Had surgery yesterday. Just one side. They took out a little over an inch and my tonsil since it was in the way.
Years ago, I noticed a hard painful spot just under my jaw. Over the years I asked doctors about it and they dismissed it. Then it started to hurt when I sneezed. Dr. Sun, an ENT, diagnosed me with an elongated styloid process. He said surgery was optional and that it may or may not get worse if i chose to not get surgery. It got worse where pain was almost constant...a dull pain, with times of sharp pain. So I decided to have the surgery.
Day 1 after surgery - so painful to swollow! I immediately grabbed a bowl and just let my saliva out that way instead of swallowing. The only thing I swallowed that day was the liquid acetaminophen with codein. Water was more painful to swallow. Don't even try that day 1. I was able to take a couple sips of liquid yogurt. I couldn't talk. A friend brought me a dry erase board which was great! I found that if I keep my mouth open, saliva doesn't accumulate as much.
Day 2 - able to talk (like an old lady) today but still trying to not swallow, so still dripping my saliva into a bowl or kleenex. Have to do that before I talk. Still taking liquid pain med every 4 hours. Actually hurts so much to swollow that I stagger it. I'm supposed to take 15 ounces every 4 hours but I take 5 ounces and then wait a while and then 5 more, etc. I keep a written record of when I took each so my codein brain knows when to take it next. Today I had a bit of liquid yogurt and some smoothie. Probably about 3 tablespoons each. The chicken smell coming from the kitchen was torture, but I don't actually feel that hungry considering I haven't really eaten in 2 days. Stayed in bed all day but got some work done on my laptop. Dozed off and on due to codein.
Sounds painful- I think others have found that with intra-oral surgeries, but I'm sure you'll be feeling better soon! Winterinm posted a link to a website with suggestions for coping with tonsillectomies, I will see if I can find it, there might be some helpful suggestions for you.
Hope that the pain soon goes, wishing you a speedy recovery,
She also posted a discussion because healing seemed to be slow, Emma replied:
You could very well still have swelling, or even some nerve irritation. 17 days sounds lilke a long time, but you could still have some undisolved stitches and there is still a lot of healing left to be done. I am not sure that I was doing very well at day 17. I think I was swallowing water. and soft foods, but hot or warm stuff was really painful for a long time. Seems I spent a lot of time sucking on those ice pops that come in liquid form in plastic and you freeze them. As far as chewing solid food and regular meals, I am sure I was at least 5-6 weeks out before I was comfortable with that maybe even longer. I know that I had a feeling of a lump in my throat and something stabbing me from inside my throat about at the location of the adams apple. That lasted for 11 weeks and came back a few times in the first 6 months. I hated it and thought I would never get better. I did get better so it just takes time. Hope this helps. If you had other pain and Eagles symptoms that have gone away, I think you will slowly feel better, but if you are uncertain, check with your doctor.
Not sure if this is helpful or not, knowing that healing from this might take time!!
Yikes! Sounds bad, but would rather know what's in store. Do you know if most people get an antibiotic? I didnt. Also, how do I take the oxycontin? It is in pill form.
I'm glad it feels a little better... I don't know what doctors are like for prescribing antibiotics in the US- I know in the UK they're trying not to over prescribe them. They might have given them IV after the op otherwise? Can you swallow the pills with some yoghurt or smoothie, or is it okay now you can sip water?
Thanks, Jules. No still can't take a pill with water but if pain gets worse will try crushing it and putting in yogurt. Thanks!
Jules said:
I'm glad it feels a little better... I don't know what doctors are like for prescribing antibiotics in the US- I know in the UK they're trying not to over prescribe them. They might have given them IV after the op otherwise? Can you swallow the pills with some yoghurt or smoothie, or is it okay now you can sip water?
Im so sorry that you’re still suffering so intensely. I can’t tell you how invaluable these surgical accounts are though. .
I hope to find someone to perform surgery soon, and the blow by blow records of people’s after surgery is very helpful in keeping realistic expectations. It seems to easy to become hyper focused on this as an end all Solution.
If you’re up to it, I would love to hear how your healing goes in just as much detail!
I hope you feel better soon, are eating crunchy spikey foods before your know it, and come back with more vim and vigor than you knew before!