Cobalation tonsillectomy .. What about it ? anyone done it ?

I thought i would tell you all a little about my experience in having this procedure. i underwent the initial tonsilectomy on the 29th march. all seemed to go okay and the pain was not too bad when i came round. i went home the same evening and slept relatively well, not even waking for painkillers. for the next couple of days i experienced a sore throat much like having tonsilitis. i felt i could cope with this and, apart from having to change medication a few times because of feeling sick with them, i felt i had got off lightly. i followed all the drs advice of eating rough food to help remove the whiteness and help with the scabs. i thought i had got off lightly until day 5, when i awoke in the early hours of the morning in excruciating pain. i could not put my head down, had to try and sleep sitting up, and found that i was clock watching to take the next painkillers, getting earlier and earlier each time. it was agony, my ears hurt, i had to constantly drink ice water to give myself a few free seconds from bad pain. i also found having heat pads on my neck, just under my ears helped. my clacker had swollen and was down the back of my throat which made me gag, and my jaw was very bruised, i had virtually no movement in my jaw, but chewing gum helped (again drs advice). i had two trips to the drs over the next couple of days and on day 7 ended up at the emergency out of hours hospital because the medication was not even touching the pain. i was told my throat was healing well and was given more medication.
The next night i awoke at 1am in excruciating pain. all of a sudden there was a pop in my throat and i started gushing blood. it would not stop and i ended up nearly passing out. My husband had to rush me to casualty where i was given ice water to stem the bleeding and was admitted. i have never felt so ill in my life. i was told my throat was majorly infected, and that the medication the hospital had given me on the sunday i should not have had because it lowers your platelets and makes you bleed. i continued to bleed and by the next day was having to gargle hydrogen peroxide every half hour to try and strip the infection. that was a nightmare as i kept swallowing it and foaming at the mouth. it made me sick which made me bleed more. i was on IV antibiotics and painkillers and drips as i could not eat or drink. the next day after another bleed i was rushed back into theatre. i was assured it would be a 10 minute repair job to reseal the vessel. three hours later i was still in surgery with an arterial bleed. i then had to have cameras down my throat to check how much i had bled and whether there was any damage there. by this point i was so ill they struggled to stabilise my heart and had to pump me with anaesthetic to stabilise me and keep me in a sleepy state. all in all i was in hospital for a week the second time.
all this happened 6 weeks ago now and i still have discomfort on a daily basis, although not to the point where i need medication very often. i had a month off from work in total, and have then returned part time as i am exhausted. i have lost two stone. i have had to see a specialist because my jaw is still so sore and locks when i try to yawn and i still talk funny (like i have a raging cold)
i can honestly say that i am praying in the long time this will all be worth it. what started as a routine operation requiring a fortnight max recovery and a bit of a sore throat has actually been two operations, the second one a serious one and a very long recovery. i would not recommend this to anyone unless it is absolutely necessary. hope this helps xxx

I'm 33 yrs old and had a tonsillectomy (coblation procedure) 10 days ago. I'm anemic so not sure if I would bleed to death or not but there was no bleeding after I got out of surgery; Just severe pain in throat, especially for the first 5 days. For the first 3 days, I was not able to swallow anything including water....(but I have to force myself to drink of course)...cannot and did not eat for 3 days straight, severe migraine headache and earache; Icy cold liquid and/or popsicles intensified pain in mouth....I started to take cough drops which caused acid reflux and heartburn. I was able to eat mushy foods on day 4. On day 8, the pain in throat, headache and earache are gone but now I have a lump in my throat and heartburn. Haven't gone to the store to get some heartburn medicine yet. Will update in a few days.

In my previous post on 6/11/10 at 21:23, I forgot to mention that I was not able to talk for about 5 days....if I did, it came out very soft and was almost a whisper....no one could hear me unless I was physically right next to them. But now, I have my voice back (sigh of relief) except I still talk funny because there's a tennis ball in my throat...waiting for the ball to disappear any day now...

It's been almost a month now since my tonsillectomy (coblation) and I'm almost back to normal. Not totally healed yet....when I yawn, it hurts a little bit but I'm able to eat anything I want (hot, cold, coffee, spicy foods, chips, jerky, etc.). My boyfriend told me the other day that I no longer have bad breath.....so it was worth going through all that pain for lasting fresh breath after all. Just glad it's all over with.

Day 1 - better than expected. I was able to eat a Popsicle post operation.
Day 2 - pain medicine started to make me nauseous so I started taking it after a morning smoothie and soup at lunch.
Day 3 - making it through the night without pain medicine. Mornings are rough with swallowing. Sucking on ice really helps. I blend yogurt, ice, fiber, blueberries, and flax seed in a magic bullet.

Take it easy. Limit the talking, rest, and get plenty of fluids. Flax seed and wheat germ will help with the constipation.

Hi, I'm 17 and it's currently 4 days since my operation. My story is a little different. On the same day as my surgery I was eating soup, toast and the mandatory ice cream. The next morning it was pretty similar, again I had toast, yoghurt and cornflakes. I assume I wasn't in much pain due to the morphine flowing through my veins. One issue I had noticed was having to gulp food and water several times before I could actually swallow it. Today on day 4 it's quite similar when the pain medication isn't working particularly well. I'm actually struggling to eat at the moment, my scabs are already coming away and I think this may be why. Also the taste of everything is vile so this is very off putting. At night I struggle to sleep as my uvula is very swollen and I have thick saliva in my throat. I also find that I wake up and cough quite a bit which is less painful than you think and I actually believe it's clearing the scabs minutely. I've been given co-codamol which keeps practically knocking me out and I've slept LOADS! Which I guess is better than being awake in pain in my ears and throat.

It's helpful for me