still barely able to eat and feeling tired all the time. Contacted the hospital again to ask if bad taste/smell could be an infection. they told me no, only bleeding is a sign of infection.
Day 5) went to my local doctor who immediately diagnosed a severe infection in the wound. He prescribed 30mg Codeine, 500mg paracetomol, 400 mg Ibuprofen and Co-amoxyclav (strong antibiotics)

A week later (day 12) and my symptoms are still the same - the continual severe pain, the inability to eat anything other than soup and soft toast and what I thought to be the scabbing process resulting in pain like being stabbed in the throat with a knife. I revisited my local doctor and was presribed another week of antibiotics.

Incidentally, 2 weeks after my op I had a follow-up with the consultant and he stated it was healing nicely, despite the pain I was still enduring.

It is now 4 weeks since the operation and I feel a lot better, I have more energy and I'm eating more normal food (but still nothing spicy). I still get a flash of pain if I yawn and when I swallow there's a mild feeling of pain and of something stuck in my throat. I hope this will disappear soon.

One more thing; the enlarged tonsil was sent for pathyology tests to check for lymphoma and the results thankfully came back negative. Diagnosis was acute inflammation of the tonsil, whatever that is, but it was the size of my thumb when removed - about 1 1/2 inches long by 1 inch wide Shocked

Guest · Guest

Hello everyone, I just recently had my tonsils removed (5 days ago). I am 18 years old and never had a problem with my tonsils, they were just very large. When I went to the ENT, as soon as I opened my mouth he said I needed surgery for the simple reason that I have probaly not had a good nights sleep my whole life, my snoring, shifting in the bed, and always waking up tired never clued me in until now. So off to the surgery I went, 4 hours later I has them out, doctors said they were the biggest they had ever seen and instead of placing them in a tonsil container, they put them in a container they put livers in.

Day 1- Chicken broth and gatorade. Mom refused to give me noodles but I managed to get them anyway. Took my pain medication ONCE

Day 2- Still taking the antibiotics once a day however I refused to take the pain medication. Woke up feeling VERY energized for the first time ever. Still stuck with just soup, not HOT, luke warm. The pain is apparent in swallowing and talking but not terrible...about a 5

Day 3- pudding was the main food of choice, no pain medication again, pain seems to increase however

Day 4- Seemed to be the worst so far only because I had mashed potatoes, too much effort to eat and hurt alot. Still refused to take pain medication

Day 5- I am sick of eating pudding and ice cream and soup. My family is eating steak in front of me and I am left to suffer. Pain is decreasing, feels as though the scab is ready to come off.

I have my check up with my doctor on friday if all goes well I am going to eat a burger and a large pizza.

Basically getting your tonsils out does suck, I just decided to deal with the pain and take the pain meds once so far.

Linz89 · Newbie Joined: 20 Jun 2008 Posts: 4

Okay, so I'm 19.. and i had to have my tonsils taken out due to the fact that i had mono and they just never EVER went back to normal size. when they took them out they were HUGE.

here i am almost 2 weeks later.. still havent been able to eat anything but jello. haha. went to the doctor a few days ago and he pretty much said it depends on the person and that everything looks normal. I couldnt talk for a week.. not too sure why but i just finally have been able to. My ears do tend to ache really bad when i swallow. But, my doctor said if it hurts to eat just stick to liquids and experiment with different foods. i dont know why people have been saying dont use straws? thats all i use lol its easier because you can take smaller sips. ice pack-water-jello and percacets (sp?) have been my best friends over the past week n half or so. but on the plus side lost about 18 lbs haha.

hopefully back to normal soon!

FranceCuddly · Newbie Joined: 21 Jun 2008 Posts: 1

I'm an 18 year old female and currently on Day 4 of recovery. I had the surgery to help cure my sleep apnea (a mild case.) For the week or 2 of recovery, for those with mild cases of sleep apnea, I recommend this surgery if your tonsils are the reason for your sleep apnea like they were for mine. I wake up so much more rested and alert than before.

Surgery/Day 1:
Surgery wasn't too bad. Once they finally found a vein (took 2 people and 3 needles) they stuck the IV in me and that's the last thing I remember before waking up in recovery. I had so much pain in the recovery room. Worst sore throat of my life when I first came to. I sucked on some ice for awhile then drank some apple juice (when it's really chilled, it helped). They brought me an ice pop from the children hospital next door but I just couldn't get most of it down. Left a few hours after the surgery.

They mentioned I might vomit, I haven't yet. No bleeding either. I was amazed that I still could talk a little bit after wards.

Day 2:
Recovery wasn't too bad. I still was really sore. I don't recommend soda at all. It's not that it doesn't go down easy (it actually doesn't but that's not the worst), on an empty stomach (haven't eaten much at all), soda can make you feel really sick. It does clear out the throat but it's not worth the sickening feeling it can cause (plus burping it back up hurts). I drank it mostly because it was the only thing I could get to go down.

Day 3:
My ear is killing me. It's worse than the pain in my throat. Stupid me talked my mom into letting me have a really soft cookie. Not a wise choice. I got it down though. Feeling weaker because I still can't get much of anything to go down

Day 4: Ear is still killing me, the pain is almost unbearable. At least I can get water down today. I must try to get something else down today besides water and jello or I'm going to pass out completely. I have this weird feeling in the back of my throat.

Taking Tylenol w/codeine and Amoxicillin, seems to be a popular choice. I wish it would relieve the pain in my ear though

WHAT HAPPENS FOLLOWING TONSILLECTOMY SURGERY?

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