About two years ago I had a partial tonsillectomy, plus uvulectomy and removal of part of the soft palate. This was all done at the same time as a nasal septoplasty. All of this was done in an effort to get me to breathe better/cure sleep apnea/etc.

The recovery was indeed painful, but I had liquid hydrocodone every 4 hours, so that helped. I honestly didn't notice any pain in my nose, because all of the pain and discomfort I felt was in my throat, which felt like someone had forced a 1 foot diameter reamer through. Everything hurt. Breathing, talking, eating, drinking, everything.

For the first couple of days, I only had juice, pudding, jello, and sherbet, and even then only had a couple of spoonfuls at a time. I had the surgery on Thurday morning, and by Saturday afternoon had lost 11 pounds. After those first three or so days, however, everything got progressively better. I went back to work on Monday, but didn't feel that great, so took Tuesday off. However, I was back at work full-time on Wednesday.

So, yeah, it hurts like hell, but I would do the whole thing again in a heartbeat. For the previous 10 years of my life, I couldn't recall ever breathing through my nose, and I sounded like I was choking to death when I slept. Now, I breathe through my nose almost exclusively (like normal people do, from what I hear). My wife's no longer concerned for my safety at night. My blood pressure's down. I've lost weight. And, in my case, since part of the soft palate was removed, I can sing a lot better than I could before, when my abnormally huge soft palate got in the way.

In my case, the surgery was outpatient, but I felt like I needed a lot of tending to, and think it would make more sense to have a day in the hospital afterwards.