I Had A Tonsillectomy at 34 :: Here’s What Went Down
Backstory: I never had issues with my tonsils, or many sickness problems at all in fact, as a child or teenager.
However, in college and as a young adult, I began having consistent sinus infections, which I treated through various urgent cares. In my early teaching years, every urgent care doctor I saw was convinced I was getting sick simply due to being a teacher and my students’ germs, and I (naively) went along with this theory.
Finally, a friend strongly recommended, “You need a real doctor, not just all these urgent care doctors! They have no historical records or data on you, so you are being treated as a brand new patient every time you are seen.” Another friend echoed, “Yes, and you need an ENT!”
This was exactly the advice I needed. (And now I encourage everyone to get a “real” doctor!!) I got established with a primary care physician and an ENT right away. My ENT started me on environmental allergy medication and my sinus infections became obsolete.
However, after several blissful years of no sinus infections, I began getting them again every couple of months. My PCP expressed concern about my large tonsils. They were large and swollen even during my wellness appointments when I was not sick. I saw my ENT about my tonsils as well. She agreed they were large and wanted to perform a sleep study on me to see if my large tonsils were affecting my sleep. After lots of back and forth with my PCP and ENT, the sleep study, and a ton of research later, both doctors and I came to the consensus that I should proceed with a tonsillectomy. My large tonsils were not going away, and the removal of them had many potential life-changing positives such as decreasing infections, strep throat, and aiding my sleep.
The BIG factor: Adult recovery of a tonsillectomy is BRUTAL, unlike a child’s recovery, which goes fairly smoothly.
The recovery for an adult tonsillectomy lasts about two weeks. I booked my tonsillectomy for the first week of summer while I was on summer break from work and my children would still be in daycare.
Without further adieu, here was my experience getting a tonsillectomy as a 34-year-old wife & mother of two….
Tips:
- Prepare your mind for ultimate hydration. I kept being told that during my recovery it was going to be horrible to swallow, like swallowing glass (more on that later). However, I HAD to drink plenty of water despite this, otherwise, my recovery would be much worse and I may end up right back at the hospital (spoiler: I did, although not because of dehydration).
- Fill your medications earlier in the week before your surgery so that you already have them when you get home from the procedure. You and your caregivers can familiarize yourself with them before surgery.
- Set up a humidifier by your bed for extra moisture for your throat.
- Stock up on easy-to-prepare foods like soups, meal replacement drinks, protein shakes, and yogurt. Other soft food choices with good nutrition that you can eat if you are able are mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, mac and cheese, or rice and gravy.
- Arrange for multiple people to help you! You will be required to have a person driving you home from the procedure and someone who is dedicated to caring for you for at least 24 hours after the procedure. In addition to this person, which may be your spouse, your parent, your in-law, or a best friend. You will also want to have an additional person stay with you to help with your children, at least for a few days. We had my mom stay with us for 3 days, and my mother-in-law stayed with us for another 3 days. I cannot stress how helpful this was for caring for both myself and my children, and not putting all of the burden on my husband. I also arranged weekend play dates at a trusted family friend’s home for my older daughter, so that she would be occupied and loved while Mommy was resting. My husband was able to work from home on the days we did not have grandparents with us so that he could keep an eye on me. There were 2 occasions during my recovery that I needed to be rushed to the ER, and we had friends and family on standby to watch our kids while my husband brought me in.
The Recovery:
Day 1: After the procedure, I was whisked home for a 24-hour period full of sleeping, hydrating, keeping up with my medicine, waking up every hour or so to drink at least 4 ounces of water, and slowly coming off of the anesthesia. I was nauseous, but a meal replacement shake and scrambled eggs did the trick in settling my stomach.
I also found myself in an emotional place of love and affection on this day. I was humbled and thankful for my sweet village who had surrounded me with support and prayer prior to, during, and after my procedure. My husband and my mom were faithful in taking care of me and the kids, my mother-in-law was on her way to help, my closest friends sent me flowers and balloons and happy mail, and the rest of my village was only a prayer and a text message away, praying for me and asking for updates.
Day 2: I had enough energy to take a lukewarm bath. I had a protein shake and more scrambled eggs for breakfast. I was still hydrating around the clock and keeping up with my medications. I magically had some energy but chose to still lay low and rest and not overdo anything. I was able to eat lukewarm soup and rice without much pain in my throat. The throat pain isn’t horrible yet in this stage.
Day 3: During the night I began spitting up a little bit. My mouth was insanely dry, which forced me to wake up hourly and drink water. Keeping up with medication and putting an ice pack on my throat continued to keep me afloat and not in horrible pain.
Day 4: Today was the day that the chaos of a tonsillectomy wreaked havoc on our lives. After 3 days of a seemingly “going very well” recovery, out of nowhere, I began coughing up and vomiting blood. We had been told that if this were to happen, we should go to the ER immediately. My husband got me to the emergency room ASAP, in which the doctors determined that I had two wounds that needed to be cauterized. I had an emergency second surgery that evening to cauterize the two wounds.
I don’t know if it was the anesthesia or just the heartwarming nature of my village coming together to support me after all of my surgeries, but I was yet again brought to an emotional place of thankfulness and peace.
While my husband was with me at the ER, my mom and mother-in-law took care of both of my children for several hours, including picking them up from school, feeding them dinner, bathing them and putting them to sleep, making them feel safe and loved, while unbeknownst to the girls, their mommy was having an emergency surgery just a few miles away.
Day 5-7: After an unexpected second surgery, my body went through understandable periods of exhaustion and pain. I was also amid the normal timeline of a tonsillectomy recovery where supposedly “sh*t hits the fan.” My doctor said that my second surgery would not necessarily prolong or extend my recovery time. During these days, it was important for me to keep up with my medication down to the minute to not experience severe pain. I had filled my prescription for the tetracaine lollipop, which is used to numb the throat, but I had been saving it for when I needed it. I started using it around Day 6 when the pain got severely bad.
Days 8-9: These were the roughest days for me. I had pain around the clock. Sometimes I would have to stop eating or drinking to use the tetracaine lollipop because the pain was so excruciating. I started to understand what people meant by, “it’s going to feel like you are swallowing glass.” I could do very little without wearing myself out, and I began getting an upset stomach due to my lack of solid foods and the pain medicine not agreeing with my belly.
Days 10-11: In theory, by this point, I should have been on the up and up. My tetracaine lollipop was running low and I was panicking. Every day when I woke up, I felt like I got hit by a truck. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever recover.
Days 12-14: Somewhere around day 12, my need for the tetracaine lollipop disappeared, which worked out because it was used up. My pain was minimal and I began weaning myself off of the medication. I still felt very tired for the first few hours of the day and had to continue taking it very easy. It still felt strange and raw to smile too hard or yawn, but ultimately I could tell the end of recovery was near!
