Tip From a Veteran:
Ok all you people on the other side of the tunnel, give us your ONE BEST TIP for easing tonsillectomy recovery:
115 Responses to “Tip From a Veteran:”
Ok all you people on the other side of the tunnel, give us your ONE BEST TIP for easing tonsillectomy recovery:
115 Responses to “Tip From a Veteran:”
Nicole says:
August 31, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Hello All,
I am 22, and I recently had a tonsil and adenoidectomy on August 19, 2010. I am currently on Post Op Day 12. I read this site thoroughly before my surgery and I have to say it prepared me more than I ever thought for the Surgery. Needless to say I was terrified after going through the posts but my experience was not that bad! I will tell my story below and hopefully help others who are anticipating their surgery day!
Pre Surgery Day- One thing I learned from this site among others is that it’s essential to prepare for this surgery ahead of time. I went through all the posts and composed a list of things I would need for my mom who was my caregiver during this whole thing. I purchased a humidifier, surgical masks, Dentyne Ice gum, cream of wheat, macaroni and cheese, chicken noodle soup, beef and chicken broth, jell-o, pudding, popsicles, a small shaved ice machine (was on sale at Shopko for 20 bucks!), Gatorade, 0 calorie Sobe Life waters, and finally, Adult liquid Rapid Blast Tylenol Extra Strength. You would think that by preparing this much ahead of time that I would be more at ease… well wrong, I was terrified and insanely nervous. I had never had a surgery before and this was my first time being put under with anesthesia. The only thing I could do the night before surgery was get lost in a good book, it helped keep me at ease.
Surgery Day- My Surgery check- in time was set for 7:30am. As other posts had noted, I went in, filled out paper work, paid etc. received my patient bracelet, and sat in the waiting room for what seemed like hours. It was very cold in the waiting room and in all the rest of the rooms I entered so a light weight zip up hoodie was very helpful for me. Once I was in the prep room the hardest part of the actually surgery was receiving the IV, I have a problem with needles so that made me more nervous than the surgery itself. After all that they walked me into the surgery room and I remember there was rock music playing fairly loud which I found slightly humorous. Before I knew it I was out. Waking up wasn’t too bad for me. I remember swallowing slowly and trying to take deep breaths and relax. It instantly felt like I had hairballs stuck in my throat. I ate a Popsicle and some jell-o and an hour later was released.
My throat actually didn’t hurt at all after surgery for some time. My mom and I went back to the hotel (we had to travel for the surgery and spend one night near the surgery center) and I was given liquid hydrocodone for my pain medication. I took my first does at the hotel and was in the process of eating a Gatorade shaved ice when I instantly threw up the medication. My mom figured I was coming off of the anesthesia still so we waited awhile and tried the main medication again, and once again I threw up. At this point I was thinking this whole tonsillectomy thing SUCKS. After speaking with the nurses over the phone they prescribed me an anti nausea medication called ondansetron. It’s what cancer patients use when they are going through chemo therapy. I took that and it solved my nausea problem permanently. The rest of that night was rough; I am usually a side sleeper but it hurt to lay flat, I kept myself propped up on pillows and felt miserable. I kept waking up and didn’t feel too good, the humidifier and surgical mask helped though because I also like to sleep with my mouth open.
Post Op Day 1- We drove 2 hours home this day, I was keeping the medication down and constantly sucking on ice chips that my mom made with the shaved ice machine. Once home I stayed on the couch most the time with a blanket and pillows. I managed to get down 4 cups of shaved ice chips, jell-o, some pudding, and some beef broth with pieces of saltine cracker. Pain wise this day was pretty bad; however the pain is more of a sore feeling. I didn’t every associate the pain with something like strep throat. It just felt like I worked out my throat and was paying the price for it. I’d be lying if I said the pain wasn’t that bad but to be honest I was expecting it to be a lot worse than it was. I kept a log of my time table with medication and was sure to re dose every 4 hours, Sometimes every 3 ½ hours.
