Adult tonsillectomy trip report

[scbelleatheart]

Your updates are making me feel so bad for you. I hate hospitals and waiting forever for things. I just have to give you big props for even having the guts to have your tonsils removed as an adult! Hope you get to go home soon. My throat hurts just thinking about your surgery.

 

[ols386]

I have to say that you are a lot tougher than I would be after having a surgery like the one you had.

Take care of yourself.

 

[Deb in IA]

As I spend all my professional time in hospitals, I know your pain.

It is a game of hurry up and wait.

Hope the rest of your recovery goes smoothly sbell 111.

Eat a lot of ice cream.

 

[krcit]

Glad it went well. Feel better!

 

[FergieTCat]

Glad to hear your tonsils, uvula, septum and turbinates all turned out well!

 

[OhMari]

Glad you are doing good. I was just trying to give you some ideas to help. I guess my dd's needed some help. I can' believe they had you drinking out of a straw, my girls were told straws were forbidden.

 

[sookie]

Two hours from now, I'll be getting my tonsils out, as well as getting my deviated septum fixed, my uvula nipped and tucked, and my turbinates ablated. Given that I'm 45 years old and searches on the Internet turn up mostly horror stories and whininess, I figured that I would report my own experiences. Hopefully, I'll have an easy time of it and my apnea will be corrected and snoring resolved.

Let's see what happens.

It's awful! I was 24 and I thought I was going to die. At one point, I wanted to chop my own head off to stop the pain. I ended up getting re-admitted as I was super dehydrated, my throat was swelling, and I had an infection brewing. IV fluids, pain meds, steriods and antibotics were a godsend.

HAVE FUN!

My advice? Make sure you keep drinking, don't go back to work too early, and stay super on top of the pain meds - the good stuff (narcotics). Don't try to tough it out - take them.

 

[sbell111]

It's a good news, bad news thing.

The good news is that the pain really isn't that bad. Don't get me wrong, it feels like someone has cut a chunk out of my throat. That being said, a super bad sore throat doesn't actually affect your life. I can still do everything that I could do before the surgery, except for two things (aka 'the bad news').

I can't eat anything except jello and Popsicles. This is a bummer, but it's not unexpected. The thing that is surprising is that I can't drink; at all. Due to the swelling of my palate, every liquid that enters my mouth comes out my nose. I can't even swallow my own saliva. Therefore, the plan for tomorrow is lots of Popsicles.

 

[sbell111]

Yesterday came and went. Throat was sore and I couldn't drink anything.

Taking it easy didn't happen. I spent the first half of the day removing wallpaper as we have a drywall/paint guy starting today. The second half was spent with the kids. Props to my two-year old daughter who accepted an hour of cuddle time watching Special Agent Oso in lieu of more involved play while her younger brother napped.

I'm not sure what to do about the pain meds. I went eleven hours overnight without taking them and still was able to sleep. I only woke up a few times. (I've been sleeping in a recliner as i read somewhere that keeping elevated helps.) I definitely think that I will not take the meds overnight any more as that went pretty well. During the day, I'm not sure if I should space them farther apart or reduce the dosage. I'll probably reduce the dosage. Hopefully, that will do away with the sweats/chills that the pain meds are causing.

My energy level has not been too impressive, but given that I have been subsisting on a few servings of jello and a couple of Popsicles for the last few days, that's not a big surprise. With any luck, my ability to drink will return soon and I can start dumping in calories. Many people report that the discomfort gets worse after the first few days after surgery. I wonder if people just aren't getting more run down so they are being affected more by the same or similar discomfort. I guess that I'll know the answer to that in a few days.

 

[mhsjax]

Ok, you need to stop being such a man, you are going to mess your self up and make more work for your wife. From what I understand, and from when DD had hers out, Bleeding is a real concern. YOu don't need to over exert yourself to prove anything, TAKE IT EASY. YOu family doesn't need you bleeding to death.

Also my DD was in more pain after a few days, hers were cauterized and as the scabs hardened and tightened, they hurt more, then they hurt a lot, then they feel off and instantly no more pain.

The one thing my DD could get down and preferred, was iced tea. She was only 5 and ice cream didn't even do it for her. I remember reading about how you could put tea bogs on your eyes in the am for swelling. Also when my mom had a tooth extracted they told her to put a tea bag on it, it it started really bothering her. Well that iced tea worked for her, she lived on the stuff. I suggest you get yourself some and DRINK DRINK DRINK. Good luck and TAKE IT EASY.

 

[sbell111]

It's not as if I am moving furniture (much). Doing a little work around the house is not likely to cause massive bleeding.

Now for the news:

I am able to sip water without it coming out my nose! That means that I can get back to broths et al. I'm definitely going to get an icee after while.

This morning, Cathy and I are basically keeping a step ahead of the drywall guy moving things out of his way and boxing things up.

 

[sbell111]

More news:

Cathy brought home tiny cherry tarts from Starbucks. I ate two of them. Yummy.

