Was the tonsillectomy really worth it?

dliller · Newbie Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 2

I was VERY scared to have it done. I went in for surgery on December 20th 2007 and I was eating EVERYTHING by Christmas Supper. The surgery took 20 minutes and my recovery was great. The pain is minimal considering all of the times I would get strep and tonsilitis in one year. To be very honest with you...day 2 and 3 hurt the worst, but....not nearly as much as you would think. My ears hurt worse than anything. I never even knew my scabs fell off. I had no post-op bleeding either. I think if you prepare yourself for a good outcome, you will have one. It was worth every single ounce of pain. I am 6 months out of surgery and not one problem has surfaced. If I would not have done the surgery, I would have been sick at least 3 times at this point. Good luck.
If you would like to chat further about this you can e-mail me. daniellemarieliller@gmail.com, i am more than happy to share my experience and ins and outs of surgery for you.
God Bless and Good Luck!
ps.....this procedure has NOTHING on the pains of labor. I went 3 days in labor unmedicated so this was a drop in the bucket for me. Seeing that you are a mother of 3, you're going to do just fine.

dliller · Newbie Joined: 19 May 2008 Posts: 2

wren003 · Newbie Joined: 26 May 2008 Posts: 1

I had a tonsillectomy on May 14th. My doctor did inform me that I would in fact be in "complete misery" for at least 7 to 10 days. I mentally prepared myself for the worst. Surprisingly the first day was nothing...I even at macaroni and cheese that night. The next day...same thing, I consumed a McDonalds cheeseburger and fries (with a little trouble) but I was fine. Then it hit me. By day 3 I woke up in a substantial amount of pain. I took my liquid lortab as usual..but this time it did not go down so smoothe. YES MY STORY IS ABOUT TO GET BAD...and GROSS, but there is a good ending. Upon throwing up I realized that I nearly choked on my uvula, it was so enlarged that when was bent over throwing up it fell forward into my mouth, I had to lay my head back and force it to fall back into position. Of the entire ordeal I can honeslty say that my swollen uvula bothered me the most. I did have sever ear aches. Everyone told me to eat ice cream and get plenty of fluids. Well I do not know why but for me cold stuff was unbearable...it made my ears ache to the point of tears. Ice cream produced mucus in my throat which made me hard to swallow...SO after I figured out that cold stuff worsened the pain, I begace drinking things at room temperature. The doctors are not lying when they mean DRINK..it is the BEST you can do for yourself. By this point (Day 4 and 4) I was no longer on the liquid lortab because I could not keep it down...I was given a stronger pain killer (demoral ) sp? and suppositories to keep the vomiting under control. The suppositories were amazing..because no matter how hard I tried I could not fight the sleep...and sleeping through the pain was amazing. The new pain killers did a number on me...the room was sideways, and I had to hold onto furniture in order to walk. Throughout all this I forced myself to eat. I found that just the liquid from soup was fine. Pudding stuck to my throat and irritated it. Jello was okay of course. Now I am not going to lie, by day 6 I hit the stage that the doctor said I would...the regret stage. I hated myself for doing it, but I kept telling myself that it would be worth it. Day 6 was the worse I believe this was when they began to scab over...I do not know why this was my most painful day but it was. After they scabbed over I have to say my pain was reduced by nearly 60%. I remember the first time I was able to eat...and it not be unbearable. I ate scalloped potatoes and it was heavenly. Now my uvula was still swollen and very annoying...it occasionally caused me to nearly choke when eating. And even when I was not eating swallowing was just disgusting...my throat was so swollen that when I swallowed I made this disgusting noise. As many people have mentioned I sort of realized by day 5 that I had not had a bowel movement in days. I then realized that DUH I was on muscle relaxers. My stomach was extrememly bloated...almost scary like. So I took care of that with some milf of magnesia. I am now on day 11 of my recovery..I still have a lot of pain medicine left and I am finishing my amoxicillian...however aside from a small sore throat I am fine. I have not had to sneeze yet (knock on wood) BUT yawning is awful...I have noticed though that as the scabs diminish yawning becomes easier. My uvula is almost back to normal and I was not one of the unlucky ones that hemorraged THANK GOD.
ANYWAYS...this is my story and I know many people have many questions. It hurts..but you can get through it. It was almost like magic...I just woke up around the 8th day and the pain was very little...this was the day I mentioned earlier where I ate for the first time. Now I will say that I am suffering from a loss of appetite...YES I can finally eat but for some reason every time I do..I start to feel queazy..I am sure it is just my body recovering from all the meds, but other then the occasional painful yawn I have reached the end. I hope this helps some people! Good luck to all

Student84 · Newbie Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 6

Hi

I am now 2months into recovery, and so far, I don`t htink it has been worth it, not by a long shot.

Although, my only reason for getting this donw in the first place was the fact that I was getting tonsillitis a couple of times a year, even though they were no big deal I thought that the tonsillectomy would go smoothly.

I bled 3 times after my initial surgery. Day 4 - day 6 and again day 20(!). I`m 23, healthy, I am not a bleeder, don`t have any health issues at all, worked out regularly before the surgery, all in all, a healthy dude.

I may have changed my opinion in a few months, though I doubt it, for me it has been the most traumatic experience in my life, and I still, 2monthts later, get sporadic anxiety attacks in fear of bleeding again. On top of all this I have gotten a sore throat from drinking something as inocent as water. I almost never had sore throat before, maybe once a year... I am currently a bit dizzy and lightheaded these days(dunno why), I got a wisdomtooth on it`s way out, and I have allergy-attacks like never before..