Post Op Days 2, 3, 4- Days 2 and 3 I felt about the same pain wise. I never went over a 6 in terms of the pain scale. In terms of speaking, I could talk on the day of and post surgery but once day 2 came It was painful to speak, I decided it was better to write my requests on a notepad then strain myself. My diet consisted of constant cups of shaved ice with sometimes Gatorade, sobe life water, or pineapple flavoring. By day 3 I could get down cream of wheat if I ate it very slowly and it couldn’t be very hot, I had to eat things that were luke warm mostly or cold. I ate chicken noodle soup; the noodles were mushy enough that they went down with ease. By day 4 I had my first portion of mashed potatoes, it took me about an hour to eat a couple bites but I got it down and it tasted wonderful. By day 4 I also was eating smoothies consisting of pear Sobe life water, a tablespoon of yogurt, a whole banana, and ice. The smoothies stung a little but I forced it down because I was feeling so weak. My biggest advice for these hard days is to keep telling yourself to be strong, push through, it will be over soon. I had to constantly keep telling myself this.
Post Op Days 5 through 10- Days 5-7 it was still really painful for me to talk, I could talk if I took a dose of the liquid hydrocodone and let it kick in but I could only talk for so long before I felt like punching the wall. Don’t get me wrong, I felt like punching the wall a lot during this process. During these days I tried alternating between the hydrocodone and the liquid Tylenol so I could begin to get off the heavy stuff. On these days I was able to eat cream of wheat for breakfast, tons of shaved ice drinks popsicles, and jell-o in between, macaroni and cheese for lunch, and I managed to get down some pasta with avocado for dinner and fruit sorbet (mango and pomegranate) for dessert. Sometimes it helped to suck on Ritz crackers, they went down pretty easy. I found that if I was constantly eating ice chips, shaved ice drinks, and drinking water to stay hydrated the better I felt. It’s really important to always hydrate yourself. Lying on the couch I would just suck on ice chips or shaved ice all day. On day 8 I started to feel better in the morning after hydrating myself with 4 shaved ice drinks and one fruit smoothie but by 1pm I crashed and was feeling pretty crummy. There may be days where you feel like there is some improvement and then you crash, this can be discouraging and all I can say is to keep telling yourself, this will pass, you can get through this…. More water! Days 8-10 the scabs starting to come off, I was dreading this process from reading the posts but it wasn’t too bothersome. I would feel something in my throat and try clearing or drink water to clear it. They came off in small pieces and it was a little painful after they fell off but it wasn’t that bad, nothing to freak out over. On these days I FINALLY started feeling the pain subside. I tried to walk around more during these days, getting my own drinks and making my own breakfast helped get my legs moving. By day 10 I decided to stop taking the hydrocodone and just stuck to taking the liquid Tylenol every 4 hours. My pain was slowly subsiding.
Post Op Day 11 to Present- On day 11 and today which would be day 12, I have only been taking the liquid Tylenol here and there. My pain only feels like a subtle sore throat. I can eat normal meals, not heavy foods, but I can eat salad, chicken, soft bread things like that. The thing I am having a hard time with is that the scabs are still coming off here and there, and sleeping has been an issue because I have been used to taking the hydrocodone which made me sleep soundly. I also am still really weak. My job requires me to do 5 mile hikes daily and I cannot go back until I get some of my strength and energy back. Plus I’m not quite on that 14 day recovery mark yet. I would say I am on the downhill of recovery and feeling better every day now.
My BIGGEST issue during days 1-9 was sleeping. It really is the enemy. I set my cell phone alarm for every 4 hours and would force myself to get up, take the meds, then I would lay in bed and suck on ice chips for about 30 minutes or until the medication kicked in. I would usually read during this time to get my mind off of punching the wall, or in my case the pillows. I recommend picking up some good reading material during this process because it really helped take my mind off of the pain and everything. I also slept with a surgical mask covering my mouth so if I did sleep with my mouth open, it didn’t get as dried out. The humidifier also REALLY helps. In terms of staying hydrated I recommend getting a small shaved ice machine, it saved my life during this process because a lot of times it was the only thing that sounded appealing.
I go back for my post op appointment in 3 days and I think it will go well. I hope my story will help anyone who is nervous or not sure what to expect with this process, I really didn’t think it has been as bad as I thought it would be. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask me!
Be sure to stay hydrated, positive, and always hopeful because it will get better!!!!!!!!
