If I had tonsillectomy, when can I eat what I want?

I am 60yr old female and 4wks post op from a bilateral tonsillectomy. There appears to be a difference of opinion on post op advice between the UK and USA. I was surprised to have been advised by my ENT consultant to eat 'rough' food (toast, cookies, salted crisps, cereals) asap after my op, it was hard slow work but I succeeded. I balanced this with ice-follies and ice-cream to cool the throat and to drink plenty of fluids.

He explained the action of chewing and swallowing strengthens the throat muscles also the rough food gently sloughs off the scabs allowing the skin to heal, thus preventing a build up of large scabs which ultimately prevents healing and leads to bleeding  I did not experience any bleeds and my surgery is completely healed. I surprisingly did not experience significant pain immediately after the procedure due mainly to balanced pain relief but on day 5 my nerves in my face, especially my jaw, gums and ears were severely affected, this passed within 48hrs and again was helped by pain relief and the fact my physician forewarned of this possibility.

Apart from the obvious difficulties with swallowing and 2 weeks of strong pain relief, the procedure was tolerable but not one I would want to repeat.  The downside is that I am currently experiencing taste confusion- everything tastes bitter which is very frustrating. Hopefully this will soon past as again I was forewarned that this may last from between 6wks to 6months. My advice is to take things at your own pace, eat as normal as possible even if it takes ages, take advantage of prescribed pain relief and enjoy some TLC.