Tonsillectomy after 45: Why Recovery From Kids' Stuff Is Tougher Than You Think as an Adult

Children can make tonsillectomies and childhood diseases like chickenpox look easy. Yet, if we endure these hurdles as adults, we might find ourselves at risk for more complications or longer recovery times than we expected. After my own grueling two-week recovery from having a tonsillectomy after 45, I set out to explore other “childhood” issues that can affect adults differently — and I found I was far from alone in my suffering. Here’s what I uncovered.

Tonsillectomy After 45

Both of my parents had their tonsils removed when they were children, so when I told my dad that my doctor advised me to have mine out, he assured me the procedure would be a piece of cake. Children generally undergo the surgery to alleviate recurring strep infections or the effects of enlarged tonsils. Adults often decide to go through the surgery to address chronic soreness or hoarseness of the throat.

In my case, a cyst on my left tonsil looked suspiciously like a tumor, so my surgeon had felt both tonsils needed to go. He’d assured me I’d really only be in serious recovery for a few days, so I was surprised when I found myself down for the count for a full two weeks.

My Tonsillectomy Experience

Pain and swelling were the two biggest issues throughout my recovery. My doctor had advised me to sleep with my head elevated until the swelling and scabbing subsided; even lying elevated, however, I found myself having a hard time breathing at night.

I’m not sure I slept more than a few minutes at a time through the first week; I was lucky to get a couple of hours a night the following week. To make matters worse, even ice cream felt like hot embers tearing down my throat. I found myself unable to eat much through most of my recovery, even with the use of pain medications, a mistake that likely delayed my healing.

A little research showed I wasn’t alone in my difficult recovery. The length of time adults in one study remained on pain medications after tonsillectomies averaged 12 days. According to a doctor interviewed on MedicineNet, one patient even described her most intense suffering as “worse than childbirth.” Of course,our ability to heal slows as we age, so the older a person is going into this surgery, the more preparations they should make for a painful and difficult recovery.

Some middle-aged adults may need to take between one and two weeks off work simply because of the need to continue using narcotic pain relief. My surgeon told me I’d want to stay ahead of this pain. I’m a minimalist about medications, and I was hesitant to use narcotics at all, but all I can say is I’m grateful I took his advice.

Surviving ‘Childhood’ Conditions After Childhood

I had chickenpox when I was five. I had a particularly bad case and fought a few high fevers amid the head-to-toe itchy blisters, but I survived the bout without any notable issues. Yet I knew someone years ago who’d caught the virus in her early twenties, and her infection sent her to the hospital.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, adults and people with impaired immune systems are at particular risk of developing deadly complications from chickenpox. Measles is also a particular threat to adults, posing much higher risks of hospitalization and death. Adults who catch mumps are more likely than children to suffer meningitis, encephalitis, swelling of the reproductive organs or pancreatitis. All adults should be aware of the threats that can come with catching these illnesses past childhood.

We tend to think of ourselves as stronger and more robust than our far-younger counterparts, but most of them have us beat when it comes to the above conditions. While recovering from illnesses traditionally contracted in childhood is not the time to show how much better we are at toughing things out. Keep in mind that illnesses can affect everyone differently, so regardless of age, always talk to a doctor about concerns and potential complications and don't think that because it's a "childhood illness" it doesn't pack a punch.

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