adults - tonsils removed- your experiences

[Saint Monica]

What do you wish you knew in advance?

Experience?

What should one have on hand/what helped you (other than what Dr. advised)?

[Deleted]

I wish I would have known that day 3 would be hell. I really didn't think I needed the full week off that my dr ordered, but I really did.

The recovery sucked, it really did, but it honestly was one of the best things I've done. I feel so much better and seldom get sick now.

I ate a lot of mashed potatoes.

[MeMyselfandI]

I had my tonsil and my uvula out at the same time (sleep apnea). The surgery itself wasn't bad and I was able to eat as normally as possible right after. My doctor wanted me to eat as normally as possible. I didn't have any restrictions really. Popsicles were lovely though. Get a bunch. I will say, stay on top of your pain meds for a bit. If you let them go too long, it's harder to get the pain under control. It wasn't horrible, but it certainly wasn't comfortable either. They had me on two separate kind so that I could stagger them. That was very helpful.

Although it was near my uvula, not the tonsils, be careful of bleeding. I don't know if I popped a stitch or busted something from eating, but a week into recovery I had to go to the emergency room for bleeding. It didn't hurt, but was scary as hell.

[PinkSquirrel]

It was the most painful experience of my life-Seriously, f'ing terrible- but I haven't had a throat infection since, which is pretty much a miracle. It was bad, but 100% worth it.

Also, socks make the best ice packs to put around your neck.

[UnderProtest]

Week one was terrible throat pain, but week two was terrible ear pain. I would still do it again in a heartbeat. I had awful tonsil stones and was sick all the time.

[Saint Monica]

Anything you wished you had on hand?

[UnderProtest]

A bell and a dog that didn't run away the day I was on my own.

[CloudBee]

- Listen to the doctor when they tell you to stay on top of your pain meds EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK YOU NEED THEM. You don't want to experience life on the other side.

- Sleep with a humidifier on.

- It's going to be the worst 1-2 wks of your life, but will be SO worth it a month post-op once you're fully recovered.

- You will need to spit / drool a lot, because it's painful to swallow. Keep a cup handy the first few days and don't feel bad about it.

[vicky]

Do you need to have your tonsils removed?? Are they taking your adenoids too? How are you feeling otherwise, Saint Monica?

I had mine done the day before my 18th birthday. No birthday cake for me.
I woke up screaming in pain after the surgery, but then they med'ed me right up and i was good.
Try not to eat anything with sharp corners for a bit, I cut my throat day 5 on a wonton and it wouldn't stop bleeding.

[Saint Monica]

My boyfriend is having his removed. I will be taking care of him.

[shamrockshake]

there was recently a post about this on my local FB page and it was basically the worst experience of everyone's lives. Sorry to your poor boyfriend

[unclejesse]

A whiteboard with a dry erase marker and a rag. I couldn't talk for almost a week. And I totally second the cup on hand.

I used to get strep throat every year without fail until I had them removed. It's been 13 years and I haven't had strep since.

Oh and sneezing hurt the worst. So if anything makes him sneeze, try to keep it away.

[Eureka1984]

I just had mine done 3 weeks ago. It was hard but manageable

-Get 3 ice packs and ice your face all day tie a scarf around your head
- drink as much ICE water as possible
- take your meds every4-5 Hours even if your not in pain.
- get and use a humidifier round the clock

Like everyone has said its bad after 3 days when the scabs start.

Week one I mostly slept week two was horrible ear pain and swallowing was just uncomfortable.

I wish you luck and speedy recovery!

[arch01]

No dairy-or at least ice cream! It hurts the ability to produce saliva-and dryness is NOT fun.

Ice, meds, and drink as much water as you can. Eat as much as you can while you're still highly medicated after surgery, because the next few days you'll cringe at the thought of swallowing. Drink broth if you can, the saltiness will make you want water. Otherwise ramen noodles. They go down easily and the salt means you'll be thirsty.

Day 4 was the worst for me. DH came home to me crying in pain. Once I coughed up the last of the clots/scabs on day 7 I was golden.

I still stand by the fact that this was the top health related decision I have ever made. I rarely get sick now-before the surgery it was constant from October-April.