Margaret says:
August 31, 2010 at 3:41 pm
Had my tonsils removed August 23 and and just now able to talk without much pain. Swollowing still hurts and I still need the pain meds at night, though they are not lasting as long as they did at first. I found that eating harder foods went down easier than soft foods…maybe the harder the food the smaller bite and more I chewed? ICE COLD WATER has been my savior! I am still relying on it multiple times a day. And gum…I would stick a piece of gum in my mouth before putting my feet on the floor in the morning. I have been sneezing a lot since last night and it hurts a bit…I think it;s more scary than painful because I don’t really know what to expect pain wise each time. I can tell I am on the mend and could not be happier!
My biggest piece of advice…take it easy! You need to rest; don’t rush the process. Good luck!
April says:
August 31, 2010 at 12:22 am
Hi. I am 30 years old & I am scheduled for a tonsillectomy on Sept 20. I am terrified! I am an ICU RN, so I know the complications that can come w/adults & tonsillectomies. Anyhow, I found this website & have found some useful information on it. For the most part the vast majority have had a hard time w/recovery. I guess I have to be diligent in my drinking ice water & taking pain meds. I do intend to sleep w/a humidifier. I am just very very very nervous about the recovery. I need a pep talk…
Reg says:
August 19, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Hi all:
Yesterday I had a Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty procedure – better known as, UPPP. I had my tonsils removed and my uvula. This type of procedure is conducted for individuals with mild to severe cases of sleep apnea. After reading all of the tips and suggestions from this site, my recovery has been going pretty well (knock on wood) approximately 26hrs after surgery.
I stayed at the hospital over night and I’m glad I did. What’s been most helpful for me is: 1) Drinking water and 2) Eating ice chips constantly. Of course, the pain meds have been helpful as well. But, keeping my throat hydrated has helped a great deal. I’m not experiencing any pain until I swallow. Even with the meds it feels like I have a really bad sore throat when I swallow. I’d rate the level 2 or 3 (out of 10) at the moment. The Dr said the pain will get worse for me over the next 2-5 days so I’m preparing for it.
At the hospital, I ate some jello and a couple of Arrezzio Italian Ice (these are sorta like Popsicles). I also let some Saltine crackers completely melt in my mouth before swallowing them. That worked out quite well. When I got home today, I was able to eat some vanilla pudding and more jello. Tonight, I’m going to try to make some macaroni noodles or eggs and see how that goes. But, the main thing that getting me through this today is drinking water and eating ice chips.
Last night I slept in 30-45mins increments. I’d wake up, drink some water, eat some ice chips, watch a little tv and fall back asleep for another 30-45mins. Needless to day, I used the bathroom a lot last night, but I did what I thought I needed to do to keep my throat from drying out. And, it has seemed to work for me. I think I’m going to do it again tonight and see how it goes. I’ll modify as needed if the pain gets worse.
Well, that’s my story for Day 1 and Day 2. I’ll let you know how Day 3 goes tomorrow. Good luck everyone!
Reg
Raquel says:
August 19, 2010 at 11:04 am
Hey! I was reading this wonderful community even before my surgery, but sadly, I wasn’t able to take the laptop with me to the hospital until now, so I can join in the “conversation” on day 3. (Actually it’s day 2 post op, but I count the day of surgery as day 1 since the surgery took place at the godforsaken hour of 7:30am)
Day 3 and my only problem is that the painkiller does not last as long as I would like it to do. We don’t have the same sort of painkillers in Europe as in the USA so I can’t compare. But from what I use, no more than 4 pills may be taken a day. Since a pill gives me only 4 painless hours, that leaves 8 hours a day when I’m constantly checking the clock.:) These 8 hours I could really do without:))
Actually, i have 45 minutes till the next painkiller, so swallowing is getting to be quite an experience, but I’ve just opened a pudding and began to eat it excruciatingly slowly.:) By the way, what helps me most, and can recommend to everyone: eat a lot. As much as you possibly can. Since Day 2 I am constantly eating sans these painkiller-free hours, painfully slowly and it takes a lot of patience, but chewing, moving the muscles of my throat, swallowing constantly makes me feel good. The time when I feel the least pain is when I passed the soup and am on the next course. The throat gets used to the motions and the pain does not even register after while. (a long while:D)
What I fear the most is that as the days progress, I’ll get more and more depressed due to this constant circle of 6 hours: eating-drinking-drinking-eating-drinking-painkiller looses effect-waiting (drinking)- waiting-painkiller. I’ll try to stay positive, walk around the house a lot, speak a lot (both expressly recommended by the doctor as a way to speedy recovery).
