Today I woke up and the pain finally didn’t feel unbearable. All of my scabs (most of them, at least) dissolved/disappeared on day 7. I am currently taking some heavy medication and ibuprofen every five-six hours, I finished my antibiotics this morning. I notice it definitely when I don’t take my pain medicine on time because it gets harder to talk and my throat swells a lot.

Right now I’m dealing with hunger. I know a lot of people say that hunger is the hardest part the whole time (besides pain) but I wasn’t really hungry until recently. I think it’s because I was so out of it on pain meds and the pain was so strong that I couldn’t think to eat anything. I still can’t eat much and it’s frustrating but here is my biggest tip for food:

—Rice and broth. I cook (or order) some white rice, and I actually ended up ordering just the broth from my local pho restaurant and I would put a little rice on my spoon and fill the rest of the spoon with broth! I was able to eat this in very small portions starting day four. (Before that, the pain was so miserable, I would cry if I tried anything at all.)

This is what I was able to eat all nine days so far:

Day 1: Nothing, I couldn’t even drink water or eat ice chips. I was in the hospital overnight and so they gave me IV Fluids.

Day 2: Just Broth (less than a cup). I probably had three glasses of water, I sipped as often as I could but it was horrible.

Day 3: This was a very bad day. I drank only broth and maybe a cup of water.

Day 4: Broth and rice, it wasn’t that much at all but it felt good to put rice on my stomach. Tried ice cream but it hurt, couldn’t do popsicles either

Day 5: Broth and Rice, very very soupy Mac N’ Cheese. (Small amounts until it hurt too much to eat anymore.) Lots of water. Yogurt!

Day 6: I was able to eat soup and very soft dumplings, after I felt like I did too much The pain was so intense in my ear and face after eating. At like 1100pm, I was feeling hungry so I had strawberry Yogurt! A Popsicle. Lots of water.

Day 7: Dumpling soup again! Water and vitamin water. I also had a cup of sipping broth (you can get these to go cups in the broth section at Walmart!) A creamy mango smoothie.

Day 8: That morning, I had a full bowl of pho, noodles and alll! In the evening, I had raviolis, the soft insides of garlic bread, and two bites of salad. This meal was pretty painful but it felt so good to eat. I regretted it after since the pain got pretty intense.

Day 9: I had a a soft chicken quesadilla that my mom made me, lol. And debating what to eat for dinner because I don’t want to hurt myself again. I also had a small orange cream smoothie.

My advice is to take your time with food! I am so hungry but the pain afterwards is just not worth trying to eat something sharp or dry. Try to eat foods with tons of moisture.

I do miss seasonings though 🫠 everything burns, so I try to be careful!

I noticed a lot of people posting about coughing a lot, I did a little but my mom is a nurse and she said to move around more. Laying in bed can cause pneumonia! And make sure you’re drinking water!!