Thursday, July 27, 2006

Adult Tonsillectomy at 37


Yesterday; July 26, 2006; I had my tonsiles taken out. I am 37 years old and have been having problems with frequent tonsilitus over the years and it was getting worse each year, so I decided to finally have them taken out. Dispite everyone's fear and discouragement I felt that the five to eight days of pain was nothing compared to the three to five days of pain over and over, six, seven, even eight times a year.

So this is my story of having my tonsiles taken out and the true accounting of what I experience.

Robert Railey

7 comments:

  1. hi i notice you have not added any more entries about your tonsillectomy. I am on day 3 and pain in thriat, tongue and ears is terrible. I hear things get worse not better. What day did you start to feel better and on what day did the scabs start to fall off?

    thanks

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  2. Thanks for the blog. I just had mine out a few weeks ago and found your info very helpful. It helped to be able to read what others went through and know that what I experienced must be normal. Thanks for the blog!

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  3. Thanks for this, I just had mine out a couple of days ago at the age of 44. It's been both better and worse than I thought it would be - pain is not as bad as I feared but the sticky mouth and swollen uvula - yuck! Thanks for documenting your experiences

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  4. OOHHH crumb cake,
    HOW did they test for this?
    I didnt know a blood test would say you have toncilitus?
    I have had antibiotics,and still cant swallow,3 weeks.I a, 47.AND my throat is allways infected,huge toncils and the ENT sevrailxs has said,you can have them out
    BUT dont have to?
    my tongue burns,and my ears hurt.and now after thhis..NO WAY JOSE"
    lindachartier@optonline.net

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  5. The last thing you said about the pain after the surgery is better than the several times a year you had tonsillitis really struck a cord with me. I'm terrified of the surgery. It'll be in a few weeks & I'm flu-like, yet again with tonsillitis. Not easy when you have two little ones at home. I'm scared for the bleeding, scared for my husband having to do everything.. etc. This blog helps. Thanks so much.
    Lisa

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  6. hi, thanks for your blog. I'm 36 yrs old Chinese from singapore and I had undergone a very similar recovery path as you.

    The good part is my swelling went down on 2nd day after surgery and I was able to sleep laying flat on the bed shortly after.

    Like you, pain escalated daily from Day 4 and continued till Day 7. The pain was totally unbearable and demoralizing.

    For everyone going through terrible pain, u might want to see your doc to review the painkillers u r taking. I was on paracetamol codeine. Basically, I have very high tolerance to paracetamol as I have been taking too much of it to cope with my migraine since puberty. So, its not effective in easing any pain at all. I suspect, it will make no difference without them for me.

    Anyway, on Day 5, my doc prescripted Cataflam and it worked very well. It reduced my pain significantly and lasts for around 5-6 hours although I was still having persistent headache. It is very important to keep pain in control. The untreated pain will make it too difficult to eat and rest properly and persistent headache will make you nausea making it impossible to consume anything. This will delay your recovery and you are depriving your body the needed nutrients and rest.

    Today, on day 8, exactly 1 week after the surgery. I'm feeling very fine. Just like a mild sore throat and discomfort from drinking. So, I think the worst is over.

    Andy.

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  7. I am 42 and on day 4. Thank for your blog. Reading about your experience and the experiences of others has helped me through these challenging days (especially at 3am when I can't sleep because I am coughing and gagging like crazy!). Although I have to say, if I had come across this before my surgery, I probably would not have gone through with it. But everyone's pain level and tolerance to pain is different. While I would describe this week as a "low-light" in my life, I would say it's pretty on par with what I expected. The thing that has surprised me the most is that from the day of the surgery and onward, you actually get WORSE each day, not better. And that is counter-intuitive. It sounds like all that takes a turn after day 6 or 7 though. A couple of things that have helped me reduce the potential for pain: 1) get a humidifier and use that puppy like there's no tomorrow (especially at night). Plug it in next to your bed and keep it on FULL blast all night. That will keep the cauterized area moist, so when you wake up in the morning you won't feel as bad. 2) warm tea (not hot tea) with a little bit of almond milk is easy to drink and soothing, I find. Know that it is not just the tonsil area that will hurt, it's also your jaw, tongue, ears! you will basically feel like you want a transplant from the neck up. Also, I have not wanted to talk much at all. I am lucky that I work from home so I can still get stuff done, but there is NO WAY in hell I would be able to go to an office and work this week. Ugh. Can't wait for this to be over.

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