But then again, my life was great before this all happened, and I didn`t have any "real" problems with my tonsils, other than a few clogging tonsillis maybe 2-3time pr.year.

Bottom line - If I had a normal recovery with 10-11 days of pain, it might have been worth it, but 2months, no way..

This was the most stupid thing I`ve ever done.

Guest · Guest

Unlike the majority of most of these posts my recovery was relatively easy. Ok, maybe not EASY but it's been a year now and do I think it was worth it? ABSOLUTELY. I was 21 when I had them out and for me the worst part was the throwing up at the beginning. I had the same thing happen when I had my wisdom teeth out. I think it's a combination of the anesthesia and the pain medicine but I got sick quite a bit. I stopped taking the pain medicine (or at least lowered the dose) I think maybe 5 or 6 days after the surgery because I think it was making me feel worse than no medicine. I remember the first thing I did was go to see Hairspray in the movie theaters about a week and a half after the surgery. I think it may been a little soon as I went to the bath room a few times to make sure my throat was not bleeding. I get a little anxious and paranoid sometimes and for some reason I was convinced my throat was going to bleed, but it never did throughout my whole recovery. The stitches coming out were gross, but manageable.

I'd say by 3 weeks I was pretty much back to normal. I'm a singer and was told not to sing till at least 4 weeks after the surgery. My voice felt a little off after those 4 weeks by I'd say by week 8 it was back to normal.

The best part is that unlike my first 3 years of college when I would get a sore throat like 4 times a year, my senior year (after the surgery) I didn't get a single sore throat. Again, perhaps I'm in the minority but it DEFINITELY was worth it for me!

Good luck!

Guest · Guest

Yes, it was worth it. In my case, my doctor was actually worried I had cancer and a tumor because he and a few other ENTs said they had never seen anything as bizarre as my tonsils. I had 18 outbreaks of tonsilitis in less then a year, all of which put me out for more then a week and in the past month my outbreaks became resistant to most anti-botics. I had to go to the ER on one occasion because part of my tonsil literally fell off and exposed a blood vessel, I randomly began profusely bleeding from my mouth and it didnt stop for 4 days.
I am now on my sixth day Post Surgery and I must say this is one of the worst things I have ever gone through, even though I am 19 I have gone through many surgeries and painful procedures and this tops them. THe first day is the best, right after surgery, but I had some kind of problem with a nerve on my left side, and the pain was so bad I was on the verge of blacking out. I lost 10 pounds already, but today i am finally feeling a bit better. I think it will be at least another week till I can eat even a partial range of foods, and I have been taking 15-20 Vicodin daily for the past 5 days, I actually needed to cold water extract the tylenol out of the vicodin so i wouldnt get liver failure. However, even now while I am still in immense pain, I can already tell it was worth it. I already can feel a positive change in my body from this surgery and i havent even recovered yet. And the point is, if you have a bacteria that has not died in the last 6 months in your tonsils, wether it be strep or something else, it will NOT GO AWAY, it will only get worse and can possibly lead to very serious complications, therefore it is def. worth the pain for two weeks to save the serious medical issues that can result in the upcoming years. Thats my take, oh and other then all the normal things people tell you do after a tonsillectomy (ice chips, pudding, etc) here are the key points to getting through it: If you cannot drink water, chew gum to keep your mouth hydrated, this will stimulated your muscles and help you recover quickly also. Try to eat as much as possible, and plan it around your painkiller intake. Remember you need to keep your throat muscles moving to recover, and get some oxycodone if possible.

Guest · Guest

Yes, it was worth it. In my case, my doctor was actually worried I had cancer and a tumor because he and a few other ENTs said they had never seen anything as bizarre as my tonsils. I had 18 outbreaks of tonsilitis in less then a year, all of which put me out for more then a week and in the past month my outbreaks became resistant to most anti-botics. I had to go to the ER on one occasion because part of my tonsil literally fell off and exposed a blood vessel, I randomly began profusely bleeding from my mouth and it didnt stop for 4 days.
I am now on my sixth day Post Surgery and I must say this is one of the worst things I have ever gone through, even though I am 19 I have gone through many surgeries and painful procedures and this tops them. THe first day is the best, right after surgery, but I had some kind of problem with a nerve on my left side, and the pain was so bad I was on the verge of blacking out. I lost 10 pounds already, but today i am finally feeling a bit better. I think it will be at least another week till I can eat even a partial range of foods, and I have been taking 15-20 Vicodin daily for the past 5 days, I actually needed to cold water extract the tylenol out of the vicodin so i wouldnt get liver failure. However, even now while I am still in immense pain, I can already tell it was worth it. I already can feel a positive change in my body from this surgery and i havent even recovered yet. And the point is, if you have a bacteria that has not died in the last 6 months in your tonsils, wether it be strep or something else, it will NOT GO AWAY, it will only get worse and can possibly lead to very serious complications, therefore it is def. worth the pain for two weeks to save the serious medical issues that can result in the upcoming years. [b]Thats my take, oh and other then all the normal things people tell you do after a tonsillectomy (ice chips, pudding, etc) here are the key points to getting through it: If you cannot drink water, chew gum to keep your mouth hydrated, this will stimulated your muscles and help you recover quickly also. Try to eat as much as possible, and plan it around your painkiller intake. Remember you need to keep your throat muscles moving to recover, and get some oxycodone if possible.[/b

Was the tonsillectomy really worth it?

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