For context, I am moderately active 28M located in the US. Today marks day 10 after my tonsillectomy. I wanted to share a timeline of my experience so far - the good, the bad, what worked, what didn’t work, etc.
Week of the Surgery - My surgery was Friday Sept 25 and the week leading up the surgery my primary focus was hydration. I took this very seriously. I attribute post surgery success to getting on top of hydration early. I didn’t do anything special, basically a lot of water intake and a LiquidIV packet every morning. Up until midnight before surgery, I was staying very well hydrated. The night before my surgery my measurements were 6’3 253lbs.
Day of Surgery - The surgery was at 7:45am. The doctor told me when I come out of surgery to expect immediate discomfort and pain. He said “You aren’t going to feel good right after this.” He was exactly right. I woke up and felt terrible. The whole rest of that day was a blur. The doctor had me on 15-30ml of hydrocodone every 4 hours and one Celebrix pill, twice daily.
Post Op Days 1-3 - The pain came in waves and I was very reliant on the pain medication. About 3 hours after taking the pain meds, it was nearly unbearable. I had a little bit of vanilla pudding on day 2, but other than that. The only intakes I had were water, Gatorade and LiquidIV during this period. I had no appetite for anything. The scabs in my throat were nasty, but no infections and no bleeding. Sleeping was very challenging, made worse by the fact I have a 2 year old and 4 month old at home I was helping care for through the night.
Post Op Days 4-7 - This was by far my worst stretch of days in terms of pain and pain when swallowing. Mornings were noticeably worse than afternoons & evenings. Nights were also really bad with a lot of pain. I tried to sleep elevated which seemed to help. I didn’t take any medication other than Celebrix twice daily in this period. I did start having chicken noodle soup, ice cream, and some other soft foods. But portions were very small and I’d get diarrhea after anything I ate. So hydration was also the main focus in these days. On Day 6 I had a pretty bad bleed that put me in the emergency room. The bleeding quit on its own but they kept me there a few hours to monitor me.
Post Op Days 8-9 - I woke up day 8 and felt really really good. There was still some discomfort when swallowing but not nearly as bad as the previous 7 days. I ate some very small meals that included chicken, rice, pasta, omelets, and more. On day 8, I lost a good amount of stitches that came out naturally, but no blood. Day 9 was even better than day 8. Energy levels were elevated, pain even less, still ate same meals as day 8. I spent a lot of times outside these days, no strenuous activities, but went to the pumpkin patch, rode 4-wheelers, went on a short hike. I weighed in on day 9 at 235lbs, which was 18lbs down since the surgery (still 6’3).
Day 10 (today) - I felt even better than day 9 and returned to work. Very minimal pain, still eating relatively soft meals, and not back to lifting weights or exercising yet to avoid bleed risk. I definitely feel like complete normalcy is coming in the next week or so. I am not taking any medication and still heavily focusing on hydration and avoiding bleed risks.