yesterday I had a tonsillectomy using the coblation process. Going into the surgery I was expecting pain worse than the worst throat infection of my life (a viral infection lasting three months that included severe tonsillitis about 12 years ago). For starters my tonsils were not coming out due to infection though I’m sure that only made my situation worse. My tonsils were coming out due to stage 4 tonsillar hypertrophy. For those of you that do not know what this is my tonsils took up over 75% of my throat. Not only did I have this issue but I also had severe snoring (hear me across the house and through double closed doors bad) as well as tonsil stones and choking while eating. I have known for years that I could see my tonsils all the way through my throat but no doctor ever said a word to me. In October of 2014 was the first time I was ever told this might be a problem. Again in April I saw an ent and they mentioned it, it actually became a running joke between the two of us. She didn’t want to remove them until it became absolutely necessary. Well necessary came in December. I had a follow up appointment for allergies and things got worse with my tonsils. I was out immediately on steroids and told to come back one week later. If things were not any better those suckers were out. Unfortunately the conditioned worsened over that week and after multiple emails back and forth including pictures my next appointment was with her and my surgeon. I was warned that this would hurt and I would hate him for a week. My surgeon is a good guy. He did my dads surgery too just a couple weeks prior. Well yesterday was surgery time. I got to the hospital at 7am. I was immediately brought back and thirty minutes or so later I was in pre-op. While waiting to go into pre-op I was questioned to make sure everything was correct and I met with my anesthesiologist. After taking me to pre-op they quickly started an iv which sadly to say is the first time I have ever done it without my dad there as they had already took him to the waiting room. Luckily she listened to me on where to put it so it was a good experience not a bad one. My surgeon then came in to see me about 30 minutes later and made me pinky promise him that I would stay hydrated and told me the low-down. He told me he would see me in surgery in about an hour and to just take it easy and relax until then. He also apologized for the crying kid in front of me. Everyone except me needed a chill pill and I was just laying there smiling like I got this. Well then they brought me into the surgery room. I had to get into the small bed and the last thing I remember was being asked to breathe in the oxygen but I really don’t even remember too much before that exact moment or anything. I remember taking 1 or 2 breaths but that’s it. Next thing I know they were waking me up in recovery. My surgeon came in and told me everything went great and my tonsils were definitely ready to come out. He told my dad they were the worst tonsils he had ever seen. Food was even stuck behind them. He asked me how my pain level was so I swallowed a couple of times and told him 0 and he was like that’s good. He also told my dad I was smiling after surgery. They also had to shrink my adenoids. They didn’t need to be totally removed however. After I was moved to the same day surgery unit I was immediately greeted by a tray of ice chips, water, orange jello and orange Popsicles. I started eating and everything. I did everything they needed and was able to walk on my own with no assistance. My pain level was still a 0. They allowed me to go home at 12 so I was only there a total of 5 hours. Once home I kept drinking fluids and was even able to eat soft foods. My pain level has not increased yet. In fact with no medication my pain level has stayed consistently at 0. I have been able to stay fairly active which is rather nice if I do say so myself. I have been resting don’t get me wrong but I have also been trying to stay moving when given the chance. I truly believe it has kept my pain level down as well as constantly staying hydrated. I am not a baby when it comes to pain and I realize that I’m only in the first 30 hours of recovery. My uvula swelling has decreased amazingly. Honestly if I wasn’t on fmla I would be at work this weekend with how I’m feeling right now. I haven’t needed any pain medication. I have taken it before eating just in case but instead of taking 15ml I’m only taking 3ml. I just feel completely better than I did two days ago. It’s weird. If it stays this way I will be completely happy because I am honestly feeling great. I will update in a couple of days and let you know exactly how it’s going then and let you know what I’m doing. Right now I’m just happy to have the hardest part past me. No more choking on food! This was about two days before my tonsillectomy and after.
foreverlostnotfound 