I'm 36, about to have what's probably a long overdue tonsillectomy. Surgery is Wednesday morning. Doc's office indicated no follow-up appointment is necessary unless I suffer complications. Is this normal? I'm scheduled to fly cross-country 10 days after the surgery. Should throat be checked beforehand to make sure healing properly? Any guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks.

If you haven't already you should bring up the fact that you are going to be flying 10 days after surgery. My son had his tonsils out at 6 years old, he went for a follow up 2wks after surgery. According to the doctor and nurses i delt with durring my sons operation at 10 days you are at high risk for bleeding (because the scabs are starting to fall off). Just make sure you drink lots of water, you tend to get dehydrated while flying so no alcohol or caffiene, stick to water or juice(bring your own because from my experience with flying they tend to be quite stingy with the drinks). If your throat gets dry your more likely to have scabs fall off before they are ready and that would increase your chances of bleeding. Other than that i don't know what to tell you.

I'm 36, about to have what's probably a long overdue tonsillectomy. Surgery is Wednesday morning. Doc's office indicated no follow-up appointment is necessary unless I suffer complications. Is this normal? I'm scheduled to fly cross-country 10 days after the surgery. Should throat be checked beforehand to make sure healing properly? Any guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Hey Im 18 and recently had a long overdue tonsilectomy as well. However that is not normal. My ENT told me it is important to have a follow up visit within 2 weeks expecially if you are older.

Hi there. I had my tonsills taken out when I was 24. I don't want to scare you, but it was a very painful recovery process. I had to go back to my ENT doc. several times. I was laid out completely for 2 weeks, and pretty slow for a total of a month. Is your trip totally necessary? Did you tell your doctor about your trip? I know the surgery affects everyone differently, but keep in mind it is pretty hard on your body. I would try to take it easy and let yourself heal for as long as you can. The reason why I asked if your trip was necessary is because when I got mine taken out I was a flight attendant, and I wasn't cleared to go back to work for one month! Check with your Doc! Good Luck!

I had my surgery this past Friday, I am 38. The ENT wants to see me back in 2-3 weeks for follow up. He said more towards 3 weeks. I am also flying across country on the 21st. That would give me 15 days post op. I told him I was going when we scheduled the surgery. Bleeding would be the only concern. It I was away he said he couldn't help me. Well if it were in the middle of the night I would go to the ER and another doctor would cauterize it then. My ENT isn't going to get out of bed and drive over. Plus my doctor was old. As he puts it he is at the end of his career. I felt very comfortabel hearing that while they were prepping me for surgery. I told him to stop talking because I was going to have a heart attack. Everyone is different. I couldn't believe nobody from his office has called me to see how it is going. My kids orthodontist called them the next day to see how they were doing when he first started expanding their pallets.

Good Luck! You will be glad you did it. I am ok as long as I am on the meds. I take the liquid demerol every four hours and in between that I take 2 Tylenol. I feel great. The meds help you feel nothing not even hunger. Sometimes I forget to pee, because I don't feel the urge unless I get up and move around. I went back to work today (I work p/t as a bookkeeper) not strenuous work. My coworkers and boss were amazed how good I looked and talked. I got bored sitting here sleeping.

I am 49 and have tonsil stones that worry the crap out of me. However, my ENT says -its up to me about having them out. said I certainly didnt want to wait until I was 60 years old to have them out!
I do not want to think about having them out, because everybody says it's awful the older you get.... Well this tonsil stone mess is awful too...Hacking, coughing and gagging every morning trying to dislodge them...
I was curious if there are many folks my age that have have their tonsils removed??

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I had it done back in mid-February, just short of turning 37. It definitely gets tougher as you get older, but it probably reaches a threshold! So... if it really bothers you, get them yanked. But know that you'll probably need a SOLID two weeks of doing nothing and another two weeks of general malaise. The good news is-- two months later-- I feel great and don't have that constant awareness of bacteria-laden tonsils constantly on the verge of erupting into fullblown infection! Good luck with whatever you decide. It's worth it in the long-run, but it aint easy.

Hello, I am 30 yrs. old, and just had a long overdue tonsilectomy 5 days ago. My uvela is also hugh,and I still have pain when swallowing, especially in the AM, and late at night. It hurts to open my mouth at those times. I do have 3 meds to take for pain, anti-inflammatory, and anti-infection med. My question is, has anyone experienced white covered uvela, and white, where in the whole area where the tonsils were removed, I am assumming it is skin trying to heal. It feels liek cream of wheat, and feels like something is their that I can not swallow, nor expectorant from my mouth. My throat hurts more now on the right side, and is more white. Is this whiteness normal?? Has anyone tried anything else besides medicine, such as warm salt water, and aloe vera juice?? THANKS, to whomever can provide advice!

my uvula is huge also, and its white coming around from the sides/back. thats very normal in adult T & A's. also, the white is exactly what its supposed to look like. thats where the tonsils were, and thats where they burned the skin to cauterize the wound. sounds like everything is fine on your end. i'm on day 3 and my uvula is still massive. i can feel it getting slightly smaller, but still hard to swallow because of how big it is. i have a feeling, by the time the uvula is down and i feel ok, my scabs will start falling off. haha. oh well, i know it will be worth it in the end, so whatever pain i get, i'm just gonna deal with. but, i'd hafta say, from the horror stories i've heard, so far so good for me. but, i don't wanna jinx myself, so knock on wood.

The white stuff is totally normal. In fact, your ENT should've warned you (as mine did) not to look at/down your throat for at least a week! The white "scab" sloughs off gradually, and eventually you'll know you're back to normal when you see lots of red again. I'm now 5+ months post-tonsillectomy. I actually have a sore throat this week- but i think it's just regular sick/cold stuff. A year ago, this minor sore throat would have erupted into tonsillitis and made me miserable. As much a nightmare as the surgery/recovery was- I'm glad I got it done.

a tonsillectomy is not a "never have a sore throat again" cure. you can still get sore throats after the surgery. its just that you won't have tonsilitis numerous times a year. i'm fine with sore throats occasionally though. ya catch a cold, sneeze a lil, cough. no biggie. but finally, i can battle a cold out instead of having tonsils fill up my throat, and have me just wanna sit in the corner and die, lol.

hello im a new user everyone...On day 8 of my recovery i had a serious emergency..Im guessing a scab came off prematurely now and i was bleeding out of control everywhere. I stopped the bleeding almost 100% by pouring really cold ice water down my throat and tipping my head back...i continued doing this over and over till the bleeding stoped. I eventually whent into the hospital and they called the emergency ENT . When he got to the hospital he coterized the missing scab while i was awake with no pain meds...hurt a bunch but not a problem..the problem is.....now all the time scabs are coming off by themselves and i dont go to the hospital i just stay home and stop the bleeding myself...i think the scabs are coming off way too early? Any ideas on stopping this terrible bleeding?

I would call you ENT, ASAP from what i personally experienced and from what I've read about others recovery this is not a normal response. Please call you Dr.