Well, in the 5-6 days that have passed I've learned a few things.

#1. Chicken broth makes you burp. Burping = bad!
#2. Do not accidently inhale your water. This creates much painfulness.
#3. Hiccups are definitely not any good either.

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So, I guess this is day 6. Surgery was on the 1st in the early AM. Today's the 6th, so, day 6?

The first few days were awful, I can't say anything else about them. The only things I could do were try to force water, have tylenol, and switch between putting warm heat over my ears and cool things over my neck. Day 2 found me rushing back to the hospital, but not for me. But I was useless, so the family sent me home. LOL My family member is ok, btw.

Day 5, Sunday, was actually the first day I took the care to get dressed and leave the house to go visiting. Yes, pain was still there. Got an iced coffee confection while I was out for numbing purposes and kept my water with me. But it was good to get out.

Today, day 6. All of a sudden out of nowhere, I don't hurt as much as I have for most of the day. There's a good bit of pain to swallow still, but nowhere near as bad as it's been. I ate about a cup of mac & cheese and I nibbled a kosher dill spear.

I've lost about 8-10 pounds at this juncture. And I've made a list of all the foods I want to eat when I can get back to a normal diet.

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I know the worst has yet to come. Can see a couplee of "holes" in the white scabs back there. So, better eat a bit more mac n' cheese while I still can.

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I've been lucky in not having any bleeding, hopefully will continue to be so.

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Will check in again, and to anyone who is also going through this right now, hang in there!

Why no pain meds?

Tylenol is safe and would have given significant relief.

Lozonges with benzocain would also rovide temporary releif of pain.

Sounds like you may be an early descabber. My son was and by day 10 he was off and running. I think that you are doing great given your allergies and inability to have pain medication. Glad to here that you and your family is doing well. The descabbing process lasts between 48-72 hours. So start your count down and keep checking on your throat. Watch out for the bleeding. If it happens you will taste it. Keep some chopped ice handy.

Sincerely,
MG

MG,

Don't know yet about being an early descabber... but. The little tiny pinhole pink spots that I can see are on only one side. The other doesn't seem to be doing anything yet. I also had my uvula clipped because it had grown it's own uvula. (tumor of some variety the ENT said). The scab on it hasn't done anything yet either.

My pain came back with a vengence tonight.. which I suppose is why I'm still up at this hour. But I am going to try tylenol (1st time I've taken it in 24 hours!) and bed.

I need to try to up my water intake too. While I'm being conscious of constantly sipping, gauging by these water bottles, I'm only drinking MAYBE 50oz of water... really doing my best.. need to be more conscious of it.

Hi,

Glad to hear things are going well for you! I admire anyone who can get through this with no more than Tylenol. I had Percocet and on day 5 I was in so much pain the doctor was considering putting me back in the hospital for dehydration and a Demerol drip. (And I am not a big wimp generally - I gave birth without any pain meds, not even a Tylenol.) But for me day 4 or 5 was the worst (worse even than descabbing), so if you have made it through that you may be on the upswing. (Well, the worst pain-wise. The worst, period, was the bleeding on Day 10, but that's a whole different story). Anyway, today is 2 weeks 1 day and yesterday was the firsst virtually pain-free day (without any meds at all) that I have had. So there IS a light at the end of the tunnel. Good luck and I hope your recovry continues to go well!

Jillolina