Tonsillectomy Recovery
Days 1-3
Day 1: The surgery
On this day, the pain is bad but take the pain killers on time, sleep, eat plain ice cream and popsicles and just remember the surgery is done. One thing that helped a lot for me was sherbet ice cream ginger ale floats, my husband would make them. Stay away from dairy for at least 24 hours. As stated before, get help for the first week.
Day 2:
The pain on this day was no worse than some of my strep throats, so 1 pain killer seemed to do the trick every four hours. The pain was manageable, but as far as eating goes, rough. Tried eating some yogurt, no go. Drinking water like crazy, and once again popsicles and ice cream are the only items I can stomach. Ice pack on neck pretty much all day. Hard time sleeping at night.
Day 3:
And the pain spiked! Holy cow, forgot to set an alarm, when I fell asleep I slept 5 1/2 hours and woke up barely able to drink water. I have to break the pain pills into fourths or less to swallow them and now taking the max dose of 2 every four hours. I know they are helping but the pain is still pretty bad. Once again, yogurt not going down and even though I drink two cups of water and eat something with the prednisone, it still makes me really dizzy and nauseated. Thankfully, within an hour of taking it, I am usually asleep and sleep it off, but it does seem to help with the swelling.
My husband and kids looked at my throat for the first time today, first time I could open my mouth enough for them to get a glimpse. Needless to say, the kids never want to have a tonsillectomy or even get strep again and my husband said that is the kind of stuff that can give someone nightmares. Not a pretty sight.
The third night, rough. Sleep is screwed up. Cannot lay down on the stack of pillows, have to be reclined.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Tonsillectomy Surgery
Tonsillectomy Surgery
Do not eat or drink anything 24 hours before surgery. Get to the surgery location early to do paper work and get prepared for surgery. Have someone to drive you home and pick up your prescriptions (if possible, have the dr. Give the prescriptions before the surgery and pick them up).
The nurses will give the person a bag for their clothes, including bras for the ladies, and a hospital wrap and packaged socks. Once dressed and laying down on the surgery bed, they will cover the patient with blankets, put in the IV, and for this patient they placed circulation cuffs on the calves. The doctor will come in, ask for any last questions, then the anesthesiologist will come in, talk, go out, come back with other nurses, place the sleep medicine into the IV and cart the patient of to the surgery room, but the patient will not know because they fall asleep within a minute of rolling out of the room.
Whoever is waiting for the patient will also meet the doctor, if the person has a cell phone, the nurses will get the number just in case they need to call it, and, in this patient's case, after 25 minutes, the doctor will come out and talk to the person waiting, let them know how the procedure went and that the patient is resting (the surgery could take 30 minutes to an hour).
Once the patient wakes up from surgery, the nurses ask about the pain level, be honest. They will give some more pain medicine if needed. The patient may feel nauseated due to the pain medicine, but the staff will offer mashed up popsicles in ginger ale, they will also make one to take home. The patient will change into their original clothes before leaving, with help, and be carted out by wheel chair.
Tips on medications for adults:
I was given four medications: Keflex, Fluconazole, Prednisone, and a huge thing of Percocet.
All doctors are different, these are the medicines I was prescribed. The Fluconazole is for yeast infections and to prevent any of that in the mouth, the Keflex is to fight bacteria and sickness that may want to set in, the Prednisone is for swelling and pain and needs to be taken with food-before taking it, to lessen the sick feeling it has on a person-drink 1 to 2 glasses of water, and the Percocet is for pain, take as directed on the dot for the first 5-7 days, after that if one wants to stop and switch to extra strength Tylenol (so they can drive if feeling up to it), talk to the doctor, but do not take the pain killers with any other over the counter meds. Once one stops the pain medicine, plan on not taking it again, but the patient needs to talk to the doctor if he feels he needs to go back to the pain medicines, because mixing the pain meds and over the counter drugs can cause serious liver damage and could have horrible effects on the body.
If in doubt about anything, call the doctor.
