Sara’s guide to surviving your tonsillectomy

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. This is not medical advice. This is based on personal, patient experience. Whenever you are undergoing, considering, contemplating, or anything more than daydreaming about a surgical procedure, your doctor's advice takes precedent - not a blog post you found. If you didn't already know that, you either aren't old enough or smart enough to care for yourself. Seek medical attention.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, here's my advice, now that I've lived through an adult tonsillectomy:

1. Prepare ahead: if you have the ability to prepare ahead of time, and with a tonsillectomy you generally should, you will want to have some items ready for when you get home. Note: you should double-check with your doctor to ensure that you are following his/her instructions


• Drinks: you will want ice cold drinks on hand in mass quantities, no hot drinks, no hot soups


• Ice cream: plain flavors, no add-in (sorry rocky-road fans)


• Jello: if you like it stock up


• Pudding: same as jello.


• Medication: see if your doctor will write the prescriptions ahead of time so you can have them at home when you get home (some may need to be ordered as they are not kept on hand).


2. Hydrate early, often, again, and again. This cannot be said enough. Drink, drink, drink, drink. The better hydrated you are, the quicker you heal. The poorer your hydration, the more pain, and the slower the healing. If you are having problems drinking you probably need a better pain medication.


3. Medicate on time: do not delay on your meds. Do not try to tough it out. If you are in pain you will have a very hard time staying hydrated. Also, watch how long your meds are really lasting – if it says take every 4 hrs, but after 90 minutes you are in pain again, get a better medication.


4. Food: accept that for a week your only foods are ice cream, pudding, and jello. I was able to eat mac without the cheese after about 4 days. It took almost 10 before I was eating truly solid food. I’m still working back towards a full menu.


5. Use a humidifier when you sleep. This will keep your throat from dehydrating while you sleep.


6. Sleep: sleep is actually counter-intuitive post-tonsillectomy. You will want to sleep, but when you sleep, you are dehydrating. So sleep in short bursts (1-2 hrs) and use a humidifier. Drink 8 oz before you sleep (if you are like me this will ensure you wake up within 2 hrs) and another 8 when you get up. You need to combat the dehydration that sleep causes.

The other major thing you need is someone who can take care of you. You need someone who can fill your prescriptions, pick up any drinks or foods you run out of, etc. You especially want someone who can drive you any place you might need to be. Trust me, if you wind up on the meds I was on (hello oxycontin) you cannot drive, I was so doped up I was handing over the keys in my dreams.

Stay hydrated. Stay medicated. You'll be fine.