What is interesting to me is that lots of you speak about eating ice-cream, ice cold stuff. The doctor (whom I trust and consider an extremely good doctor) expressly forbid any drink/food that is not at a normal temperature. So ice-cream is a big no-no, as well as ice cold fruit soup and such.
) Of course, not literally, but what he aimed at is that we must talk, walk, keep our strength up.
So you can safely go to sleep, you don’t even have to set the alarm: you will wake up in an hour or so to the urgent call of your bladder. (Sorry to be so vulgar, being French I don’t know what is acceptable language 
))) When you wake up, you drink at least another big glass of water. You will wake up again and again and again. The longest is went without waking up is four hours. Water-water-water and you survived the worst part.
Another thing is the moving around / talking. On the day after surgery, the doctor came in, inspected my wounds and the girl with whom I share a room and told us “he never wants to see us in bed again”
Antibiotics: we do not get any until infection is not an issue. The painkiller that we use is a combination medication, so helps in this area too, but it is not antibiotics.
And what concerns most of us: sleeping. Well, my doc told me to drink as much as it is humanly possible (no surprise there). If you follow this advice, there is no man on earth who does not have to pee in every half an hour.
… I finally took the painkiller, so I am in the next 6 hours. Gonna drink now to ease the way down then eat tons of dinner. I must, since the dreaded 4-6 days are coming, and I fear what lays ahead. :/
Kim says:
August 19, 2010 at 9:01 am
Well I spoke too soon….
Sunday night I had bleeding from my left side. It went on for about 2 hours, tried gargling with ice water, still not stopping. Then clots started coming out.
Long story short, my mom had to come and get me and take me to the ER at 10:00 at night – we called the emergency # given to me with my discharge instructions and the dr. on call (coincidentally the dr. that did my initial surgery thank god!) called ahead to the hospital and met us there.
That is one tip I would give – Keep ALL discharge paperwork, instructions, emergency #’s etc. handy at ALL times. I thought I was in the clear, but I needed this information!
At the ER, I only had to wait until the dr. got there. Was immediately prepped for surgery. He suctioned out the clot (2 inches) from where my left tonsil had been and also blood clots that had gone into my stomach, I must have swallowed them.
Recovery – told them Dilaudid made me sick so they gave me something else that was just as effective but didn’t cause the nausea – fentenol? fen-something, I forget the name…
Anyway, the recovery room nurse was WONDERFUL! Sent her a thank you card for all of her kindness and help with both me and my mom (she was more upset than me)
So….this was a minor setback according to the dr. but I have bad pain on that side now, and feel somewhat depressed that my recovery might take longer. I go back to the dr. next Monday for my followup. Just keeping my fingers crossed until then!
Reg says:
August 16, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Hi all – This website has been great as I prepare for my Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty on Wed 8.18.
Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences. I look forward to sharing mine when I can after the surgery.
Isaac says:
August 16, 2010 at 2:48 am
I feel sorta like a jerk for posting on any site about my experience thus far but maybe it’ll give some confidince to people who haven’t had the operation done yet. I keep checking out different websites to see other reactions for the 4-8 day period.
I had mine out on 8/11 at about 11:30, woke up around 12 45 and was out of the hospital by around 3PM which was great because they told me I should expect 4-6 hours atleast before I’m aloud to take off. When I woke up my throat maybe hurt 2-10 at the most however I did sound very hoars. I felt like I drew a lucky straw because in the post op room I was flanked by 2 people absoulutly puking their guts out and told my nurse to go help the girl next to me because I felt so bad for her =( After just a little bit they took me up to the peids area to recover.
Some advice for when you wake up – staaaaaaaaaay calm swallow a couple times and see how it feels the first time it kinda hurt, the second time not so much but don’t panic! remember that you just had your mouth pryed open for a good 25 minutes atleast then they extubated you and stuck a oxygen mask on you which further drys the heck out of your mouth so expect it to hurt alittle bit but don’t get all worried about it, ask for some ice chips! they wont give you water believe me I tried! took like 20 minutes before they did.