When getting home, sit down and go to sleep, take advantage of the sleep, it will help you heal. For parents, if able, have the kids stay with a relative over night for the first night at least.
Do not eat or drink anything 24 hours before surgery. Get to the surgery location early to do paper work and get prepared for surgery. Have someone to drive you home and pick up your prescriptions (if possible, have the dr. Give the prescriptions before the surgery and pick them up).
The nurses will give the person a bag for their clothes, including bras for the ladies, and a hospital wrap and packaged socks. Once dressed and laying down on the surgery bed, they will cover the patient with blankets, put in the IV, and for this patient they placed circulation cuffs on the calves. The doctor will come in, ask for any last questions, then the anesthesiologist will come in, talk, go out, come back with other nurses, place the sleep medicine into the IV and cart the patient of to the surgery room, but the patient will not know because they fall asleep within a minute of rolling out of the room.
Whoever is waiting for the patient will also meet the doctor, if the person has a cell phone, the nurses will get the number just in case they need to call it, and, in this patient's case, after 25 minutes, the doctor will come out and talk to the person waiting, let them know how the procedure went and that the patient is resting (the surgery could take 30 minutes to an hour).
Once the patient wakes up from surgery, the nurses ask about the pain level, be honest. They will give some more pain medicine if needed. The patient may feel nauseated due to the pain medicine, but the staff will offer mashed up popsicles in ginger ale, they will also make one to take home. The patient will change into their original clothes before leaving, with help, and be carted out by wheel chair.
Tips on medications for adults:
I was given four medications: Keflex, Fluconazole, Prednisone, and a huge thing of Percocet.
All doctors are different, these are the medicines I was prescribed. The Fluconazole is for yeast infections and to prevent any of that in the mouth, the Keflex is to fight bacteria and sickness that may want to set in, the Prednisone is for swelling and pain and needs to be taken with food-before taking it, to lessen the sick feeling it has on a person-drink 1 to 2 glasses of water, and the Percocet is for pain, take as directed on the dot for the first 5-7 days, after that if one wants to stop and switch to extra strength Tylenol (so they can drive if feeling up to it), talk to the doctor, but do not take the pain killers with any other over the counter meds. Once one stops the pain medicine, plan on not taking it again, but the patient needs to talk to the doctor if he feels he needs to go back to the pain medicines, because mixing the pain meds and over the counter drugs can cause serious liver damage and could have horrible effects on the body.
If in doubt about anything, call the doctor.
When getting home, sit down and go to sleep, take advantage of the sleep, it will help you heal. For parents, if able, have the kids stay with a relative over night for the first night at least.
Tonsillectomy Surgery Preparation
Preparing for Tonsillectomy
A tonsillectomy is no picnic in the park for anyone. For the last 4 years, I have had strep throat consistently, and last year had it every two months for the first 6 months of the year and then strep and ear infection from June to mid-September, at which point the doctor finally sent me to a specialist to get rid of the pesky tonsils. My first strep in Feb. 2011 was so severe, I could not drink water, barely walk, and developed guttate psoriasis. After that, they did not get much better. 2014, New Year's Day, strep throat that lasted 3 weeks! Then, beginning of March and so on. So, I decided to schedule my tonsillectomy for Jan. 2, 2015 (so I could enjoy the holidays and eat!). As a mom of 3 young boys who leads a very active lifestyle, I knew this was going to be rough, here is my story as I go through the recovery.
Day Before Tonsillectomy
Since eating good food, aside from ice cream, was going to be out of the question, my husband bought me a medium pizza from a favorite restaurant and I ate the entire pizza. Yes, I was really full, but it was worth it because 9 days after the surgery I was down 10 pounds anyways. The day before the surgery was nerve racking for me. All I could think about was not being able to workout and go on the long runs or do weighted exercises for at least 3 weeks, not being able to drive while on pain killers, how bad the pain was going to be, not being able to have a few beers on the weekend for a while, and thinking about how stressful it was going to be for my husband to work, get the kids everywhere they have to go, and taking care of everything.
