The Tale of the Tonsillectomy
While blogging about surgical procedures is totally random and most likely holds no relevance to this blog, I'm going to do it anyway! I recently had my tonsils removed, last Thursday in fact. A tonsillectomy is supposed to be more painful when you're older anyway, so that was to be expected. However, thinking I'd be back on my feet as normal after a week was a bit of an understatement. So if you're having yours removed for whatever reason, consider the following as what I have experienced seems to be general run-of-the-mill stuff compared to other tonsil-less creatures who wrote about the aftermath of their procedure.
Day 1 & 2
Thursday, Jan 12th was the day of my surgery. I felt groggy, nauseated and exhausted but ate that night. My throat was sore with discomfort but I managed to eat toast, lukewarm tea (no hot liquids! Also no fizzy drinks, spices, crisps), two bowls of ice cream and some jellies. I had a restless yet deep sleep all at the same time that night in the hospital, clearly wacked out on heavy pain medication because I vividly imagined a stranger coming into my room and kissed me on the cheek before fleeing. Hopefully it was the pain meds...
I came home Friday and ate even more feeling like some kind of tonsil-less marvel who broke the mould. My all day feast included cake, ice-cream, yoghurts, Chinese food and a family size bar of Dairy Milk, naturally. Chewing bored me as I was chewing like a cow mixed with turtle-like speed but at least I was tasting my food. I thought tonsillectomy?! Whatever, tonsillectomy.
Day 3, 4, 5
I woke up on day 3 with my eyes watering with the pain, throbbing ears and glands and what felt like tiny shards of glass in my throat. My tongue was swollen with the outline of my teeth. Do not underestimate the pain of day 3. Realising this was my first real day without the aid of Morphine or Difene, I had to rely on Solpadene every four hours to numb the pain. I spoke too soon on the joys of recovery, or rather avoided speaking at all really. When I did speak, I sounded like Elmer Fudd. My reallys became weallys. My rabbits became wabbits.
Day 4 & 5 and the funny diction continues, as does the swelling. I don't need as many painkillers, I'm getting used to the pain when I eat but I don't bother eating much, it's too tiring on the throat. At this point, savoury foods taste normal but a little dull, the flavours are muted. Sweet foods on the other hand I have gone off totally. Anything with sugar in it taste like a dead ferret.
Day 6 & 7
While in most cases with illness and surgery, the more time that has passed, the more you begin to repair yourself and get on with things. A tonsillectomy for some reason is totally different. I've had surgeries for various things before and would like to think I'm pretty good with pain but this was definitely the most painful experience I've had, this may be because the tonsils themselves are such vascular organs, I'm not entirely sure. Day 6&7 were the worst for pain, I went back to painkillers every four hours and barely ate anything as the pain was too bad and it was impossible to swallow during these two days. If you are going for this kind of surgery, it is wise to take at least two weeks off. You'll be too tired and in too much pain to be able to do much and judging by my experience so far, it takes quite a while to recover!
Day 8
Today is day eight. I woke up in pain in the middle of the night in my ears, head, glands and throat. I took painkillers and haven't since, and that was 6 hours ago. I did however go out for lunch, which was a great cure for my cabin fever. Eating does hurt the throat after 10 full minutes of trying to eat a meal so I brought half the salad home.
It's starting to improve slightly so hopefully it will continue from here! I didn't expect the whole thing to be so exhausting, I'm still swollen with a strange voice and I'm a little apprehensive (like many are) on trying to eat without the aid of painkillers but that day will come eventually. I'm sure it will all be worth it at the end and hopefully food will start to taste nice again too!
All in all, it's definitely a surgical procedure where one should consider that pain manifests and eases in no particular order in relation to the number of days that pass.
Tonsillectomy pros: Hopefully no more pesky tonsilitis or reduced flare ups, and for psorasis sufferers, a reduced chance of skin ailments reoccuring as a result of tonsilitis. There is a possibility of weight loss. You catch up on all the sleep you've missed out on and then some. Novels and magazines are read. Bad daytime TV is watched. Movies are viewed in abundance. Writing is done. Cleaning and organising happens. Cooking and Baking ensues (even if you can't or don't want to consume it yourself) and you basically have up to two weeks to do whatever you want or need to do! This excludes the consumption of alcohol and hard partying, obviously.
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