Once I got into my room however, they gave me some lortab or however it’s spelt and that went down pretty easy, if you’re not feeling sick ask for a menu or something to get some food, hospitals put protien in the food they give tonsillectomy patients because they know they might not be eating meat anytime soon so snack hard on what they offer! Later though, the doctor came into visit and was asking me about my pain which still hadn’t changed from a 1 or 2 out of 10 and was very suprised however I atributed it all to his handy work! He did tell me that one of my tonsilis was so swollen that it had adhered to places were it shouldn’t have so he ended up digging a little and told me to expect some impending pain! But when he left I got up and pee’d for my nurse as soon as possible however and was out of the hospital in whatI think was record time, sense I still really didn’t feel remotely bad.
The medicen I’ve been perscribed is vicodin/acetominphin at 7.5MG(hydrocodon) 500MG(tylonal) per 15ML. I’ve never been sick from medication before but I was still very careful with my first ever dose of vicodin later that night I took 1/4th my dose and it made me semi sleepy but not sick at all and hasn’t made me sick yet.
I need to go to bed to begin my 5th or 6th day, depending on how you like to count them, but in the days prior i’ve taken my perscribed medicen maybe 5 times due to not caring for sleeping the whole day away 20 mintues after drinking it down! Today I bought myself some liquid tylenol and that has done about 90% as good of a job and I don’t feel like I need to sleep for forever either! If you try this route becareful not to OD on the tylenol though, it’s not something that’ll get you high or whatever its very bad for your liver if you take too much.
The first 2 days there was hardly no pain at all, like the usual s6ore throat it hurt a little extra in the AM but that went away with light medication/drinking kool-aid…water is too boring for me! the 3rd day there was maybe like a 1.5 increase on my pain scale but it never came close to comparing to a bad case of strep, let alone my worst strep throat ever…which is something I searched for forever before my op and never found!
day four had a pretty rough start again which I took the vicodin and was out cold until like 1-2pm and decided that it would be best to buy the tylenol and that’s kept my pain to about a 3-4 out of 10 all day, I usually take about half a dose of it so just incase it gets too painful I can take half a dose of my vicodin and still not be over the limit on my acetominphin but it hasn’t gotten nearly to that point yet.
so far I don’t think this is too bad an expreience, it surly beats getting strep or tonsilitius and the best part about is when you get sick with your tonsils…pain meds do…NOTHING…when you get them out and it hurts…pain meds WOOOOOORK! so when it starts to get bad just remember that you’ve probably had an infection that hurt as bad or worse and you toughed it out with nothing but a popcicle and realize how lucky you are that pain meds actually do something! From what I’ve read about 70% of the rest of the worlds experience I’ll be hurting tomorrow so how knows maybe I’ll take my words back!
as far as scabbing and my uvula, scabbing I can feel them when I swallow and such which would be annyoing but when I had my tonsils they were so big that my uvula rested on the left one for like a month so I got over the gaging/choking/ somethign stuck in my throat need to swallow feeling a long time ago, my uvula is like .5 bigger than usual, it was like twice as big but went down, then got big again and such so I stopped caring about that. also my breath STINKS brushing your teeth does nothing but make you feel like you’ve wasted time haha. it basically tastes like morning breath prolonged longer than any case of morning breath should ever go for
Kim says:
August 15, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Day 5 of my recovery. Felt slightly better yesterday, then woke up again today in horrible pain. Left side worse than right. Did eat some broth with chopped up noodles yesterday, and that helped my stomach issues somewhat. Also, talked yesterday and think that may have caused the setback.
Just taking it easy today, trying to stay hydrated and take meds, although the oxycodone liquid is really not agreeing with me. Hoping to switch to liquid Tylenol ASAP.
For the poster below me – Matthew – I am new to this also, but I would say just try to rest as much as possible and continue to stay hydrated. The diarrea might be a side effect of the anesthesia or if you digested any of the blood. Your doctor sounds like an a$$hole, if you don’t mind my saying. You were taken to the closest ER, which is standard emergency protocol. He should have understood the situation and been a bit more sympathetic to the pain and fear you were going through.
