I had intra-oral surgery with left-sided tonsillectomy on 8/20, so 1 week ago.
I’ve been whispering some the past 2 days. The pain has been intense but lessened some the last 24 hours. Tonight I’ve been trying to talk.
My concern is that when I do attempt to talk above a whisper at all there is a catch in the back of my throat. I can get the “he” sound out for “hello” for example but then it goes kinda wonky like there’s a stick (maybe a scab?) restricting my tongue. I don’t know how to explain it😩 My tongue seems so awkward and it makes me sort of gag and cough. It hurts so I don’t want to push it. So is this normal? No bleeding, no fever, I can’t open wide enough to see anything yet.
I will share details of the surgery later (in houston tx). Can someone just reassure me this is ok and can wait until my follow up on 9/5?
Thank you.
Ps. I did have an awful sneeze this morning and it has a lot of pressure with it. Is there a stitch i could have undone and I’m now feeling that or something from incision site ?
I’ve not had intraoral, hopefully others have, but basically it’s having a tonsillectomy as an adult- they often have to remove tonsils to gain access if you still had yours. So it will be painful, & can take linger than external surgery recovery. I would presume what you’re feeling is very normal , with not being able to talk properly & feeling like you’re gagging. Everything will still be swollen for a while yet, so this could be affecting your tongue, & so can any irritation of the nerves. Quite a few people have had slight speech problems after surgery bacause of the nerve, this should resolve with time. Good that there’s no bleeding, I would imagine a big sneeze may put quite a bit of pressure on the stitches, but guess as long as it hasn’t bled there’s nothing to be done? Have you got any doctor/ nurse after care numbers you can ring for reassurance too?
If you search the discussions for intra oral post op recovery you may well come up with some tips, & hopefully others will chip in.
Hope you’re soon feeling improvements, gentle hugs for you & will pray for you
Yes, the stick in your throat feeling can happen and it can stay for quite awhile. The voice issues I think would also be normal.
Most of it is from swelling and irritated nerves. The swelling lasts pretty long with intra oral sometimes because the stitches get tight.
It took me three weeks to be able to eat properly. I was funky. The feeling of something stabbing me in the throat like a stick stayed for 11 weeks. Even after that I went to a second surgeon to find out if the original surgery was done correctly. The surgeon said yes. It can take 6 - 9 months according to him
Wait at least 3-4 weeks for the swelling to go down and stitches to dissolve. You should see a bit of improvement.
Thank you Emma. That is very reassuring to know that someone else has experienced something similar. Thanks for the heads up on what to expect. I really appreciate that.
Did you find that any certain foods were easier to eat? I’ve got to move on from mashed potatoes, broth, and puddings for energy sake.
Also, I’m having to still do the pain meds at night to be able to sleep. Sleeping with my mouth open is causing so much dryness it’s painful. Did you have that issue? I really hope to be able to stop the meds soon as I’m a student and am foggy in them.
Try scrambled eggs, cooked spinach, maybe some mashed vegetables, if any of that appeals to you. I put down no sugar added ice cream a lot. Keep lots of popsicles or frozen ice, the ones in the long plastic tear apart sticks. Those really help with the stick feeling in the throat.
Back then, I could still take percocet. I was given liquid 3 teaspoons at a time = 7.5 mg or is it 75 mg of codeine with about 750 tylenol. I took it once that strong. It was creepy. After that I took one teaspoon every 6 hours or maybe 2 every 12 at night. I hated it. I tried just tylenol mostly. Probably, down to 1 or two teaspoons of percocet a day by week 3. After that tylenol only. Try NSAIDs as soon as you are allowed. I cannot because of bleeding, but I think it is so much better.
Ice ice and ice. I used Gel packs 20 min on then when the pack was no longer frozen put it back on for as long as it had some cooling affect. I had 3 packs in all. 2 in the freezer one out. I guess I had ice on at least once every few hours, but was cool most of the time. I really hate it to be too cold, and enjoyed the pack against my neck until it was body temp or warmer.
My doctor had a refill for my liquid med, but I never finished the first one. It had more side effects than I could handle.
There is no easy Eagles surgery. Lots of nerves involved. Rotator cuff surgery was easier.
I had lots of smoothies (had external surgery but couldn’t open my mouth wide or chew), juiced pineapple & spinach, mixed it into a yoghurt & banana smoothie, lovely & good for energy! Not sure if the pineapple might sting with your surgery though? Had lots of pureed stuff like cauliflower cheese & macaroni cheese too, & porridge.
Don’t forget some of the painkillers can cause constipation, you might need something ready for that?
Yes I found a great root beer flavor liquid laxative for kids. It has done the trick. I leaned after my hysterectomy what a nightmare pain meds are. I honestly feel this pain is more unmanageable tho.
I’m wondering if I also may now have thrush… tongue is burning and has a yellow pasty look.
If you suspect thrush, it would be wise to talk to your surgeon. It would be better to start treating that sooner than later so it doesn’t spread. Glad your surgery is done & you’re on the mending end of all this.
I blended veggies, fruit water or the milk of your choice (cow’s or other) along with protein powder (I like Vega One - any flavor). Smoothies were definitely my “go to” during my first couple of weeks post op. I eventually blended a regular meal (i.e. meat & veggies) w/ almond milk to make a dinner shake. These looked awful but tasted great!
I do not know about the pasty, but yellow could be from bruising, but you may want to verify that you do not have an infection. Hard to say unless you check with a doctor.
Thank you. For future reference, if it’s helpful to anyone reading later, I didn’t end up having thrush. The nurse on call said it was maybe due to what they used to clean the area before surgery. Some people are sensitive to it and it can cause burning or itching in the days after. And the yellow was likely from breathing with my mouth open and from being too scared to brush real good due to the pain… causing gunk to stick.
I was cleared on Tuesday. I will make a full report soon. I can definitely recommend a houston doctor, which hopefully helps many.
Hooray for a Texas doctor! We have some on our doctors’ list, but recently, they have all seemed to be unwilling to acknowledge our members’ ES diagnosis or to do surgery to help them.
Glad you are recovering well & have a doctor you feel good enough about to recommend!
Anyone seen this after surgery? Scab, maybe a stitch since that’s where my tonsil was removed, or is that remanants of bone ? It’s ridged and poking me. Still waiting for a dr to call me back but now it’s after 5.
It feels like styloid. My guess is a piece that was sheered off. He said it was so hard to cut he had to put his bicep into it. So I think it fragmented? Can y’all keep praying for me. I’m trying to get back in to see my dr but he’s at surgery. In a lot of pain
The verdict by phone and without seeing me is it’s “normal healing granulation” after surgery. I see him next week. It does sort of look like it could be that looking at Dr. google. Lol.
? It’s ridged and poking me. Still waiting for a dr to call me back but now it’s after 5.