my positive tonsillectomy experience-- 14 days post op
I had very recurrent peritonsillar abscess which I got monthly or even twice a month so was super annoying. I had to go to the hospital 4 times to get it drained. I also had chronic tonsillitis and cryptic tonsils. With that being said I decided to get a tonsilllectomy as I was honestly TIRED of getting sick. Also I vaped a lot so I was thinking some of that irritation could of been from the vape.
Leading up to my surgery I quit vaping like 4 days before since vaping can restrict blood vessels and slow healing. Looking at all the horror stories on tiktok I was absolutely frightened for this surgery but here's how my healing process went.
Day 1 (surgery day): Pain 3/10 , very swollen uvula and uncomfortable to swallow
Day 2-4: same pain level was about a 3.5/10 -- again the pain was only when I swallowed but other than that I was feeling fine.
Day 5-9: pain was highest at a 4/10 and the lowest was like a 2/10.
Days 10-15: very low pain only uncomfortable when I swallow and there was times where it would be uncomfortable in the morning or at night but this was cause scabs were falling.
I made sure to take my pain meds exactly on time, I had only had Paracetomal and Ibuprofen prescribed to me and they did the job. I was also on antibiotics which my doctor prescribed me to avoid any infections. I stopped my pain meds on day 8 and I felt fine. The pain came NO WHERE NEAR close to the nightmares I faced when I had my abcesses and could not even speak a single word.
I made sure to drink 3-4L of water a day and this was easy to do because I had a straw water bottle (hydroflask). I didn't do anything special like getting a humidifier or getting the ice pack for the face or doing anything different, just followed my surgeons advice of sticking to cold soft foods days 1-3 and very soft foods days 4-8 (mashed potatoes, soups, purée) i only started eating pasta day 8 ( so a week post op) and made sure it wasn't hot.
It is now day 15 and I am of course still healing as I dont feel 100% back to normal the throat still feels raw which is normal but pain is like not even there and if it is its when I yawn or eat something which requires jaw work lots of chewing.
I wanna tell everyone to not be so scared of this surgery as for me it was NOTHING like what I saw online and I dont know whether its. because I've already had much worst pain on my tonsils or if its just because I stayed really hydrated and stayed away from crunchy / scratchy foods.
Also im still scared to hemorrage as Ive seen that can still happen even 2 weeks post op so ill keep this updated!