I'm having my tonsils out in 2 days...what should I expect?

I'm 16 years old and I had my tonsils removed 11 days ago. The surgery itself toke 35 minutes, I was then brought round in recovery and sent back to the ward. Once I was on the ward I was awake at least an hour before they offered me toast. Due to the antiseptic I felt very sick and hot, because of this I found it very hard to keep the toast down. It didn't hurt to swallow at all. (However I kept having regular morphine) I ended up having to stay over night and was able to go home the next day after eating half and sandwich and a slice of buttered toast. The night I came home I managed to full asleep no problem. I then woke up around 3:00am in really bad pain, both throat and ears. I then toke paracetamol and managed to sleep round til 6:30am. That morning I ate one slice of toast, the pain was durable but it slowly got worse over the day, even with regular pain killers. Between days 3-8 the pain was very bad and it was the same everyday. I toke paracetamol and ibrofen every 3-4 hours. Day 6-8 my white stuff started to slowly come away revealing very pink raw skin. I also had a tiny spot of bleeding, but don't panic! It didn't fill my mouth up nor did I feel sick or light headed due to this. It stopped within 4 minutes and had scabbed over within 3 hours! On day 9 I had a massive roast dinner and to my surprise I ate it with no pain or trouble, by day 10 the pain had suddenly stopped and I didn't need to take pain killers anymore! It's a really hard process but it will be worth it in the end! Just eat and drink lots of water and don't be around anyone who is ill! Stay strong and it will be better before you know it :) Good Luck :)

Tonsil removal has drastically decreased in the last 30 years.  Tonsillectomy, circumcision, and ear tubes have all been found to be unnecessary procedures.  These procedures are to make money.  Get a second and third opinion if necessary.   

I know that some people say that a tonsillectomy is really painful, but its really not that bad at all. I'm on my 4th day of recovery and its just like having a sore throat. No sickness, no loss of appetite, no bleeding. They say the 3rd day of the recovery is worst and the 4th and 5th day is when you are most likely to get an infection, but to cure all this you just need to stay inside and KEEP DOSED UP ON MEDICATION. It really, REALLY helps, especially if you take it before the pain kicks in. I found that the worst bit is when you get anetheatised, if they can't find  vein to inject anestetic into, you have to breathe in gas. I watched my heart rate go from 90 to 160 beats! But even that is'nt too bad. The gas I used smelt sweet as well as smelling strongly of chemicals, but I only took about 3 breaths before I felt my limbs paralyse and finally my brain shut down. When you wake up you feel very dizzy and nauseous, but to help this, just don't move. Find a comfortable position and stay there, drink regular sips of water (it won't hurt) and rest if you can.

So if anyone is scared for the tonsillectomy or the recovery, don't be. Just take it as some time off work/school! :)

It really depends on how old you are. I got my tonsils and adnoids removed when i was 15, the recovery time was a little over a week. When you get to the hospital, you will probably be there for two hours or so before the surgery, and they will set up an IV (or at least that's what they did for me). Later on, they will take you in for the surgery and put you to sleep. My surgery took about 40 minutes but that varies. Then, you will stay there for about 3-4 hours and maybe longer depending on how you feel. The first day wAs the worst. You might experience nausea, and extreme pain when you move your neck or swallow. It is recommended when you get home that you try to take your pain meds. The second day isn't much of an improvement, but you have to try to drink as many fluids as you can. Water, apple juice, and even Gatorade is good because of the electrolytes. It is recommended the first few days that you try to eat Jello, Ice cream (although it is creamy), Pudding, and Popsicles if you crunch it up and eat it with a spoon. After a few days, if you're up to it, you can go to Stage 2 of eating which is soft and cold foods like mashed potatoes without gravy and not too much salt. Stage 3 includes cold cooked foods but it involves a lot of chewing. Stage 4 is when you start to return to your normal diet but don't go too fast from stage 3 to 4. WARNING if you are older, the recovery time is a lot longer and these Stages are going to be spread out over a lot more time. Good luck :)

Awesome!! where did you go to get it done??

Hey! thxs for posting this. I am a chronic mouth breather so im prob gonna have to get mine out soon. 

 

None of this is true

I suppose it depends on how you qualify "unnecessary." My son had strep 8 times last year--and in three cases it took 2 rounds of antibiotics to cure. So after the 5th time, his doctor contemplated recommending surgery…. by the 7th, he was seeing an ENT. We're keeping our fingers crossed that he doesn't get it again before his surgery in 2 weeks!