Lets go back a while, when the surgery was scheduled, a pamphlet was handed to me and my follow-up appointment was scheduled as well. The doctor told informed me of the pain and the difficulty many adults have during recovery and the importance of having help with the children along with not doing anything to cause bleeding. Overall, he stressed taking the medications and resting, and boy has he been right. Being who I am, not many questions were asked, just reading of information and internet research, but for anyone who has questions-no matter how odd they may seem-ask the doctor, even if it is in the waiting room before the surgery.
Tips on pre-surgery preparation:
A tonsillectomy is no picnic in the park for anyone. For the last 4 years, I have had strep throat consistently, and last year had it every two months for the first 6 months of the year and then strep and ear infection from June to mid-September, at which point the doctor finally sent me to a specialist to get rid of the pesky tonsils. My first strep in Feb. 2011 was so severe, I could not drink water, barely walk, and developed guttate psoriasis. After that, they did not get much better. 2014, New Year's Day, strep throat that lasted 3 weeks! Then, beginning of March and so on. So, I decided to schedule my tonsillectomy for Jan. 2, 2015 (so I could enjoy the holidays and eat!). As a mom of 3 young boys who leads a very active lifestyle, I knew this was going to be rough, here is my story as I go through the recovery.
Day Before Tonsillectomy
Since eating good food, aside from ice cream, was going to be out of the question, my husband bought me a medium pizza from a favorite restaurant and I ate the entire pizza. Yes, I was really full, but it was worth it because 9 days after the surgery I was down 10 pounds anyways. The day before the surgery was nerve racking for me. All I could think about was not being able to workout and go on the long runs or do weighted exercises for at least 3 weeks, not being able to drive while on pain killers, how bad the pain was going to be, not being able to have a few beers on the weekend for a while, and thinking about how stressful it was going to be for my husband to work, get the kids everywhere they have to go, and taking care of everything.
Lets go back a while, when the surgery was scheduled, a pamphlet was handed to me and my follow-up appointment was scheduled as well. The doctor told informed me of the pain and the difficulty many adults have during recovery and the importance of having help with the children along with not doing anything to cause bleeding. Overall, he stressed taking the medications and resting, and boy has he been right. Being who I am, not many questions were asked, just reading of information and internet research, but for anyone who has questions-no matter how odd they may seem-ask the doctor, even if it is in the waiting room before the surgery.
Tips on pre-surgery preparation:
- Make a list of soft foods and go to the store: yogurt, ice cream (with no crunchy stuff in it), apple sauce, instant mashed potatoes, Plain soups that have no harsh spices, puddings, mashed pears, and for goodness sake-buy out the popsicle isle (popsicles are your friend after tonsillectomy, for weeks)
- Plan on drinking lots and lots of water. Stock up on water if needed, water is NEEDED in the healing process. It helps to sooth and moisten the throat as well as wash off the scabs as the throat develops new skin. Keeping the throat moist is needed, otherwise bleeding could occur.
- Prepare the sofa or recliner. Keep the neck high, sleep in a recliner if possible. Due to pain, laying down is near impossible. Have a table close by for the water, books and magazines and remote. This is where one lives for at least the first week after the tonsillectomy, make it cozy.
- Ice Packs. The surgery center gave me one, but I already had some at home as well. Use them, sleep with them, very helpful.
- Comfy clothes, live in PJ's, sweats, anything comfortable for a week, at least.
- Stool Softeners-due to the pain meds, constipation will probably occur, get stool softeners and take them.
- Be sure there is plenty of soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, paper towels, and even plastic and paper ware for eating with (no dishes is a good thing).
- Schedule help with children. The first week is the worse and help with children for at least one week is necessary, 2 weeks help would be better, it is a must for anyone getting a tonsillectomy as a parent.
- Parents with children, plan on being out of work at least a week. As far as I've heard from other parents, most of the children healed up enough to go back to school after a week, but remember it could be 2 weeks or a week and half, everyone heals differently and handles pain differently.
- Make sure bills are caught up and any mail that needs to be picked up or mailed is done. Do not want to deal with it after surgery.
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