Well, yesterday or the day before when I last posted, things seemed to be going really well. Pain was lessening, scabs thinning, and I felt overall much better.
Then ... this morning at about 6, while up with my daughter, I suddenly tasted blood in my mouth. The bleeding was from the right side, where about half the scab had peeled away, and quite heavy. I drank/rinsed with ice water and eventually it seemed to stop - only to then start up again. And so on, for about 2 hours. Bleed heavily, slow down, stop, repeat. At 8 AM I called my ENT's office, and they said to come right in. At that point the bleeding was verymild, but I had my husband drive me in anyway. Once there, the doctor looked in my throat and said he did see a couple of clots that he would suction off, and then, if there was bleeding, he would apply first a cotton ball with a vasoconstrictor and then something mercury (?) to cauterize if necessary.
Well, he started with the suctuining and cotton ball, and the bleeding continued so heavily that I gagged and vomited up a huge amount of blood and clots. I guess I swallowed more while at home than I had realized. It was one of the most disgusting experiences of my life. Once I had managed to get myself under control, he proceeded to the chemical cauterization, which did not manage to stop the bleeding. So out came the electrical cauterizer. I got an injection in my throat and then he went to work. In between the burning and smoking of the machine, I kept gagging up blood clots (the bleeding was continuing) and semi-vomiting. In all of the rushing around, I was burned by the cauterizer on the tongue, lips, and (I think) gums. It turned out I had 2 or 3 separate spots that were bleeding, and they were hard to close.
Finally it was done, and now I am home with a new prescription for Percocet, a killer pain in my right throat and ear, a terrible taste of blood and electrical discharge in my mouth, and overall a very low state of mind.
Does anyone know how likely it is that the recauterized spots will reopen? How about the likelihood that the left side will also become a bleeder? I just don't know how I could stand going through this again...
Once you have been recaurterized the likely hood of it reopenning is minute. You should be good. And once you have one case of bleeding the chances of bleeding again reduce dramatically. I had a similar situation, but I ended up with three instances of bleeding; all were slowed down or almost stopped by ice/ice water and mild chemical caurterization (Barium Sulfate powder packing after a mild peroxide rinse).
I made it through it you will too. I am sorry that you had the bleeding issues that you did. Best of luck on the rest of your recovery.
Barium Sulfate an ionic compound made of a Barium cation and Sulfate anion complex, it is a yellow powder that my ENT uses as a sulfate disinfecting and dry/packing salt for the surgical wound site. He buys the surgical, human oral grade, USDA approved chemical. It is not a dangerous compound, but it is not something the average person can buy and use. You have to have a license for the purchasing of any non-standard chemical. I wish you could have bought it and had it on hand. It worked really well for both me and my son, it also did require a special tool that dispensed and packed the paste into the area. I wish I could have told you differently.
I'm 29 and it is now Day 13 since my tonsillectomy (June 1st), using the Coblation method, it's been a living hell. I wish I could be one of the small % of posters saying that they were fully recovered by Day 10 and able to eat anything they wanted to. Unfortunately, that's not my case. I'm a redhead and I guess I'm supposed to bleed easily (according to my ENT) because on the dreadful Day 9, Saturday evening, I was rushed to ER to stop a broken blood vessel that was found on the left side of the cut site to get it recauterized and I had to stay overnight since the surgery was done around midnight, so it was late to go home. I left the hospital at 8:30am on Sunday. I was actually bleeding on Day 6, but stopped after 3 hours and made an appointment with my ENT and he said nothing to worry about and cauterization wasn't necessary. How wrong he was! His partner (the other dr in the office) was the one who did the emergency recauterization. I was really bummed about this whole ordeal especially the notion that I am in the 3%-6% pool of patients who had to go in to get recauterization.
I recall that Days 3 through 6 were the toughest, pain was insane through the 8th I think with the ears hurting and all that which is normal. I was taking tylenol and liquid codeine plus antibiotics (amoxicillan), but right now I'm taking tablets (Percocet) and a stronger antibiotic running for a week-- meaning I should be done and done by Day 18! And what's more is that I have a week-long family vacation in California on that day... So I'm really hoping (praying/thinking positive) that I'll be back on my feet by then and no further complications arise. There is some soreness from the cauterization sites and bouts of paranoia of bleeding (who could blame me?). I been sleeping upright most nights, taking less painkillers so it seems, most of scab has been gone from right side of my throat except the left side where cauterization took place, eating crummy jello, popsicles, pudding, campbell chicken noodle soup, ramen -- chicken flavor, scrambled eggs, soft bread (w/o crust), Boost energy drink, tons of cold bottled regular water, apple juice, Propel (vitamin water), and every once in a while Mac n Cheese. I guess I better continue using cold/ice packs around the neck too.
There, I've shared my experience and am looking for additional feedback/comments from those who have experienced recauterization-- like how much longer did it take for you to heal after the procedure? Any further bleeding? I hear that there may be minimal bleeding discharge from scabs falling of but nothing more serious. The dr who performed the cauterization said there's a 99% chance I'll be fine! Let's hope that rings true!
Bleeding after tonsillectomy - Day 10 
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