HI I took out my Tonsils 3 weeks ago, surgery it takes about and hour and if everything goes well you will be discharge the same day.

i had no pain at all, i started eating the same day after surgery and drink only Soda water.
from day 6 i had 3 Nights of pain from stitches that were scratching en a little of ear pain but otherwise everything went back to normal.

They said i took my surgery very good.

if you are afraid you will have pain, don't let anyone talk you affraid its not that bad at all!!!

I had my tonsils taken out 6 months ago, it's definitely been the best decision I've ever made. Prior to the op I was getting tonsillitis every month, I even had to postpone my op twice due to coming down with the infection on my previous op dates. I was taking a lot of time off work, and it just couldn't go on... The first thing I remember after waking up from my op is thinking, wow! That was a good sleep! Then it dawned on me that the op had been done, and only took about an hour. Being 23 I was extremely worried about the recovery process, mainly because of all the horror stories you hear about adults having this type of operation, but it was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting. Keep taking your pain meds, even when you don't feel like you need them, and try and have a small sip of water at least every half hour to ensure your throat doesn't dry out as that's when it is most painful. I was eating toast by the evening of my op in the hospital, I know this sounds mad bite honestly if you chew it well enough and take small bites you will appreciate it later on, as I don't even remember the 'scabbing' process as the toast keeps clearing the dead skin from your mouth, which in turn reduced scabbing and therefore pain and bleeding when they come off. Plus my throat felt so much better after toast than it did when I had jelly, mad but just give it ago! Mornings would usually be the worse pain, this was due to the fact it was my longest period without painkillers or a drink, but out of 10 I'd still only say it was a 5 or 6 in terms of pain. If you don't think you can manage the mornings, you could set your alarm for every 2 hours through the night to take fluids and painkillers. If I'm honest, the worse thing about the whole experience was the constipation from all the meds I was on, but I'd take that anytime over a lifetime of tonsillitis. I haven't had a day of sick since returning to work, I've got back into all my sport and life in general is great as I no longer worry that if I work myself too hard ill end up falling ill. So all in all... Don't worry, it's not as bad as you think it'll be, eat toast (buttered to soften it a bit), keep taking painkillers regularly and drink drink drink!! (Non alcoholic ;) ). After a couple of weeks you'll be wondering what you were so worried about. :).

I'll have to stay in the hospital for a week! I'm so unlucky!!!!

What are you getting your tonsils out for? I have tonsillitis ALOT and none of the medication prescribed is helping me. I also get strep a couple times a year, and I get white pus pockets on my throat almost every month. I'm 16 by the way but my doctor still hasn't mentioned removing them and I just want them out!! I'm sick of dealing with all of this pain.

Im scared to go

Well Im 16 and had mine out monday they said my tonsils were pretty nasty the other things were too small to take out. They also did something else on me i don't recall the word but I woke up crying from the pain it hurt Soo bad and my tounge was swollen I couldn't hardly open my mouth well it's wednesday and I still can't harldy open my mouth. The doctors said I bit my tongue when I was out but I think they used the clamps too rapidly. My best advise for you is drink lots of water even though you like pee every 5 Minutes. It helps it's about 3:25 am and I can't sleep im on tylonal and codeine because they other stuff they game me I broke out in hives really bad. But this stuff makes me sick to my stomach I can't even spit right like I drool everywhere my boyfriend was laying with me last night and he woke me up because I was drooling everywhere. I can't help it the pain hurts a lot and my mother doesn't understand how much pain I'm in. I'm terrified that the scabs will come off and I'll start bleeding

Im a pretty good writer  so continue to read:

The night before: the day i went to the ENT they gave me  prescription I needed to get filled the night before. It was a pain killer. We went to the grocery store to buy pudding,soup,potatoes,etc.the next day I slept in what I wore. I had To sign  in. Aboiut 10 mins later,they called me back. I was a nervous wreck. They started pumping ivs through me. I've   bunch of ivs so it wasn't that bad. About 15 mins after that I  got to go to the operating room.they gave me anesthesia and I was out cold. Next thing I knew I was waking up and I was crying because I thought Donald duck stole my tonsils. Lol. I ate  popsicle and I stayed in recovery about 30 mins before my parents could come back. My throat  hurt my  felt like  bad case of strep