Keep reading here, hopefully someone else who had a similar experience will comment. In the meantime, stay strong and try to relax. Stress is your worst enemy!
matthew says:
August 15, 2010 at 11:04 am
i am so scared right now. I was on day 8 of my recovery when i was walking in the hall it felt like i had the biggest role of mucus in my throat. i spat it out and it was a clot of blood the size of my hand. I immediately started freaking out because i could feel it squirting in the back of my mouth and i was choking on my own blood. so i called 911 i was in to much of a panic to drive. they get me to a ER and the people leave me there for about 45 minutes and by this time i have half a sandwhich baggie filled with blood, and the blood had thick black splots in it. They get a hold of my ENT, he comes to the hospital, gives me an ear full saying i shouldn’t of picked this hospital.. why i didn’t call him in the fist place ect ect. then he says what happened was somthing i probably did. like eating solid foods or straining myself that day to lift a TV. there’s a numerous ways its my doing. but the other nurse says it can hemmorage without warning. I had to go into the OR again and get my tonsils bruned again. im scared since im in the rare cases that its going to happen again and im going to die. today I feel weak and sore for god nows what reason. i have diarriah real bad and i have to fighht to get to to come out. has this ever happened to anyone? please someone give me some info im wiggin out right now
Kim says:
August 13, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Hello all!
Had my tonsillectomy this past Tuesday 8/10/10, so I am on day 3 of my recovery.
Thankfully, I found this site a few weeks before my surgery and read it almost obsessively every day. It really helped me to prepare for my surgery.
A few things from my experience:
I got extremely sick from the anesthesia/pain med Dilaudid and had to get some med to stop nausea before I left hosp. This delayed my leaving by at least 2 hours because I couldn’t move without feeling like I was going to puke. This was bad, and scary. That coupled with a somewhat rough nurse who kept trying to shove ice chips in my mouth made the in-hospital recovery period extremely unpleasant. I just wanted to leave.
I live by myself, so i am staying at my parents during my recovery. my mom brought me right home and i immediately got into bed and slept. I didn’t even take my pain med till that night. The med i was given is liquid oxycodone. It also upsets my stomach but I mix it with applesauce and it isn’t as bad. The dosage is VERY small -BE CAREFUL!!! Last night i must have had an extra drop or so (my dosage is basically 5 drops of the stuff) and I had horrible auditory hallucinations and weird dreams.
So far, I have only been able to eat PediaLyte Freeze pops – these are the BEST – I have already gone through 2 boxes. They have electrolytes in addition to the liquid. I tried to eat some jello and water ice, but wasn’t ready for that yet.
The pain was the worst yesterday. I basically stayed doped up and slept all day. For me sleeping is coming easy, I guess it is the pain med. I try to get up 2x during night to take meds – I followed the suggestion of others and take half the dose more frequently. Instead of taking every 4 hours, i take 1/2 dose every 2.
Also, liquid Tylenol has helped a lot with the pain. I take that in between the oxycodone.
Another tip – TISSUES. I have been spitting into tissues and then throwing them in a little wastebasket lined with a plastic bag rather than swallow. To try to keep the swallowing to a minimum. I noticed that gatorade made a lot of mucus in my throat also, so I started cutting that half with water.
So…that is my experience so far. Will post again when I am further along. I think it is helpful to read the stories of others so thank you to everyone who has shared their experiences here!
Libby says:
August 11, 2010 at 8:00 pm
I’m 20 years old and had my surgery exactly a week ago. Today is the first day of true recovery. The first 3 days were hazy due to the pain meds, but I stopped taking them after that because of the incredible nausea. On night 3, I ended up throwing up the little in my stomach, and then vowed to put a holt to the codine. From there, I have roughed it on extra strength tylenol. The pain is at an 8 in the mornings, but the majority of the day is around a 4 or 5. I’ve lost around 8 pounds, but am finally able to eat more substantial foods. My biggest recommendations are chicken broth, jello, and oatmeal. Oatmeal is bland and creates a fantastic soothing coating on your throat; there are no threatening acidic flavors to be worried about. I have experienced some minor bleeding in the middle of the night. As my throat dries out, my scabs fall off, and I wake up in agonizing pain…however gargling with water/hydrogen peroxide has fixed the bleeding.
I’m severely hoping that the worst is over. I still have an annoyingly clogged voice, which I’m praying will go away soon. Good luck to all those in the beginning.
