Tess
Message 1 of 1
I don’t know whether I was lucky, had a gentle surgeon or am more pain tolerant than average but my surgery wasn’t nearly as bad as I had dreaded from reading these posts. I was able to eat anything (including pork crackling!) after two weeks and was back at work full time after three. Here’s my suggestions: * Drink lots of fluids – can’t stress this enough. The first mouthful is painful but it lubricates your throat and makes subsequent mouthfuls easier. Don’t give up after just one attempt. A dry throat risks getting infected, plus your body will generate mucus to compensate and that *really* hurts to cough up! Another good option for keeping your mouth moist is chewing gum or sucking on hard sweets to produce saliva. * I found the least uncomfortable position for swallowing was with my head tilted slightly forward and down. If you try different angles you’ll find one that works for you. * Make a ‘roster’ for taking your drugs so that you don’t let one fully wear off before you take the next. At night you may need to set your alarm, take your dose and go back to sleep, but it’s better than letting things get too bad. * Sucking ice cubes or a flavoured ice will make eating easier (and helps keep your fluids up at the same time). My routine was a flavoured ice about an hour before a meal, then painkillers about half an hour later so they had time to kick in before I ate. * Start on more solid foods as early as you can. Towards the end of week 2 I found that scratchy foods actually felt really good to eat as they seemed to scour away the white build-up the surgical site had developed. * Massage the spot where your jaws join each other, just in front of the ear. Towards the end the worst pain was yawning, but my remedial masseuse loosened the muscles and made this easier. * There’s not much you can do about the ear pain. The evening of day 7 was my worst patch, mostly because of the ears. After that, recovery really accelerated. * In your darkest hour, remember that you’ll never have tonsillitis again! It’s a short-term pain for a lifetime gain. Good luck to anyone about have this done.