anyone had "ok" tonsillectomy experiences? please share!

[tonsilfamily]

I think I fared pretty well, too. No complications.
But, I won't lie, it was very very painful. Took me a good three weeks before I felt back to normal.
But, I am 37, and I do think it's worse for every few years you get older.

[andvari]

good luck RW3! i hope it went good and you're not keeling over

proverbs, i didn't know about this until i went into the ER for a wicked string of migraines that lasted a good week or more. i'm prone to migraines since i was 7 up to 12 weekly.. i have never found a smidge of relief from T3's.. even during both of my surgeries i've had before. long story short, she told me 50% of people (don't know if it's of the whole population, or just of those who've used it.. meh?) are immune to the effects of codeine. it makes sense as i've taken 8 in one day and did not feel the slightest bit drowsy or cured of my killer migraine. i didn't take them all at once either lol..

i did read that thread as well proverbs, i found it incredibly useful and i will make a copy of it to keep for when my surgery comes up.

i'm not overly worried about post-op bleeding considering i can't even donate half a pint of blood without it clotting up. i have incredibly tiny veins.. so i think that may work to my advantage? plus im trying to be entirely drug free until the surgery so nothing complicates it and thins my blood out or does anything else i wouldn't be aware of although i had to take some muscle relaxers last night. don't think that's a big deal.

with ear pain.. is it the same feeling you get when you dive real deep under water? or when you're going up in a plane? i don't know if that makes sense to ask but i have a huge problem with those kinds of ear pains. i sometimes get them from driving over a hill or something.. and it kills. that's the only thing i'm worried about really.. i have a tendency to get really sensitive ears that way. i don't know if that's the same thing.. i think that's got to do with air pressure but i'm not really sure.

thanks all

[shay01]

Hi Proverbs3130,
I'm surprised you Dr gave you pills. Ask your Dr for Roxicet, it is a liquid so its easier to swallow. It worked great for me and I'm 15 days post-op. I went throught 2 bottles. If he doesn't prescribed that, be careful with the pills. I'm not sure of your age, but it helped alot to make sure you drink plenty of water.
Good luck with your recovery
Shay

Oops read in another forum that you were taking liquid instead of pills. My bad

[gergurk]

Well I'm onto my 9th Post-Op day and I think I can say that things are looking up for me. I saw my ENT yesterday for a follow-up and he said my recovery process has been very unusual - originally I thought I was having a worse time of it than most, but now I'm not so sure. Here's how it's gone so far:

My first 2 days were spent in hospital (1-2 days in hospital post-op is normal in Australia which seems a little different to other countries) and the pain was considerable but I managed to drink a stack of water during these days and eat small bits of sandwiches which is what was on offer in hospital.

My first night at home was awful. I started to bleed in the middle of the night and panic set in. However, it wasn't a lot of blood...it was more the thought of what "might" happen that got me panicing! It was controlled within 10 minutes and then I spent the rest of the night too scared to go to sleep and in immense pain!

Days 3-7 brought with them a sort of pain I've never experienced before. It was more the CONSTANT ear pain that got me rather than the throat pain - the throat only was a real issue when I swallowed. The pain killers I had (codiene-based tablets) gave me about 5 minutes of slight relief out of every 4 hours. Looking back, I think the trauma of having to swallow the tablets was not worth the tiny bit of relief it produced. The scariest part of this pain was it came on so early, so I was expecting it to get even worse once day 6-7 came along...I wasn't sure how it physically could be more painful but I was assuming it would and was petrified of the fact!

I think it was the morning of day 6 that I started bleeding again - when my partner looked at my throat and found a bit blood clot covering my right tonsil bed, however the active bleeding was very small so I didn't need to back to hospital thank goodness! This day was painfully long as I was waiting for the clot to break off and start bleeding again with every swallow.

I found it impossible to keep my fluids up during this time...I'd have small sips now and again, but nowhere near what I thought I needed.

During day 7, things seemed to improve slightly - I noticed I wasn't begging for painkillers and I was actually making it past the 4 hour mark without dying for more.

Day 8 (yesterday) was definitely my "miracle" day. Whilst my throat was still sore - it was no more so than a moderate case of tonsilitis. I only took 1 pain killer last night to sleep, but was without them for the entire day. When I saw my ENT yesterday, he was amazed that I was feeling an improvement in pain given all the calls he'd received from my boyfriend in the days earlier complaining of the pain/bleeding etc. He said usually the recovery is a pretty accurate timeline that is the same for all adult patients and that he'd never seen a recovery like mine. At this point, we're assuming that everything just happened a bit quicker than it should've...so instead of having a decline in days 6 - 8, i had mine in days 3 - 6 (which meant I never really felt an improvement before feeling crappy!).

So yeah, today is day 9 and the pain is more than tolerable so far. The worst bit now is getting food stuck in the tonsil beds!! I hope that doesn't keep happening as that's half the reason I got my tonsils out (tonsil stones from caught food).

So all in all, whilst I wouldn't wish the pain of a tonsillectomy on ANYONE, I would say my recovery has been pretty OK in hindsight. At the time I wouldn't have said that though!!

Good luck with your recovery!

Sarah.

[MommaBee]

I was six years old. Had lots of popcicles and cold drinks. Wore a ice pack thing around my throat for about 4 days. That is all I remember. Must not have been really bad, though I do remember it.