Hi everyone I’m booked in for surgery at the end of the month can anyone give me advise leading up to the surgery? I am having my left tonsils out as well as the bone removed. Can anyone tell me what it’s like after surgery pain wise and recovery?? Thank you
Hi Eryn
My wife had a bi-lateral partial styloidectomy [intra-orally] in February, 2014; she also had both tonsils removed in that surgery. The first week or so was quite painful, mainly related to the tonsilectomy - swallowing anything felt like swallowing broken glass. For the first 2 weeks, her diet was liquids &/or very soft foods [smoothies, jellos, apple sauce, puddings...] This was complicated for her because she has insulin dependent diabetes, so managing blood sugar levels was a key factor in this diet. Pain management with prescribed pain killers was also key.....and patience - giving herself time to heal before pushing the envelope. Her mantra: every day is rehabilitation day - she still feels like she is in the process of regaining her life after 4 years of severe pain & hopelessness prior to the surgery.
She went into this with a lot of trepidation, but also determined that this surgery was necessary to regain quality of life. She has no regrets.. would do it again if it was necessary as it has made a huge difference in reducing the symptoms associated with her eagle syndrome.
We send our thoughts & well wishes for your upcoming surgery & recovery.
I had a tonsillectomy (both sides) in October (before I was diagnosed) so I'm assuming that the recovery would be about the same with our without the bone removal. The first two weeks are the worst. My worst day was day 7 post-op and then every day started gradually getting better after that.
Ice chips, ice chips and more ice chips! They were the best for staying hydrated. Popsicles burned like fire because of the citric acid in them. Stay away from dairy too, so no ice-cream. Jello, pudding, chicken broth were good to start. I actually used my immersion blender to blend applesauce so that it was as smooth as I could get it (about the consistency of baby food) and that worked out great. After that I used my immersion blender on just about everything...soups especially.
I have a high tolerance for pain and thought that I wouldn't need much in the line of pain medications. I was wrong! Get all of your pain prescriptions filled and use them as directed. I had a swish and swallow medication and a liquid pain medication and then pain medication in pill form, but by the time the liquid pain medication was gone (two weeks), I didn't need the pills. Also make sure to have some milk of magnesia on hand because the pain medication can be constipating.
Talking will hurt and you most likely won't be able to talk much at all even if you want! I used a big erasable whiteboard to converse with my husband and any company that stopped by as I was recovering. Texting also works well!
Your ears will also hurt...a heating pad helped with that.
Be prepared to lose weight...I lost almost 20 pounds in the 3 weeks after the surgery. (I had it to spare, so that part didn't hurt my feelings. I'm now within a healthy BMI, so even though the surgery didn't take care of my sore throat I did get something out of it!)
The recovery does take time, so just plan on watching a lot of TV for the first couple of weeks and by week three you will feel like getting back to your normal activities. Wishing you all the best for a fast and full recovery!
I had the surgery February 9th but on both sides. From everything I gathered..
It is hard and painful to spit - What I did was got a babies nose sucker to pull saliva out. I would also use this to flush my mouth out/clean.
Eat yogurt for the probiotics because thrush is common - With this I got sea salt and carmel frozen yogurt and ate one container daily. It was magical. Actual yogurt did not give the same soothing effect as frozen yogurt. I also ate fruit popsicles. They are a little more expensive but they help kept me from feeling hungry as did the ice cream. This is how I got all my fluids for the first 3 days. I think the constant movement from eating also helped because it kept everything from tightening up.
pain management - Sleeping will be hard for the first week. Stay in an upright position otherwise the swelling in the throat will cut off breathing through the nose. If you breathe through your mouth it isn't as bad but you will snore and your throat will get very dry. The Dryness is painful, what prevented it was I kept a humidifier next to me and mixed in saline packets (neti pot packets) so that when I breathed the salt would kill bacteria. Set an alarm to wake up to take your medicine. Keep fluid close by with a straw. Use your finger to plug up the straw and put it in your mouth under the tonge. Over the tongue seemed to rush fluid to the back of the throat in an unpleasant way.
If your throat does tighten up use a clean nose sucker and splash it with WARM water - coffee - apple cider - tea. Anything cold hurts like all get out and takes forever to stop aching and burning.
I was prescribed Cadista MethyIprednisolone tablets a steroid that helped with swelling. It was prescribed on the second day and by day 3 I felt wonderful.
Day 5 - 11 is hard. I assume that its because you feel better but its hard to swallow fluids and food. It is an uncomfortable awkward feeling that is aggravating. Once I got used to swallowing it went away.
A child medicine dropper is great too. Fluids in small amounts aren't bad.. large amounts take hours to get past it.
Thank you all so much, this has really helped, I am also a smoker so I’m hoping to give up after my surgery as well, did anyone else smoke did it make a difference in your recovery?
Make sure the nurse/anesthesiologist puts anti-nausea meds in your IV both during surgery & immediately after. Don't let them release you if you feel the least bit nauseous. Have them deal with it so you don't have to once you get home. Make sure they send you home w/ Rxs for pain meds, anti-inflammatories (i.e. steroids if you can tolerate them), antibiotics & anti-nausea meds (just in case). This may seem like overkill but you'll be thankful to have an arsenal to cover any problem that might come up during your first week of recovery. My throat felt like it was swelling closed on day 2 post op & I was so thankful to have been required to take steroids for the first week post op to help w/ inflammation. Being loopy from pain meds was also not a bad thing as it kept me from being more active than I should be post op.
