Hey there.
It’s a little after midnight and I’m officially on Day 10 of my tonsillectomy recovery. This week has been a roller coaster. I started out feeling better on Monday. Then that night, things just went downhill.
I am taking pain medicine every 2 hours, and really after about 1.5hrs I’m in pain and counting down those last 30 minutes. Well, this means in the middle of the night I have to wake myself up every 2 hours. For 3 nights in a row beginning Monday night, I turned my alarm off and went back to sleep when I was supposed to take my meds, resulting in me waking up later in excruciating pain. Like, I really cannot describe this pain to you. It was awful.
This started a bad cycle because instead of staying on top of the pain, I then had to “catch up” to the pain… Which sometimes took until lunch time.
Anyway, the pain has been awful, I have been getting no sleep, and I haven’t been able to eat. This is pretty much the recipe for misery and I called my doctor crying yesterday. He assured me everything sounded normal, he wasn’t concerned about me eating as long as I was staying hydrated and that I would definitely be feeling better by the 2 week mark.
Yesterday and today were the first “good” days I have had since my surgery. I use the term “good” pretty loosely because I still had moments of pretty bad pain and still generally felt uncomfortable the whole day. I was able to eat more and had macaroni and cheese and broccoli soup. Even then, I had maybe 1/2 c of each of them before it was too painful :( I know I should be happy that I have progressed to this point but damn, enough is enough!
I’m cautiously optimistic about the next few days. I do feel better but have talked to people who thought they were better and all of the sudden were in pain again (because their scabs were coming off). So that makes me scared since this has already sucked so much.
The most annoying thing about this entire experience is that people do not really understand that adults do not recover the same as kids with tonsillectomies. I mean, I didn’t either until I had the procedure myself but you really shouldn’t weigh in on people’s medical situations if you don’t know what you’re talking about. I want to drop kick every person who keeps telling me to eat ice cream…. I’m not even supposed to eat ice cream yet.
Sorry, just had to vent!
So that’s where I’m at. I do feel like I’m on the down hill so that’s good. I also think if I can start decreasing my pain meds then I can get more sleep… So I want to try to do that when I’m able to tolerate it.
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I’m searching for information and came across your post. What a relief to understand that someone else has felt what I have been feeling. I am 4 hours before midnight and begin day 10. I was definitely told about the pain, but oh my!!!…anyway, thanks.
I hope you feel better soon!
Same exact thing! I came across this wondering why I can’t eat any of the soft foods they say I can. Applesauce burns my throat, any berries are a no go and oatmeal…nope! I have be eating outshine popsicles now only the watermelon because it doesn’t burn, a cup of broth here and there sometimes not at all and water. That is it. My ears are killing me! I just thought on day 10 I should be doing better. But I am so thankful to read others are experiencing the same thing. I too still have to take pain meds every 3-4 hours. Thank you for posting
Omg its 3 something in the morning and I’m at day 10 and I feel like crap…..o thought it would be better…water even hurts
Day 10 for me here (29yo M), one side hurts so much more than the other, I can drink room temp drinks and soup but only small amounts at a time, my ears are ringing and I am craving some solid foods so bad! I can’t wait for this to be over. Thanks for this post, it made me feel like I’m ‘normal’.
I hope you feel better soon! hopefully you’ll be on the upswing soon!
I am technically on my 2nd day 10. On day 16 of recovery, I had a bad bleed on one side and had to go back into surgery and get re-cauterized. Between the throat and ear pain, along with the ringing, I am absolutely miserable. I’m also horribly torn between my love of and fear of food right now. I really want something besides thin cream of wheat, pureed soups, and protein drinks. While at the same time scared to death of causing another bleed. I had my uvula removed 20+ years ago, so I thought I was prepared for this. Was I ever wrong. Hoping that this only lasts for a little longer. Will be starting radiation and chemo for throat cancer soon, and would really love to eat some favorite foods before the pain of radiation sets in. Thanks for posting. It helps just knowing that I’m not alone.
Wow—so god I stumbled across this post! It helps to know that on my day 10 of recovery it’s not always going to feel better. I’ve been comparing my recovery to others’ I have found online and that he made me more anxious about my own recovery, so not helpful at all. Thanks again for this post—Fingers crossed I’ll be feeling normal and healthy again soon!
Wow—so glad I stumbled across this post! It helps to know that on my day 10 of recovery it’s not always going to feel better. I’ve been comparing my recovery to others’ I have found online and that he made me more anxious about my own recovery, so not helpful at all. Thanks again for this post—Fingers crossed I’ll be feeling normal and healthy again soon!
Glad to find this post as I’m suffering so much pain on day 10, I was prescribed codeine and when the medicine effect starts to stop the pain i just can’t handle it :(. I can’t wait for this to heal.
The only think I can drink that doesn’t hurt is banana milkshake. Everything else burns.