No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

My sister is supposed to be getting her tonsils and adnoids removed soon and she is really scared...So, I'm posting on here to ask a couple of questions to anyone who has had this done as an ADULT...

-How bad was it?

-Is it true that it won't hurt for the first few days and then will get really bad for day 3,4,5?

-Has anyone gotten it done while their tonsils were still infected?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.. thanks in advance

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

My cousin got her tonsils taken out last year and to this day can not drink soda anymore. SHe had a really tough recovery and needed about 2 weeks to even talk. THen, she still didn't even feel great!

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

I got mine out as an adult.

I remember coming out of the surgery and talking - it was so weird. Then I suddenly lost my voice.

I won't lie. It hurt. God, it hurt. And the doctor insisted that I chew foods like broccoli and apples - which KILLED, but it did help in the recovery process. Days 2-5 were the worst for me.

It took me two weeks to get back to my normal self.

Tell her to drink tons of fluids and to actually take it easy. I tried to go into work about 9 days after and got sent home - I was weak from the experience and from being unable to eat a lot.

Also, just attempting to talk - pain. Not worth it. I wrote things down for at least a week.

Frozen yogurt felt absolutely heavenly, but I did force myself to eat some hard to chew foods - not a lot, but enough.

I fully recovered and it's been several years - I hope that this helps.

Speedy recovery to your sister!

Message edited 1/25/2008 7:55:15 PM.

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

I got mine out as a kid (7yrs old) but I do remember the morning of my surgery they were infected yet again and they were still removed that day despite the infection.

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

I told you already hahhahaha

it is going to be the worst experience of her lifeeeeeeee

I wasn't healed for 6 weeks
lost 17 lbs...it was terrible!

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

My SIL had it done in her 30's and she said she would rather go through chlildbirth again.

She was about 100 pounds soaking wet before hand and I think she lost 10-15 pounds afterwards. I know it took her weeks to get back to normal.

Good luck!

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

Wow, maybe I should have mine out again. 17 lbs!!!!! You poor thing!

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

I got mine out at 21 and it was interesting. The drugs they give you to go to sleep are hardcore. I started screaming after 5 minutes on the drugs and begged my dad to take me home...2 hours later I woke up and got a popsicle. I was talking for about an hour and suddenly nothing. I had to eat food through a straw for 2 weeks.

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

I got mine done at the age of 29. For me, it wasn't that bad. I stopped taking my pain meds after 1 day because they were making me feel bad. I do remember being on a soft food diet, but it's not like you don't know it beforehand.

I do remember one MAJOR thing that freaked me and DH out. They tell you that some white spots where your tonsils used to be can form. They neglect to tell you how insanely immense those spots are. When we looked in my throat it looked like my tonsils had become moldy. (Although they weren't even there.) I had large white and green balls at the back of my throat. We weren't expecting that.

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

I got mine out 7 years ago.

It was horrible. Mine was a little atypical though. After I got mine out I started bleeding PROFUSELY. The next day I had to go back to the hospital because they had 'accidentally'nicked some artery or something. They cauterized my throat. The pain was excrutiating. Pain killers didn't kill the pain - they just kind of made me not care so much that I was dying. I ate lemon ices like they were going out of style. I wasn't allowed to have anything 'red' for the first 5 days because they needed to distinguish blood from food. Not that it mattered. It was a good 2 weeks before I could tolerate more than ices and drinks anyway.

Oh - and my neck itself hurt. After the tonsil surgery I felt pain in my shoulders and neck. It got worse when I was off the pain meds and I went to my doctor who - after 2 weeks of repeat visits finally sent me for an MRI and realized I had a compressed spinal cord because the doctor dropped my neck in an awkward position during one of the surgeries.

The GOOD? I did this because my tonsils were ALWAYS swollen - even when they weren't infected. And I had strep and infected tonsils about once a month. Since the surgery I have not yet had strep throat.

Would I do it again? Not a chance in heck.

ETA: I don't think they will do it while her tonsils are enflamed. I remember we had to cancel and reschedule mine 2 times.

Message edited 1/26/2008 7:52:40 AM.

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

Thanks for all the info.. I told her I would post and see what people's opinions are and now I don't want to relay the message

About them being infected when she gets it done.. that's a big part of the problem she's having.. her general doctor and her ear nose and throat doctor are fighting and one says it's ok to do and one says no.. so she has her operation schedualed and she's still infected but they're saying they will go through with it.. because she's tested for infection for almost 3 months..