Hope this helps, too.
Thank you for that, I will be asking as I do get sick from anethsetic
You're welcome. It's so nice to get all the bases covered by those who have had surgery & can help you know what to expect!
Eryn said:
Thank you for that, I will be asking as I do get sick from anethsetic
This was such a helpful post! Very helpful comments for anyone anticipating surgery.
If your a smoker I would ask your doctor for Chantix to help control cravings. Sucking on a straw felt like alcohol on an open wound. I can't imagine how smoking would go..
Eryn said:
Thank you all so much, this has really helped, I am also a smoker so I'm hoping to give up after my surgery as well, did anyone else smoke did it make a difference in your recovery?
After my surgery I felt wonderful. Even still, I asked for a pain killer and nausea medicine. I've had surgery before where nausea hits after leaving the hospital and its horrible! Try to avoid it at all cause. The first 24 hours as the anesthetics are leaving you body will be the worst.
Eryn said:
Thank you for that, I will be asking as I do get sick from anethsetic
One thing to take into consideration is that Insurance no longer deems Oxycontin needed for surgery so in order to get it you will have to pay out of pocket. I paid $120 for 20 capsules.
LAD how were you able to tolerate the pain meds? Could you get something on your stomach to prevent nausea? If so, what?
LAD said:
One thing to take into consideration is that Insurance no longer deems Oxycontin needed for surgery so in order to get it you will have to pay out of pocket. I paid $120 for 20 capsules.
A whole lot of frozen yogurt. I'd eat 1.5 quarts of sea salt and caramel frozen yogurt. The salt never once burned, it isn't even felt. I wouldn't eat anything chunky because any scratch sensation takes a while to get over and makes pain management difficult. The scratch sensation is the same as when your throat dries out at night. Its important to use anything warm and slowly get moisture into your throat. I found that is the only way that scratch/cracking brittle sensation didn't happen.
That may seem like a lot of frozen yogurt but its all your body has to burn calorie wise. The fruit popsicles are also great for keeping nutrients in you - lack of food/hunger weakens your body and slows down the healing process.
I in the past I have always gotten stomach aches and nausea from hydrocodone. I'd pop crackers nonstop just to manage the nausea. The yogurt did just as well, if not better for me.
Less than a week in I could talk all I wanted without any issues.. I could yell out for the horses to come up for feed and for the dogs to come in. Even when my kids fought, I was able to have the assertive voice without any issues.
A month later, I have lost a lot of weight but mostly because I have an extreme amount of energy from feeling so good. I only took 5 of the 20 Oxycontin and of the liquid hydrocodone I only half of one of three bottles prescribed.
I did however take one Naproxen Sodium 220mg gel capsule, twice a day.. just in case.. and carried a small bottle of Listerine around with me to flush out my mouth throughout the day.
At the follow up, my doctor was in disbelief that I was in such wonderful condition. He said, nobody has ever recovered like I did. I think its because the eagles pain was gone, but the frozen yogurt probably had a lot to do with it too.
I haven't shared this yet but this is the left side of my eagles syndrome. The right side was in to many pieces so the doctor didn't take a picture of it.
From scans the left side.. this side.. as estimated at 1 inch.
From scans the right side was estimated at 4.5 inches.
153-IMG_07312.jpg (414 KB)
Thanks for sharing....clarifying you were able to take Naproxen instead of pain meds and that was okay? Your weight lost did not come from the surgery itself? I am only asking this as I can not afford to lose anymore!!!!
LAD said:
At the follow up, my doctor was in disbelief that I was in such wonderful condition. He said, nobody has ever recovered like I did. I think its because the eagles pain was gone, but the frozen yogurt probably had a lot to do with it too.
I haven't shared this yet but this is the left side of my eagles syndrome. The right side was in to many pieces so the doctor didn't take a picture of it.
From scans the left side.. this side.. as estimated at 1 inch.
From scans the right side was estimated at 4.5 inches.
After one week I started taking Naproxen instead of the pain meds - it was really only after a few days but saying a week gives buffer space. I strongly believe the MethyIprednisolone Tablets - steroids - had a lot to do with feeling better.
I lost wait from the energy gained after surgery. The surgery did not directly cause weight loss.
shoppergirl said:
Thanks for sharing....clarifying you were able to take Naproxen instead of pain meds and that was okay? Your weight lost did not come from the surgery itself? I am only asking this as I can not afford to lose anymore!!!!
LAD said:At the follow up, my doctor was in disbelief that I was in such wonderful condition. He said, nobody has ever recovered like I did. I think its because the eagles pain was gone, but the frozen yogurt probably had a lot to do with it too.
I haven't shared this yet but this is the left side of my eagles syndrome. The right side was in to many pieces so the doctor didn't take a picture of it.
From scans the left side.. this side.. as estimated at 1 inch.
From scans the right side was estimated at 4.5 inches.