I wanted to share my experience as well with a thermal tissue welding tonsillectomy. I'm 40 years old and had the procedure done 3 days ago. My story begins a few years ago. I was traveling a lot for work and started to get sick a lot more than usual. In my case I would feel like I had the flu with a lot of fatigue and body aches. My whole body would hurt. Sometimes I'd run a slight fever, and sometimes I would get a slight sore throat but nothing like strep sore. This would occur about every 6-8 weeks. My doctor finally referred me to an ENT who recommended a tonsillectomy. After he described the horribly difficult recovery I sought out a second and third opinion. I even went to see an immunologist just to make sure it wasn't an autoimmune disorder and he also came to the conclusion that my tonsils were infected with bacteria and likely would shower my system once they "filled up" which would cause the pain.
So I researched tonsillectomies more and stumbled across thermal tissue welding. I called Microline and thankfully an ENT where I live (Dr. Weir at Spartanburg and Greer ENT) used their ENTCepts. I made the appointment, confirmed he uses that procedure and he would use it on me if I waned.
3 days ago I had the procedure done. This was the first time I've ever had surgery and the whole experience was a bit surreal. I woke up with a lot of pain. I was hoping it wouldn't be so bad, and realized the problem wasn't that it hurts a lot to swallow, but that it hurts a lot all the time and even worse when you swallow. However, I quickly started eating lots of ice chips, and I immediately followed Dr Weir's instructions which was to drink a lot of water, take my meds and swallow as much as I can because swallowing keeps the muscles moving. Dr. Weir told my wife after the surgery that he had a difficult time removing my tonsils bc there was so much scar tissue from the frequent infections and that I'd win the award for worse tonsils he's seen in at least 5 years. He prepared her a difficult recovery.
I just ate ice chips the whole way home and took extra strength Tylenol as soon as I got to my bed until my prescription was ready. That held me for about an hour until I was able to get the Tylenol with Hydrocodon from the pharmacy. Once that medicine kicked in, the pain was tolerable and I just kept sipping water, swallowing and icing my throat. Icing my throat helped a lot with the swelling and helped with the pain as well the first 2 days. I ate slushees, some pudding, and some mashed potatoes that first day. The pain got less and less throughout the day.
It got better on day 2. I had my routine down and just kept doing what I was doing. Instead of taking my meds every 4 hours, I took half every 2 hours. This has kept me from getting nauseous, and the pain never reaches a level that is truly uncomfortable. In my experience (so far) the swelling has been the worst part, not the pain. I snore like a bear and it feels like I have 2 uvulas which makes swallowing a little difficult. But as long as I take my meds, and keep drinking water the pain is easily manageable. I've been able to get up and move around, and even help out around the house. The nights are the toughest, but when my tonsillitis flared up I was actually more miserable than this. It actually gave me worse nights. I follow my medication strategy at night too which means I split my meds in half and take them every 2 hours instead of every 4. So every 2 hours at night my alarm goes off. My throat hurts but it's not agony. I take my meds, drink a lot of water, and sit up for a little bit until the pain dies down and I go back to sleep. This way my throat doesn't get too dried out at night.
After reading how horrible recovery can be, I'm shocked at how not horrible this is. If you can find an ENT that uses thermal tissue welding, I'd do it. Knowing what I know now I'd drive 6 hours if I had to, to find one close enough.
Now, I'm only in day 3, and still have a ways to go but the first 3 days have been much easier than I'd even hoped for. I'll come back to keep updating on my progress.
So I researched tonsillectomies more and stumbled across thermal tissue welding. I called Microline and thankfully an ENT where I live (Dr. Weir at Spartanburg and Greer ENT) used their ENTCepts. I made the appointment, confirmed he uses that procedure and he would use it on me if I waned.
3 days ago I had the procedure done. This was the first time I've ever had surgery and the whole experience was a bit surreal. I woke up with a lot of pain. I was hoping it wouldn't be so bad, and realized the problem wasn't that it hurts a lot to swallow, but that it hurts a lot all the time and even worse when you swallow. However, I quickly started eating lots of ice chips, and I immediately followed Dr Weir's instructions which was to drink a lot of water, take my meds and swallow as much as I can because swallowing keeps the muscles moving. Dr. Weir told my wife after the surgery that he had a difficult time removing my tonsils bc there was so much scar tissue from the frequent infections and that I'd win the award for worse tonsils he's seen in at least 5 years. He prepared her a difficult recovery.
I just ate ice chips the whole way home and took extra strength Tylenol as soon as I got to my bed until my prescription was ready. That held me for about an hour until I was able to get the Tylenol with Hydrocodon from the pharmacy. Once that medicine kicked in, the pain was tolerable and I just kept sipping water, swallowing and icing my throat. Icing my throat helped a lot with the swelling and helped with the pain as well the first 2 days. I ate slushees, some pudding, and some mashed potatoes that first day. The pain got less and less throughout the day.
It got better on day 2. I had my routine down and just kept doing what I was doing. Instead of taking my meds every 4 hours, I took half every 2 hours. This has kept me from getting nauseous, and the pain never reaches a level that is truly uncomfortable. In my experience (so far) the swelling has been the worst part, not the pain. I snore like a bear and it feels like I have 2 uvulas which makes swallowing a little difficult. But as long as I take my meds, and keep drinking water the pain is easily manageable. I've been able to get up and move around, and even help out around the house. The nights are the toughest, but when my tonsillitis flared up I was actually more miserable than this. It actually gave me worse nights. I follow my medication strategy at night too which means I split my meds in half and take them every 2 hours instead of every 4. So every 2 hours at night my alarm goes off. My throat hurts but it's not agony. I take my meds, drink a lot of water, and sit up for a little bit until the pain dies down and I go back to sleep. This way my throat doesn't get too dried out at night.
After reading how horrible recovery can be, I'm shocked at how not horrible this is. If you can find an ENT that uses thermal tissue welding, I'd do it. Knowing what I know now I'd drive 6 hours if I had to, to find one close enough.
Now, I'm only in day 3, and still have a ways to go but the first 3 days have been much easier than I'd even hoped for. I'll come back to keep updating on my progress.
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Today is day 11. My recovery hasn’t been fun, but at no point have I felt like the pain was terrible. Worse than the pain is all the other things like lack of sleep, eating only liquid foods, throat swelling, and the gastrointestinal issues pain meds cause.
For pain I took the narcotics on time every day up until day 5 and then I stopped taking them. I took only Tylenol up until day 10 and then stopped except right before bed.
Eating is still painful but in a “I have a cold and a sore throat” way. It’s a 3 on the pain scale.
I’m very happy with how my recovery has gone and I don’t regret waiting until I could have the thermal tissue welding procedure done. I highly recommend it.
For pain I took the narcotics on time every day up until day 5 and then I stopped taking them. I took only Tylenol up until day 10 and then stopped except right before bed.
Eating is still painful but in a “I have a cold and a sore throat” way. It’s a 3 on the pain scale.
I’m very happy with how my recovery has gone and I don’t regret waiting until I could have the thermal tissue welding procedure done. I highly recommend it.
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