If your child needs to stay in hospital overnight, you should expect to go home the next day. For Day Surgery patients, you will need to stay for 4-6 hours after the surgery.
You may be able to go back to work or your usual routine in 1 to 2 weeks. There will be a white coating in your throat where the tonsils were. The coating is like a scab. It usually starts to come off in 5 to 10 days.
Generally, you may return to work approximately 10 days following a tonsillectomy, and about 3 days after an adenoidectomy. You should avoid vigorous activity for 14 days after surgery. Throat and ear pain can be severe after a tonsillectomy.
Tonsillectomy is a surgery that causes a mild or moderate pain in most cases, although few patients complain of severe pain. We found that during first day after surgery, 85.5% of the patients had mild or moderate pain, and only 14.5% a severe pain.
The pain may be the worst for 3-4 days after surgery. One to two weeks after surgery, pain may worsen because the scabs are falling off. It is important to control your child's pain after surgery. This helps your child drink and eat.
Cold drinks (like apple juice, ice water, or soda) may make you feel better as they cool your injured throat. Warm drinks (like tea or coffee), on the other hand, may provide you with a soothing sensation that you'll like after surgery.
For most patients, tonsillectomy is an outpatient surgery—they won't spend the night in the hospital. Patients are given general anesthesia so they'll be asleep and not feel anything during surgery. The surgeon removes the tonsils using a surgical knife or another tool.
It may be worse on the first or second day after surgery. Talk as little as possible, if it hurts. Take pain medicine as directed. Use liquid pain medicine for pain during the first week, if possible.
Postoperative Instructions for Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy. Activity Level: Light activity and adequate rest are recommended for the first few days. Sleeping with the head elevated 30 to 45 degrees or in a recliner for 3-4 days will reduce the swelling in the throat.
The amount of discomfort usually lessens, then may increase again around day 7-9 after surgery, as some of the whitish tissue covering the tonsillectomy site falls off. After this, there is generally steady improvement with less discomfort.
The amount of discomfort usually lessens, then may increase again around day 7-9 after surgery, as some of the whitish tissue covering the tonsillectomy site falls off. After this, there is generally steady improvement with less discomfort.
Cold drinks (like apple juice, ice water, or soda) may make you feel better as they cool your injured throat. Warm drinks (like tea or coffee), on the other hand, may provide you with a soothing sensation that you'll like after surgery.
Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy (T&A) surgery is a common major surgery performed on children in the United States. About 400,000 surgeries are performed each year. The need for a T&A will be determined by your child's ear, nose, and throat surgeon and discussed with you.
Postoperative Instructions for Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy. Activity Level: Light activity and adequate rest are recommended for the first few days. Sleeping with the head elevated 30 to 45 degrees or in a recliner for 3-4 days will reduce the swelling in the throat.
The pain may be the worst for 3-4 days after surgery. One to two weeks after surgery, pain may worsen because the scabs are falling off. It is important to control your child's pain after surgery. This helps your child drink and eat.
Almost everyone experiences pain after a tonsillectomy. It is most common in the throat and ears, but it can also affect the neck, head, or jaw. Post-operative pain may get worse around day 3 or 4, but it should then start to improve.
You can brush your teeth after the first night. You may have bad smelling breath as you heal. Avoid mouthwash for 1 week. You may gargle gently with a solution made of 1 teaspoon of baking soda mixed with 250 ml (1 cup) of water.
The surgeon will place a small tool into your child's mouth to hold it open. The surgeon then cuts, burns, or shaves away the tonsils. The wounds heal naturally without stitches.
Tonsillectomy is often framed as low-risk to the voice because it's not an operation that directly contacts the vocal cords. However, the tonsils sit in the throat, influencing vocal tract shape. The voice can be impacted even if the vocal cords are not the target of the surgery.
Surgery is typically recommended only if you have other related symptoms, such as difficulty swallowing, persistent pain, swelling of the glands in your neck, or one tonsil that keeps getting larger and larger over time. The good news is most of the time, having one enlarged tonsil is simply due to a minor issue.
Soft drinks, fruit juice nectars, Jell-O, custard, Popsicles, or Gatorade are good choices. Your child should not drink through a straw after surgery until his throat is completely healed. Using a straw may increase the risk of bleeding.
The important thing is to have your child swallow liquids. Whatever works is the best thing to give. Milk products may increase mucus secretions but if the child will only drink a milk shake and eat ice cream then it is OK to give them.
Pain is often worse at night and may prompt the need for more pain medication. A single dose of Tylenol or Motrin in the middle of the night the day of the procedure can help significantly to reduce pain the morning after surgery.
Anecdotal evidence from several ENT departments suggests that pain following tonsillectomy is worst on the second and/or third days after surgery.
Ongoing cough for several days post-op may occur due to swelling in the surgical site and post-nasal drip due to increase secretions. Before starting any over-the-counter cough remedies, please contact our Nurse Line at 412-692-5460 option 4. How much should my child eat or drink after his or her tonsillectomy?