Thread: Tonsillectomy!

Hey, I had the surgery, and it wasn't that bad. Your throat is REALLY sore afterwards. I remember looking into the mirror and seeing white spots on the back of my throat. During the actual recovery your voice will most likely be a bit raspy, but will not be altered permanently, don't worry! I'm not sure how often vocal chord damage happens, but i'm sure you'll be fine. I remember I didn't have any bleeding, but that's different for everyone. My throat became really dry too. Afterwards, I found my allergies were A LOT better and I became sick less often. Good luck!
If theres anything you SHOULD worry about it's talking during your surgery. When I went in, I kept saying "Off to see the wizard!" LOL

You think it will be fun because you get to eat a bunch of ice cream. They fail to mention that the ice-cream taste like blood!!

Also when you take the stuff before they put you under expect people to have more than one head.

Originally Posted by Mancon

Hey, I had the surgery, and it wasn't that bad. Your throat is REALLY sore afterwards. I remember looking into the mirror and seeing white spots on the back of my throat. During the actual recovery your voice will most likely be a bit raspy, but will not be altered permanently, don't worry! I'm not sure how often vocal chord damage happens, but i'm sure you'll be fine. I remember I didn't have any bleeding, but that's different for everyone. My throat became really dry too. Afterwards, I found my allergies were A LOT better and I became sick less often. Good luck!
If theres anything you SHOULD worry about it's talking during your surgery. When I went in, I kept saying "Off to see the wizard!" LOL

I'm relieved. Thanks for the info; I've heard something about white spots before... Aren't they from cauterization or something like that?

Originally Posted by dakotahnok

You think it will be fun because you get to eat a bunch of ice cream. They fail to mention that the ice-cream taste like blood!!

Also when you take the stuff before they put you under expect people to have more than one head.

I'm frightened. Sort of. Wait, if your throat is all nasty and what you're eating doesn't go down your throat until you swallow, then how does it taste like blood? o:

Originally Posted by Puffin

I'm relieved. Thanks for the info; I've heard something about white spots before... Aren't they from cauterization or something like that?



I'm frightened. Sort of. Wait, if your throat is all nasty and what you're eating doesn't go down your throat until you swallow, then how does it taste like blood? o:

I'm not actually sure what the white spots were haha but they went away after a few days. And food tasted fine to me, other then it hurt to swallow.

It just does! Every taste is fucked up. You will see,.

Had my surgery this morning. Just in case anyone's interested in reading, I'll be keeping a small journal of what happens over the next 7 days.

Day 1 - Surgery

Okay, so I got up at 5:00 in the morning, to be admitted for surgery at 7:00. I listened to some 30STM tracks on the drive to the hospital. When I got there, both my parents were there and they kept trying to talk to me about school, watching digital art videos I got while on vacation, yadayada. I got a bit pissed off at them because I was fairly nervous. I waited in the main room for ten minutes, then was called into a back room to fill out some paperwork. Then, I waited in that new room for ten minutes again, and was finally called in. Got changed into a hospital gown and sat on one of those rolling beds to get my IV. Most painful thing ever, the stupid needle went like two inches along the top of my hand, under the skin. I was now hooked up to a drip, which made the IV site burn whenever I got a burst of medicine. My arm was shaking because I have a really bad phobia of needles.

Hmm... I waited there for half a freaking hour with the needle in my left hand, which was terribly uncomfortable. My parents were there, but then I was rolled into the operating room and the anesthetist gave me the sedation directly into the IV. It burned, then ebbed, then burned again. The last thing I remember was the anesthetist saying, "it shouldn't hurt that much, but I'll have a look at the IV".

I woke up (seemingly only a second later!) and was now in the recovery room, pretty groggy and dizzy; my eyes wouldn't stay still. I wasn't very sore at first, but I was told to drink lots of water and eventually they weaned me off the morphine I was on so I could go home (I was in recovery for 4 hours but the time went by fast). I was a bit sore now, but I had some lime popsicles and small cups of water before going home to ease the soreness. I went to the washroom like five times once I got home because I had drank so much water in the hospital. Sometime at home, I tried to see the back of my throat with my ipod camera (no access to a mirror because I was a bit dizzy still), but it was too dark. Not like I really wanted to see anything, though.

I have a humidifier on in the room right now.

Overall, I'd give today an average pain scale of 4/10, and difficulty-swallowing scale of 6/10.

Day 2 - The day after surgery

I couldn't sleep at all after coming back home from the operation. I got one precious hour of sleep, but it was interrupted by trouble swallowing and choking because the back of my throat is incredibly swollen. For "food" on day two, I had lukewarm chicken soup broth with tylenol 3 mixed in, sorbet, and I even managed to down a Wendy's Frosty near the end of the day, which was probably the most soothing thing I'd ever eaten. I also managed to finish a few lukewarm chicken taquitos, and an oreo cakester. I took some Metamucil because the tylenol could have given me indigestion. The worst thing was probably the broth with the tylenol; the broth itself tasted awesome but the tylenol was crushed and mixed into it, so it tasted like crap. I took this stuff every 4 hours.

Since I didn't get next to any sleep last night, I was sometimes spacing out and simply closing my eyes to try and rest every once in a while. I ended up taking two "naps", but I never fell asleep during them. My mother said I was snoring while I tried to sleep, because my throat was inflamed. I didn't notice because I was too tired.

Today is day 3 and I'm not feeling any better, even though I managed to get in 4 hours of sleep. My stomach feels tight and I keep having to cough up stuff. The mornings are supposed to be the worst, but... Yeah. Still have the humidifier going in my room.

Day 3 - Second day after surgery

Last night, I went to bed early in the morning and got 4 hours of sleep, in which time I didn't recall any dreams (boo). I woke up in the morning and felt an itch deep in the bottom of my throat, and had to cough. I've been coughing all day, as softly as I can because I don't want to scratch up my throat while it's healing. Swelling in my neck is going down, and the pain subsided a little too, but it's still probably a 4/10. Took more Tylenol in chicken noodle soup broth, some more Metamucil, and ate some tater tots (yikes!)! I found it more difficult to swallow in the morning than at night; there was almost no pain while doing so at around 10 at night. I also had an aero chocolate bar.

It's 3:50 in the morning right now, but I'm having a bit of difficulty sleeping again. I'm going to bed soon to try and sleep anyways, though. I really need to catch up on rest.