 

[Muushka]

I have to say, it has been an enlightening experience reading your 'trip report'!

No offense to women (I happen to be one) but reading a man's perspective on this has been a pleasure. No drama!
As Sargent Joe Friday used to say 'just the facts ma'am'

I hope you have a speedy recovery and thank you for sharing with us.

 

[mhsjax]

I have to say, it has been an enlightening experience reading your 'trip report'!

No offense to women (I happen to be one) but reading a man's perspective on this has been a pleasure. No drama!
As Sargent Joe Friday used to say 'just the facts ma'am'

I hope you have a speedy recovery and thank you for sharing with us.

lol, most men I know are way more drama and babyish when it comes to being sick.

 

[lovemygoofy]

It's not as if I am moving furniture (much). Doing a little work around the house is not likely to cause massive bleeding.

Now for the news:

I am able to sip water without it coming out my nose! That means that I can get back to broths et al. I'm definitely going to get an icee after while.

This morning, Cathy and I are basically keeping a step ahead of the drywall guy moving things out of his way and boxing things up.

I read your last report that you can now drink some. This is going to be very important in the upcoming days as your stitches or scabs start to get dryer.

I realize you are trying to be super awesome and do all you can do like this but you are going to need to rest some as well and get the stitches or scabs moist.

Day 9 after having my tonsils out, I got up to answer my door and the stitches on one side of my throat popped open. I lost over a unit of blood within the hour it took to get me to the ER and back into surgery and ended up spending more time back in the hospital and then another 2 weeks recovering.

Please do be careful and take some time to rest.You won't do anyone any good if you make it worse.

 

[ols386]

lol, most men I know are way more drama and babyish when it comes to being sick.

Actually my dh isn't dramatic at all when he's sick. He pretty much just deals with it internally. He doesn't want anyone making a fuss over him. Once he was having severe chest pains while at work, and drove himself to the ER (although probably not the smartest thing to do).

Having said that, I think he's probably in the minority. LOL

I read your last report that you can now drink some. This is going to be very important in the upcoming days as your stitches or scabs start to get dryer.

I realize you are trying to be super awesome and do all you can do like this but you are going to need to rest some as well and get the stitches or scabs moist.

Day 9 after having my tonsils out, I got up to answer my door and the stitches on one side of my throat popped open. I lost over a unit of blood within the hour it took to get me to the ER and back into surgery and ended up spending more time back in the hospital and then another 2 weeks recovering.


Please do be careful and take some time to rest.You won't do anyone any good if you make it worse.

Oh man, that sounds awful. Glad you eventually got fully recovered.



sbell, hope you have a speedy recovery.

 

[sbell111]

Please do be careful and take some time to rest.You won't do anyone any good if you make it worse.

Even if we didnt have kids or a thousand things going on at home, its not in my nature to just lie around if I'm not actually sick. I sleep at night and am rescheduling some meetings so my work week will be super low pressure. I will be as rested as possible.

 

[sbell111]

I got mostly a full night's sleep last night. I got up about an hour later than I normally would on a Monday and made it to the office about an hour late. I took some pain meds about eleven pm before going to sleep and took another dose once I was at the office at about eight am.

I was able to finish the reports that needed to get done this week and handle some issues that presented themselves. I'm supposed to attend a meeting at 1:30. I'll play it by ear.

This is how I feel today:

I have a sore throat. My energy level is less than it would typically be. I can drink pretty much fine although yesterday afternoon, there was a time where I had a little water go into my nose. I assume that I was just getting a bit run down and my palate swelled a bit.

The truth is, I can actually eat; meaning that I can physically swallow actual food. I have tested this miraculous ability on the Starbucks cherry tarts, a bit of chicken from the kids meals last night, and some yummy raisin rice pudding. The problem with eating is that there is a stitch that bugs me when I eat. It feels like the food is caught right there when I am likely just feeling the stitch. It's simpler to just not eat for now than to deal with that.

 

[sbell111]

Forget everything that I said. Eating rocks. It is the best thing ever.

I ate some cut up ziti and meatballs that my toddler wouldn't and I had some wonton soup from Pei Wei. It's not the BLT that I have been fantasizing about, but it was food. The stitch or whatever in my throat isn't bothering me much and I figured fairly soft foods aren't likely to kill me or cause whatever 'future day' pain to be quicker or worse.

I also ended up attending the afternoon meeting at work and staying until the end of the day. After work, I picked my wife and kids up at the body shop where she dropped off her slightly damaged car and we went to the mall, where I ate the ziti, we rode the carousel, and then the kids and I did three laps while mommy got her hair cut. I took some pain meds when we sat down to eat and let my wife drive home.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

Your trip report brings to mind Gene Simmons Family Jewels and Season 2, Episode 4 and maybe 5, where he has plastic surgery and doesn't rest and recover like he is supposed to.

Maybe if you'd sit down for a minute you could check it out on Netflix.