I feel really bad for her.. she's not so good with pain at all

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

I had mine out when I was 30. I was not the normal situation...yes they were infected when they came out (or full of pus, sorry TMI). However, amazingly enough my dr. didn't have to put in a single stitch. I had to take it easy for 3 weeks, there is a risk of hemorrhaging afterwards. The first week I was only permitted to eat soft foods and no dairy (creates too much phlegm). I wound up getting thrush, which IMO was worse than the pain of the surgery (one bite of baby food burned my mouth for 20 minutes). After that cleared up, it wasn't so bad. I will say that I have a fairly high tolerance to pain and tend to bounce back quickly.

Good luck with your sister.

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

I had mine done at 17 and tried to eat chocolate ice cream. I almost choked because it coated my throat and I couldn't swallow. I guess I felt better than I actually was. I didn't feel better until 3-4 weeks after.

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

I had them out at 17. The kid next to me in the RR was yelling for his nintendo..I was miserable. Waking up from surgerya dn anesthesia is always hard...

It was pretty rough...I ate italian ices. Ice Cream is actually really bad because it produces phlegm. Stay away from dairy!

I had to take cool showers for 2 weeks. I was in pain and on pain meds for about 2 weeks...by the month mark I was functioning normally.

I had one major setback which was that the first real food I ate was christmas eve fish leftover which gave me food poisoning..so I was puking 2 days after the surgery.

A lot of people told me it's like the worst sore throat you've had in your life and that's what it's like, it really does hurt, but after that's it's over, no more years of misery. BEST thing I ever did. I'm not going lie and say it's a cakewalk, but it wasn't that bad for me.

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

Out at 19. I was getting tonsillitis and strep almost constantly and it was a challenge to wait for a clear period.

I was infection free when they came out. interestingly enough, my tonsils had a virus in them that could have put me into cardiac arrest. Glad I got them out.

I was out of work for 4 days and back to regular everything in 9 days. I lived on Tylenol with Codeine for 4 days and I think that's why I'm allergic to codeine now. I'm also allergic to Penicillin because I was on it for years. I Couldn't eat anything for a few days but eventually I did and lost about 5-7 pounds during the whole thing.

I rarely get colds now. that is sweet!

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

I had mine taking out when I was 20. Eating jello was like eating pins. The pain was bad. I heard now they tell you to eat harder things. (mine was done 17 years ago) I couldn't imagine it. I do remember that I had to learn how to drink again. Because my tonsils & adnoids were always in the way. The first time I drank it went right up my nose! (The things you remember) I remember after a week the pain was much less & by 2 weeks it was like it never happened. It was the best thing I have ever done! I was sick alot growing up because of them.

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

my friend just had hers out a little over 2 weeks ago- shes 29. shes had a REALLY rough time with it. shes just now ( over 2 weeks later) able to sit up for a decent amount of time and feel smoewhat like herself again.
she ended up in the hospital last weekend because of dehydration because she wasn't really able to eat or drink anything substantial.
but, shes doing better now.. shes out of work for another couple weeks i think.
she had chronic bronchitis and tonisilitis and all kinds of stuff, and the doctor told her that this will REALLY make a difference in how sick she was getting all the time... i'm glad to see some girls on here said the same thing.
good luck to your sister!

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

I had mine out at 24. It was rough. I was out of work for a week, and it hurt to swallow anything - and liquids were the hardest for some reason. Ice cream is out, it's too thick and too cold. Any extremes in temperature were hard. I took Tylenol 3 for the first 4 days or so and followed it with Jello, which was the easiest thing to get down, and I eventually graduated to macaroni & cheese. BUT I went from strep and /or tonsillitis 4-5 times a year to never having any throat issues again. It was worth it.

Re: No Tonsil Hockey for her.. (Tonsilectomy Ques)

i had mine out 3years ago and after the surgery i couldnt talk, also my tongue hurt the most because the hold our tongue down. The first 2 days it hurt i had to take vicodin for the pain then after that it was just like a dull pain not bad at all. i had surgery on tuesday and i was back to work on thursday night. Just a hint freeze gatorade to the point where it doesnt freeze and sip on that and it makes you feel great and the pain goes away, Also i lost 9pds from the surgery and not eatting well. GL to her and she will do fine