I’ve been reading tons of these since before, and now after, my tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy. 

I am starting day six of recovery so I thought I would throw my two cents in. Warning: graphic!

So first: I’m 29 female, in halfway decent health but horrible immune system. I was sick at least six times a year. Allergist said I had the worst case of allergies he had seen in years (dogs, cats, mold, pollen, dust, trees, grass, etc). Found out I also have a deviated septum but too scared to do them all at once. Started getting tonsil stones this last year and had already been on antibiotics and steroids more than 5 times and was over it....so let’s do this!

day 1&2: easy peasy. Aside from the anesthesia makin me say funny stuff, which my mother thought was hilarious while she stayed with me, these days were the easiest. I have two cousins who are RNs and they both insisted on sticking to a strict regimen of pain meds, so I started as soon as I got home. I was eating pancakes and smokie links, Gatorade and clear ensure. 

Day 3: much less exciting. I woke up with nausea that the devil himself couldn’t have come up with. I was throwing up left and right and all but screaming from the pain in between. This is also when the smell and taste started. It took me a moment to realize it’s burned flesh and bacteria in my throat (what a wonderful thought, huh?). I was gagging and felt like there was carpet on my tongue. I would hauk out these chunks of boogers/scabs/cauterized chunks of blood ranging in color from clear to yellow and green boogers to brown and black chunks or who knows what. This is when I also noticed how bad it was affecting my ears. Holy pain in the ear canal. Like the worst ear infections ever. The liquid Oxy didn’t do crud. I actually like the rapid release Tylenol better. Forced them down. Barely made it through the night weren’t it for my mother rubbing my back, refilling my humidifier every six hours and bringing me ice packs. 

Day 4: a lot better. Called the doctor and they said I was dehydrated? Thought I had been drinking a lot but apparently if you’re not peeing every one or two hours then it’s not enough liquid. I was still nauseated but was forcing liquid down, I hardly ate a single thing at all. Only enough for my stomach to be able to handle meds. Also this was the day I was super constipated and the pain from that almost distracted me from the other pain. I decided not to take the oxy anymore after this and mom went to the store for more Tylenol and stool softener. This is also when the tickle started, whenever I lie down there is a tickle in the throat that initiates a cough and hack that causes more junk to come out (which I’m going to take as a good thing because there’s no actual bleeding so I will assume I’m actually healing pretty well). 

Day 5: it’s almost over and I haven’t had oxy in at least 24 hours. What a waste of money, I am taking the tylenol every 6 hours and haven’t had to take the stool softener again or the nausea medicine since this morning. Booya. Now I’m fully expecting for this to kick me in the ass at some point because it seems too soon to be true that I might be healing a day or two ahead of most other people’s timelines. Also I should probably state that I have a high pain tolerance, I have nerve damage in my spine that I rarely take my medicine for and I’m covered in tattoos and have had several surgeries as well as broken almost every bone in my body, so idk if that makes a difference. I plan to go to sleep with a nice big glass of ice water and ice pack and my humidifier on blast. 

My favorite foods so far: smokie links, cheese crisps (melted cheese on a tortilla in the oven), applesauce, pop tarts with no frosting but lots of butter, avocados, McDonald’s fries with no salt, grilled ham and cheese sandwiches (lightly toasted, well buttered, chewed well of corse) stuffing, otter pops, ensure clear, toast with butter soaked in egg yolk, minced chicken salad with rotisserie chicken and mayo (really finely diced)