[Deleted]

Mar 8, 2016 16:43:47 GMT -5 Saint Monica said:

My boyfriend is having his removed. I will be taking care of him.

I'd only been married about 6 months when I had my surgery.  My exH was horrible through the process and I'm confident you'll be much better.  Trust your BF when he says it hurts, plan on him hanging on the couch for several days, expect my his mouth to smell like death (I wish I was kidding).  My exH drug me to some god awful valentines banquet 5 days after surgery, I couldn't even eat the food to make up for being there, I'm still mad thinking about it.

[Eagles]

My sister had hers out at 19. She ate lots of popsicles, water ice, and lukewarm chicken and stars soup for the first few days, then moved on to mac and cheese and mashed potatoes. It was painful and not fun, but she had chronic bouts of tonsillitis and strep her entire life and hasn't had strep since.

My mom felt bad that it took so long, but in the eighties they were more inclined to leave them in.

[scarletbandit]

I had mine removed last summer (I was 38) and I didn't think the recovery was too bad. Some days hurt more than others but I stayed on top of the pain meds and made sure to drink lots of ice water.

I bought one of those wedge pillows to sleep on an incline. The euvula will swell and stay swollen for a few days. It will keep him from choking/gagging on it. I used my humidifier round the clock.

If he can tolerate Ensure (I wasn't too fond of it), freeze it in ice cube trays, good for the nutrients he won't get for awhile. I also froze chicken broth and white grape juice because after awhile I was tired of ice water.

Another thing I did was set the alarm on my phone for every 1-2 hours at night so I could drink a glass of water. Waking up to a dry throat in the morning is torture.

Good luck!

[midnightmare81]

I honestly didn't think it was bad at all as long as I stayed on top of my pain meds. I expected much worse.

Ditto pp's on a lot of things. One thing I didn't see mentioned is waking up every couple hours to drink water. Yes, it's really a annoying, and your tired and you just don't wanna. But I can say the night I didn't set alarms for water thinking I didn't need them was the only morning I woke up crying in the worst pain I had felt the whole recovery period!

[scarletbandit]

Mar 8, 2016 19:33:51 GMT -5 midnightmare81 said:

I honestly didn't think it was bad at all as long as I stayed on top of my pain meds. I expected much worse.

Ditto pp's on a lot of things. One thing I didn't see mentioned is waking up every couple hours to drink water. Yes, it's really a annoying, and your tired and you just don't wanna. But I can say the night I didn't set alarms for water thinking I didn't need them was the only morning I woke up crying in the worst pain I had felt the whole recovery period!

We posted at the same time. That happened to me also. I made sure to keep my phone nearby for the rest of the recovery. 

[DefenseAgainstTheDarkArts22]

I had mine done at 21. You will actually need the 1-2 weeks to recover that they suggest. I thought I could beat it and then left work early the 1st day and then threw up in the hallway during a final that half my grade depended on. Almost didn't graduate on time since I couldn't focus and didn't care at all.

The pharmacy screwed up the dosage for my liquid pain medicine and then I had a reaction to it, so I had to take pills. Really don't recommend that.

I stayed with my mom for the few days and existed solely on McDonalds ice cream since regular ice cream and mac and cheese hurt too much. Anything I needed I was texting to her.

The call from the hospital to check in where they would only talk to me didn't help either....

[moonriver]

I wish I had known that I was allergic to the pain med they gave me for recovery. I took it for a week and vomited it up every time before realizing, a week in, that I was vomiting from the medicine. It was awful. My recovery was so much better after I stopped taking the meds.

I did not have any issues after stopping the med though. My recovery was probably a week or so longer than typical, but I don't remember any scabbing. Also, the ear pain sucked but I think that was from having adenoids out at the same time.

[StephaniePlum]

Chocolate ice cream stings. Vanilla did not. Good luck!

[HiC]

You won't be going out for a steak dinner for at least 6 weeks, if not more. The recovery was long and horrible.

[TrudyCampbell]

The recovery really sucks, but I'm glad I did it. My doctor told me to take two weeks off which I thought was insane, but I really did need more than a week. Good luck!