Tonsil removal

Commonest in children — where keeping fluids up is the real treatment

First things firstYour discharge sheet and your surgeon's instructions come before this page. What follows is food, rest, what the medicines do, and the warning signs. Wound dressing, lifting limits and when to go back to work differ by operation and by surgeon — ask them, not a web page.

1Before the operation

The preparation that changes the outcome.

Specific to this operation

Tell the child honestly that the throat will hurt for some days — a prepared child panics less and drinks more.

Stock cold things at home in advance: ice cream, kulfi, curd, cold milk, jelly.

Applies after any operation

What your doctor must be told

Your surgeon and the anaesthetist need to know everything you are taking — medicines, Ayurvedic powders, vitamins, home decoctions, all of it.

What to do: People often do not count Ayurvedic and home preparations as medicines and leave them out. That is the commonest and most important omission. Carry the packets, or photograph them on your phone — better than trying to remember names.

Practical preparation

Small things that make the hospital day easier and are hard to remember at the last minute.

What to do: Follow the hospital's fasting instructions, not the internet's. Cut your nails and take off nail polish — the oxygen probe clips onto a finger. Leave all jewellery at home. Loose clothes. Carry your medicine list and old reports. Arrange for someone to be with you for the first week back. Clear the path to the toilet, and put water and essentials within reach of the bed.

2After the operation

What to expect in the first days and weeks.

The pain is worst between days four and seven, not at the start. Knowing that stops people panicking.

A white or yellow coating in the throat is normal — it is the healing surface, not pus.

Take the painkillers on time rather than waiting for pain — less pain means they keep drinking and eating, which is what matters most.

No rough or sharp food for two weeks — namkeen, chips, toast.

3What to eat

The raw material for repair — and what is different after this operation.

Specific to this operation

Fluids matter most — cold milk, buttermilk, coconut water, soup. Pale urine means enough.

Cold, soft food numbs the throat and eases the pain.

Citrus juices sting at first.

Applies after any operation

Protein, for the repair

Healing a wound means building new tissue, and the raw material for that is protein. The body needs more than usual after surgery — at exactly the time appetite is lowest.

What to do: Something at every meal: dal, rajma, chana, curd, paneer, egg, fish, chicken soup, moong, sattu, milk. If you are vegetarian, eat dal with rice — together they make a complete protein. If you have kidney disease, ask your doctor before increasing protein.

Low Weight / Weakness General Debility Protein & muscle

Iron, to rebuild the blood

Every operation loses some blood. Rebuilding it needs iron, and absorbing iron needs vitamin C.

What to do: Green leafy vegetables, beetroot, pomegranate, dates, jaggery, til, rajma. With something sour alongside — lemon, amla, orange — which multiplies how much iron is absorbed. Do not drink tea straight after a meal; it blocks iron. Leave an hour.

Anaemia Weakness & Anaemia

Fibre and water

Painkillers, moving less and a changed diet all push towards constipation. After abdominal surgery, straining does the most harm.

What to do: Water through the day, a little at a time rather than all at once. Soaked figs, raisins, munakka at night. Papaya, guava, apple with the skin. Isabgol with a full glass — with too little water it does the opposite. Build fibre up slowly or it brings gas.

Constipation Gas & Bloating

Little and often

A full plate in front of you kills what appetite there is. Six small plates get far more into you over a day.

What to do: Something every two or three hours. A share of protein each time. Liquids count — dal water, soup, buttermilk, milk, sattu. When eating is hard, drinks are the easiest way in.

Poor Appetite Weak Digestion

What to keep away from

A few things work against both a healing wound and a digestion that is only just coming back.

What to do: Deep-fried and heavily spiced food — the stomach cannot handle it in the first weeks. Alcohol — it slows healing and is dangerous alongside painkillers. Smoking — it cuts the oxygen reaching the wound, and is the single most avoidable cause of a wound going wrong. Cut, open street food until your strength is back.

Gastritis Acidity

4What the medicines do

What follows the anaesthetic, the painkillers and the antibiotics.

Constipation from painkillers

Strong painkillers — tramadol, codeine, morphine — slow the bowel down. After surgery this happens to almost everyone; it is not a sign that something has gone wrong.

What to do: Sip water through the day. Soaked raisins, figs or munakka at night. Warm water first thing. Isabgol with a full glass of water. And walk as soon as you are allowed — movement wakes the bowel faster than anything else. Ask your doctor for a stool softener early, rather than once it has set in.

Constipation Stubborn Constipation

Loose motions from antibiotics

Antibiotics clear the gut's useful bacteria along with the harmful ones, so loose stools during the course are common.

What to do: Curd or buttermilk with meals — but keep two hours between it and the antibiotic dose. Rice water, banana, khichdi. Keep your fluids up, ORS if needed. Do not stop the course on your own. Watery motions with fever or blood are not a home matter — see a doctor.

Diarrhea Recurring Diarrhea Gut health drinks

Nausea after anaesthesia

Feeling sick for the first day or two after a general anaesthetic is very common.

What to do: Sips, not glasses. Dry roti, khichdi, plain rice. Once you are allowed, a slice of ginger or dry ginger in warm water. Stay off fried and strong-smelling food for a day. If vomiting keeps up and even water will not stay down, tell your doctor.

Nausea / Vomiting Vomiting Acidity & Nausea

No appetite after the medicines

Anaesthesia, painkillers and antibiotics together flatten the appetite for a week or two — at exactly the time the body needs the most food to repair itself.

What to do: Less at a time, six times a day. Something with protein each time — dal, curd, paneer, egg, sattu. Jeera or ajwain water before eating. A sour taste opens the appetite — lemon, amla, pomegranate. Six small plates beat one forced large one.

Poor Appetite Loss of Appetite Weak Digestion

5Changes in the body

Skin, hair, and the changes nobody warns you about.

Weakness that lasts for weeks

Even a small operation costs several weeks of strength. People expect to feel normal as soon as the stitches come out, and are alarmed when they do not.

What to do: Protein at every meal. Get checked for anaemia. Some sunlight daily. Start walking short and add a little each week — judge it by weeks, not days. On a day you overdo it, do less the next day rather than stopping.

General Debility Chronic Fatigue General Weakness / Tonic Anaemia

Not a home remedy — see a doctor

Any fresh red bleeding from the mouth — this is an emergency, go straight to hospital
The child will not even drink, or is passing very little urine
High fever or difficulty breathing
Fever above 100.4°F (38°C), or shaking chills
Pus or smell from the wound, spreading redness, or the wound opening up
Swelling, pain and warmth in one calf — do not massage it, get seen at once
Sudden breathlessness or chest pain — get emergency help
Persistent vomiting, a swelling belly, or no wind and no motion at all
No urine passed for eight hours
Pain that keeps increasing despite the painkillers