How to Survive an Adult Tonsillectomy

Before I had my tonsillectomy, I scoured the internet for everything I could find on what the heck I was getting myself into. I read over and over again about how getting your tonsils removed as an adult is brutal, and the recovery is horrifically painful and long. I braced myself for the horrors that awaited me, while still smugly and secretly hoping that everyone on the internet was a big whiny baby and it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

I was both right and wrong. It wasn’t as terrible as many of the horror stories I’d read, but it was certainly much worse than I thought it would be.

After 8 years of recurrent strep throat, I thought I knew what a sore throat was. Those sore throats feel like a joke compared to what I just endured. I truly did not know my throat could even experience so much pain.

But, I’m 2 weeks post-op, back to regular life, and feeling mostly like a functioning human, so I thought I should add my own story. Should any other neurotic weirdos be scouring the internet for advice and first hand experiences.

So, the main takeaway from this experience is this:

1. It’s gonna hurt like hell.
2. You’re going to survive.

MY TONSILLECTOMY TIMELINE

Day 1: Tonsils come out. Surgery day was a breeze! Thanks for the good stuff and the anesthesia, I slept most of the day, ate popsicles, and felt smug about my pain tolerance.

Day 2: The night was rough. I was very swollen and uncomfortable. I took my pain medication around the clock, and didn’t feel too terrible. Of course my throat hurt, but I was still feeling good and smug.

Day 3: Oh no. Pain is coming. I am feeling worse and not better which everyone told me and which I refused to believe. This is my routine, 24/7. Take pain medication. Eat a popsicle and sit with an ice pack and try not to cry. Feel less horrific for 1 hour and use this time to choke down some food and drink a crap ton of water. Perhaps sleep. Feel the pain set back in and return to popsicles and ice packs and praying for death. Take pain meds. Repeat cycle forever.

Day 4: Death come swiftly.

Day 5: I am setting my affairs in order and waiting for death.

Day 6: Just let me die. This is also the day that I started to have some bleeding and I FREAKED OUT, man. I gargled ice water constantly to stop the bleeding. Swallowing blood made me nauseous, and I was absolutely petrified of hemorrhaging and having to go back to the OR.

Day 7: Just let me die, ft. my kids, with whom I am reunited and happy to see but please don’t make me talk.

Day 8: Save me from this wretched world.

Day 9: Throats are stupid, tonsils are stupid, popsicles are stupid, everyone is stupid.

Day 10: Could it be? Could I perhaps be improving? Can I swallow without taking a moment to gather my courage and say a prayer for strength?

Day 11: I am eating real food. I am skipping doses of narcotics. I am crying tears of joy, it tastes so good.

Day 12: I still can’t sleep through the night, but days are at least no longer a living nightmare. I’m only taking ibuprofen during the day, but I still need the strong stuff at night.

Day 13: This feels like a regular case of strep throat, and I’m so relieved. I’m going to live.

TOP 10 TONSILLECTOMY TIPS

1. Never stop drinking water. Even when it hurts like crazy, never stop! Staying hydrated and keeping your throat moist is THE most important thing about healing. A dry throat is your enemy, and you will feel 300% worse if you get dehydrated.
2. Get a humidifier. Aim it at your face while you’re sleeping.
3. Stay on top of your pain medication. Don’t wait until you’re in horrific pain to take it! Put a sticky note on your medication bottle where you write down the time you take it because your drug addled brain will never remember. My surgeon told me it was fine to take ibuprofen, so I staggered my ibuprofen and my narcotic so I had some form of pain relief every 2 hours.
4. Set an alarm to wake up overnight to drink water and take medicine. The nights were THE worst part for me. I woke up on my own every 2 hours or so, in horrendous pain. I would get up, have a couple gulps of applesauce so I could take pain meds, take my pain meds, drink water, and sit with an ice pack on my throat while I prayed for death/tried to fall asleep.
5. Buy plenty of Cepacol Sore Throat drops. These are great for making sure you keep swallowing and numbing it while you swallow.
6. Popsicles, popsicles, and more popsicles. The slow melting cold from the popsicle is life.
7. As much as it pains me to say this, avoid dairy for the first week or so, when things are really swollen and raw. Ice cream made my throat so thick with mucous (sorry, ew) and made swallowing so difficult. After things had calmed down, I was able to enjoy my favorite frozen dairy confections.
8. Sleep elevated.
9. Get thee an ice pack. The hospital gave me one of those refillable ice packs and I had that thing on my throat constantly for the first week. It helps so much with the swelling and tightness.
10. Chew gum. This helps your jaw not get so stiff and makes you swallow more.

TOP 10 THINGS I ATE AND DRANK

1. Pebbled ice. I drank ice cold water or chewed pebbled ice all day, every day.
2. Applesauce. It was the easiest thing to choke down when I needed food in my stomach to tolerate my pain medication.
3. Scrambled eggs. They have never tasted so good before.
4. Popsicles. And a lot of them.
5. Gum. Encourages swallowing and helps loosen up stiff muscles.
6. Instant mashed potatoes. Gross at all other times; heaven when you’re living on popsicles and applesauce.
7. Chick-Fil-A Iced Dream. Nothing in the world has ever tasted better to me once I could handle dairy.
8. Slushies. I couldn’t drink thick things through a straw, so I ate it with a spoon.
9. Bread. Bread was the first thing I could handle that wasn’t mush.
10. Crackers that dissolve, like Ritz crackers or Club crackers. I was so happy to CHEW something, and these would get completely dissolved while I chewed, to make sure I wouldn’t scratch my throat when I swallowed.

THINGS THAT SURPRISED ME

Sleep is not your friend.

Night time was my enemy. I woke up from naps in agony. Any significant time without swallowing and drinking water left me waking up to a nightmare. So go to bed prepared. Bring applesauce pouches, water, your medication, throat drops, and an ice pack, and get it all set up so when you wake up in horror, you can quickly get some relief. Let your caretaker know to wake you up if you’re asleep when it’s time to take your next medication. Trust me, it is NOT worth sleeping through it.

Dairy is not your friend

Dairy made my throat full of thick mucous and made my saliva so thick and impossible to swallow. Sorry for that very gross sentence. I was very devastated by this, but ended up ditching the dairy for popsicles and sherbet.

Talking is terrible

I don’t know why this surprised me, but I was very surprised how painful it was to talk. I was extremely lucky to spend the first week recovering at my parent’s house, away from my 5 year old who, if he is breathing, he is also asking me questions. I didn’t talk much at all for the first week, because it made my throat so sore.

Your mouth will taste like death

Holy smokes, my mouth tasted so bad. I brushed my teeth like 6 times a day.

Your tongue and uvula might get enormous

My tongue got so swollen and sore! I woke up in the mornings with indentations on my tongue from being pressed against my teeth. My uvula felt like an enormous and painful disco ball back there.

There ya have it, folks. It sucked a big one. But I lived. I’ll report back in a few months if it feels like it was worth it. The idea of never getting another tonsil stone and getting a cold without the ensuing tonsilitis makes me very happy. And if I ever get strep throat again, I want my money back. And 2 weeks of my life.