Hi I'm a 29 year old male. I am on day 13 after my surgery. When I first learned that I needed the surgery done I was freaked out. I never had surgery in my life. I did'nt know how my body was going to react with the anesthesia. I have always being allergic to many things like penicillin, bee's stings, dirt, direct sunlight, pork, seafood, and even to my own sweat. Almost as if my body is too fragile for anything. I started reading other people's stories and they were horrible, complaining about pain, severe vomiting, dehydration, allergic reaction to the pain medication and even, excessive bleeding that sent them back to E.R.. Well, here is my story.
First, get to know your doctor performing the surgery. It will calm you down knowing how good he is as a sergeon. Just think about all his successful surgeries, it will help you forget about any possible complications. Now that you are calmed, stock your refrigerator with SOFT foods like, eggs mixed with very little milk, noodles, all kinds of noodles and any other soups. You still need protein so boil chicken. You also need jello, yogurt (nothing too sweet. Extra sugar triggers pain), and of course Ice cream (no nuts or chocolate chips, will cause bleeding). No soda, sweet juices or anything that is citrus like orange, lemon or lime, it will trigger pain. I was just fine drinking water, cold english tea and milk.
After my surgery my first meal: I blended the boiled chicken with my noodle soup. I know it sounds nasty but you are not in luxury to have options, this is the best way to eat your foods the first couple of days, blended as SMOOTHIE mode on the blender. It doesn't have much flavor either but you can eat yogurt or jello right after. These were my meals for the first 3 days. You wanna be as nice as you can to your throat when eating, it will pay you back with little or no pain. Following this diet and taking my medication (Hydrocodaine), my pain level was a 2. What helps you the most is that you have to keep drinking water, lots of it, at least 12oz every hour. Keeping your throat moist will help you with the pain. It is painful and no medication will help if your throat is dryed.
On day four I started eating foods without the help of a blender but still soft. Noodles and soups with meats diced in small pieces. My pain was still at a level 2. I felt as if I only had a sour throat. I continued to drink a lot of water. I got tired of water at one point and had a "green leaf smoothie" from Naked, my throat started burning and the pain spiked to a level 8. Came to find out that the smoothie contained LEMON. It took me hours to bring down the pain level. So be carefull what you eat or drink.
On my day five it was time for me to go to school so I did. I continued to drink lots of water and took jellos and yogurt with me. I managed to maintained pain at a 2-3.
From day six to ten, I continued to drink lots of water and ate my noodles. Took my medication a little later than as directed. Now I had almost no pain. At this point my favorite food was scrambled eggs with milk. It was the most flavored dish on my menu.
Day eleven I wanted to see how much pain I would have if I didn't take me meds. So I waited and waited and waited and no pain. I went on with my day without taking any meds for pain. But I continued my diet and drank a lot of water. Since my mouth was not numb with meds anymore, I felt something weird. I started getting these sores in my mouth and under my tongue. I freaked out and called the doc. He said it was normal side effect of the meds (hydrocodaine). He said I needed to start getting off of it. He was happy to learned that it was actually my first day without it. He advice me to take it at night only for the next couple of days. It would help me sleep and in case it gets too dry while I sleep. So I did just that.
Now I'm on day 13 and have no pain at all. I only have a little descomfort while eating. But now I can eat other foods (nothing hard or sharp like pizza, chips, and no spicy, greesy or foods with lemon). I haven't taking any medication and this will be my first night without it too. I'm sure I will be ok.
If you learn anything from my experience is to drink drink and drink lots of water. Eat healthy and blend your food for the first few days. Eat soft foods after that. Take your meds on time and gradually, let them go. Don't listen to those horrible stories people like to tell. It had me on edge too. They said is harder on adults. NOT at ALL. I was just fine. I am even happy to say that I lost ten pounds of weight, which, I needed it :) So if it encourages you to go through it because you'll lose weight, by all means be HAPPY!
Please reply if you need any help. DON'T be affraid. You're not alone. It is not bad at all. People who have those horrible stories got dehydrated, didn't right or ate junk because they thaught they could. Even if you feel better keep your diet for at least 2 weeks.