I had tonsillectomy last May 14 (Friday) and I’m now on Day 4 post-surgery. I’ll be sharing some info and my personal experience in the hopes of helping others who will or thinking of undergoing the surgery too. (27F Asian, btw)

Why I underwent a tonsillectomy:

I’ve been getting frequent tonsillitis since forever! This year alone, I already had 4 episodes of tonsillitis. Previously I also had septoplasty and sinus surgery due to allergic rhinitis so yeah, my upper respiratory track is quite problematic lol! Side note: I highly recommend sinus surgery for those with chronic sinusitis, definitely improved my quality of life. Anyway back to the throat, it’s been too much of a hassle, with the pandemic and all. You’re never quite sure if it’s just tonsillitis or it’s Covid already so I finally decided to have mine taken off.

After the surgery:

Yeah it stings to talk. Post-surgery I was able to talk to the nurses with a very deep and garbled voice but as soon as I went back to my room, I resorted to using my phone to communicate. Thankfully I did not encounter any post-op bleeding and was already discharged from the hospital on Sunday, May 16.

Food

I’m not quite sure if the cold drinks and ice cream were quite helpful or they just made the pain seem worse? Anyway I have resorted to taking normal temp water and food. Speaking of food, I know it’s really really painful to swallow but bear in mind that proper nutrition is vital for wound healing. Also, you gotta have food in your tummy since you’re taking antibiotics. I still try to keep a balanced diet, despite the pain when swallowing. What I eat are mostly soup, porridge, pasta, udon, Vienna sausage, hotdog, chicken (thigh and leg parts only), jellos (gosh these feel so smooth on the throat and they glide so well). Room temp only, no hot food yet. I still eat ice cream but not with the same frequency as I did in the hospital. Other people mention yoghurt but I can’t take it for now, maybe because it’s acidic so it stings, same with Yakult because you know, I’m Asian. I’m now taking protein shake, mainly because protein is important for healing, which I couldn’t do immediately post-op because red, pink, or dark colored food might be mistaken for blood in case you spit out.

Spit, Voice Changes, Ear Pains

Speaking of spit, it feels like my mouth is hypersalivating like a mad dog! Make sure you have a kidney dish or any container where you can spit out your saliva because swallowing every so often hurts. My voice is also altered for the time being, it seems to be a pitch higher and speaking using my normal voice hurts a bit. The tongue has this weird feeling too. You can hear this from the YT vloggers who document their recovery. One thing I don’t see often mentioned is ear pain. Gosh my ears hurt! Most especially during the day, at night, and after eating. While it is bearable, it’s really uncomfortable and using cotton buds will only make it worse, so don’t even try! Coughing is painful but yawning, oh my goodness it hurts!

Pain Meds, Antibiotics, Laxatives

I had IV tramadol when I woke up in the recovery room because of intense throat pain and headache. If I’m not mistaken up until Saturday, the only pain meds given to me were IV paracetamol. Sunday til now, I’m taking oral celecoxib in capsule. For antibiotics, I was on IV cefuroxime until Saturday and switched to oral too on Sunday. I have prescription for both good for a week post-surgery. I also use Difflam-C, an antiseptic and numbing mouth gargle. What else… Oh, I also requested for laxatives because I couldn’t poop even after 2 days after surgery haha! I think this is a common side effect of general anesthesia. You might want to keep that in mind.

Overall

Overall, while the aftermath is really painful, I feel like years of suffering from frequent tonsillitis has prepared me for this. But again, people have different levels of pain tolerance and reasons for having tonsillectomy. Others who might have frequent tonsil stones or naturally enlarged tonsils might feel shocked with this kind of pain. In any case, talk to your doctor about appropriate pain meds. I have a few days more to recover but so far it’s been bearable. I’m not getting that post-surgery weight-loss but that’s fine, a speedy recovery is more desirable. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

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ADDITIONAL INFO: The procedure involved the use of harmonic scalpel instead of cauterization or coblation. Harmonic scalpel uses ultrasonic vibrations to cut and cauterize tissues.

Edit: I rushed myself to the ER on Day 5 because of bleeding hahaha. Stupid me. Reasons for the bleeding. 1. I had soup that was a bit hotter than room temp with pork that wasnt very tender. 2. I put hot compress on my ears because of the pain in an effort not to take meds. And 3. I ate pistachios for snacks hahaha. Very stupid of me. What happened was the white scab (tissue granulation) on my left side was removed, hence chunks of blood was flowing through the hole. I ate some ice as first aid treatment but went immediately to the ER. But yeah thanks to the ENT doctors and the meds, it healed and no need for re-admission. Now I'm very religious about the soft non-hot diet.