Beverly says:
August 11, 2010 at 6:50 pm
I had my surgery on Aug 2nd, 9 days ago and I am about 90 percent back to normal. As a matter of fact I just had a big burger for lunch which I thought before I had this surgery would take a long time for me to be able to eat normal food again. I looked over this site before I had the surgery and I will admit that I was worried it would take so long and be so painful that I thought about cancellng. The first few days were painful, about an 8 on the scale. I can say that I could not eat or drink it did hurt to swallow even water, juice was not good for me to drink, it felt too acidic and burned my throat. It helped to have an ice pack on my throat constantly, it help so much with the swelling and the pain. The only thing (food wise) that helped was warm chicken broth & noodles, nothing cold helped my throat, it actually made the pain worse, but anything warm felt so good. By day 3 I was eating the Banquet Chicken Pot Pies, they were very soft, I would take my medication and be able to eat the food a few minutes later. You need to know that in the first week dairy, e.g. Ice cream is not recommened by the doctors or nurses. I was told that it coats the throat and causes you to want to cough or clear you throat. They were right, I drank an Ensure on day 3 and had a coughing fit that lasted 10 minutes, that was what hurt my throat the worst. By day 5 I actually left my house and drove myself to the store, I just had to get out. I could talk ok and by day 5 was already yelling at my kids to behave…lol. I always had water with me but I found out that the sweet tea from McDonalds was alot smoother to swallow and didn’t hurt my thoat like the water still did. I am now using the Chloraseptic spray and it helps with eating. Once in a while if I talk too much (lol) I get a dry throat but I just drink some tea and I feel better. Even though the list Greg posted was very thorough, I bought most of the items recommened, I didn’t use all of them, just the noodles & broth, I still have 2 big packages of the popsicles, I couldn’t eat them, they were too cold. Alot of this is trial and error, I had to try things and see if it was ok for me. His advice is good, I set my phone alarm to wake myself up every 4 hours to take my medication. I slept in our living room which was nice and cool, in the recliner. Sleeping almost upright was a the best advice I got, I hardly woke up with a dry thoat or too much mucus in my throat. Having my husband home to help with our 2 small kids and my son who is 13 help with them too was great. Planning everything before hand was great too. The week before surgery I bought everything that would be needed for the kids & the house. I bought and prepared meals for my husband to make for himself and the kids. I think these things taken care of before hand help in my recovery, I was less stressed and worried about these things getting taken care of and I could focus more on my recovery. Overall my experience was a good one. By day 2 it just felt like the strep throats and infections I got all the time. And if this does stop all the infections I got, then this experience was so worth it. Hopefully this helps someone.
matthew c says:
August 11, 2010 at 5:23 pm
my painful journey so far. im on day 6 and i am in some serious agony. i wnet nearly 3 days without easting because it hurt so much to swollow. and since day 3 its gotten better and worst. for example i can swollow bread now but no matter how much water intake i consume the back of my throat feels like mucus is stuck and no matter how hard i swallow its still there. the ear pain comes and goes when it wants to and nearly sends me to my knees. I have bad acid reflux and times when i take this medicine i get real bad heart burn and i just want to throw it up. but when i start gaging the right side of my throat becomes ingulfed in pain. im trying my best to do nothing but sleep and yesterday i slept all day. today its not so good. It took me nearly 45 minutes to eat a single cheeseburger (plain) from mcdonalds. i felt so full and tired after i ate it and when i layed down… darn throat woke me up. ive been constantly clearing my throat. its always like something is back there and sinus drainage from my nose gets stuck too. snoring has become increasingly worse too. docs say all this is normal and will pass but being on day 6 i figure i would be on some road to recovery. ive been so miserable ive had tears coming to my eyes and im a man that doesnt cry from pain. in the end of all this i just hope its worth it. my tonsils had to come out because of sleep acnia and the docs also said theyre was starnge tissue growing on them. also DO NOT SMOKE! ive made the mistake of lighting up a few cigs since ive had my surgery and i can tell you it leaves more of a bad taste in your mouth than anything. ive smoked maybe one a day since then to help with the nicotine withdrawl but i tell ya… if its a time to quit smoking. its after that surgery. I just hope with everything thing i typed its normal to be going through what im going through.
Liah says:
August 5, 2010 at 4:03 am
Kara – I had that same nauseous feeling too after taking my meds. I even went to my doctor and asked her about it and she said it was a natural reaction due to a heavy dose of medicine. She said I had no choice but to finish the rest of my antibiotics and so I did, and yes I had that same nauseous feeling even when staying at home the rest of the days. I’m fully recovered now and off my meds (and finished with antibiotics) and I no longer feel nauseous. Might I suggest what I did, was to take my meds when I was about to sleep so I won’t have to experience the nausea as much.