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This was the first time in five years that my wife and I slept till 9am. I can’t tell you how amazing that feels.

I feet better than the first day and I was able to swallow without cringing in pain. This was a huge relief when waking up as swallowing the day of the procedure was a bear.

I laid down most of the day and did some writing, reading, and eating. I had water by me the entire day and kept a steady flow of it going all day long. Like I said in a previous post, you must drink water in order to recover and the more water you drink the faster you will recovery. Sounds to simple right?

Changed pain medication

I had to change my pain medication today and just tried a dose of the new medication. If my writing becomes incoherent, you’ll know whether it’s working more than the first medication.

Diet

My diet has consisted of sorbet, apple sauce, jello, yogurt, lot’s of water, and some vitamin water. All of these foods have gone down with no problem. I have made sure that everything I’ve eaten has been cold as warm or hot foods at this point would be very painful.

Fever

This is the second night that I have developed a low grade fever (i.e. 99.5 to 100.7 degrees). My wife called the doctor and he explained that this is normal and that I need to do the following.

• Every hour I need to take ten deep breaths in order to help keep my resting lungs expanded.
• Every four hours I need to take my pain medication which has acetaminophen as an active ingredient which will help lower the fever.

My fever is getting worse as the night continues and it has reached 102.1. We called the doctor and I explained my situation. He said that having a fever develop like this at night was normal and it was normal for a low grade fever of anything under 101.5. Strange enough because the hospital said to call if there is a fever of anything over 100.4. Even though I had a fever of 102.1 he gave me the option of going to the ER, if I that made me more comfortable (at 11pm that is), or taking the ibuprofen and going to sleep. I had explained to the doctor that my body, in time of fevers, responded really well to ibuprofen. He wasn’t comfortable allowing me to take ibuprofen because of the increased chances of bleeding, but he allowed me to take 600mg this one time. So, I opted for the ibuprofen and not the ER.

Now it’s time for some sleep. I’ll touch base again tomorrow. I hope tonight goes well.

I didn’t really sleep well the night before the surgery, which is understandable. I woke up like I normally do and my wife and I got the kids ready for school. We made our way over to the hospital as we had to arrive two hours before my scheduled surgery time of 9:45am. We checked in and waited.

Arrive at hospital

I was finally called back and asked to put on the lovely hospital gown that they give you, which always seems so demeaning, or maybe it’s just me. I spoke to a nurse to confirm a few things: why I was there, some personal information, and some of the medications I was taking. She then had my wife come back to be with me which helped to have someone there who you know. Strangely enough I wasn’t as anxious as I thought I’d be. This was my first surgery in my life involving general anesthesia and I had no idea what to expect with that let-alone what it feels like to have two pieces of flesh cut out of your mouth. Before the surgery I figured that if my wife had two cesarean sections for our two boys and the fact that kids get tonsillectomies all the time, I should be fine.

Surgery time

I spoke with my anesthesiologist and she also confirmed some information and explained what was going to happen. Nurses and surgery personnel are always so empathetic which is something that – goes without saying – is always so helpful during life’s important emotional moments. I was finally called and gave my wife a kiss before heading back for surgery. I was wheeled into the operating room and a team of surgery personnel was there to greet me with masks on and a nice breathing mask waiting for me. They put it on over my face and asked me to breath in deeply. Well my friends, after that, it was lights out!

Post Operation

I woke up in the recovery room with a nurse watching over me and checking my vital signs. Her first question was, “on a scale of one to ten, how bad is the pain”? I told her it was a six, but little did I know that I had some morphine type pain killer in me as well as a local anesthetic on the areas that were just sliced out. After a few minutes I explained that the pain was increasing and she injected some more pain medication in my IV. The pain lessened after that and I soon gave her a rating of five. Before leaving the recovery room she wanted my pain to go down to a four or less. After another 20 minutes it did.

I was taken to the same area I was waiting in before they wheeled me into the operating room and my wife was allowed to come in and see me. She was so helpful and seeing that I had water, ices, blankets, etc. I ate some ices before taking some codeine. The codeine was VERY helpful in reducing the pain and helping me sleep. While all of this was happening my local anesthetic was slowly wearing off and the flesh in my mouth was ever becoming inflamed, which was normal. My uvula, which they did not cut out, became very large and uncomfortable and I had to double-check that this was normal before leaving the hospital. About an hour later I was discharged and went home. I’ll quickly mention that my wife drove me home as you are not allowed to leave the hospital yourself or without a designated driver.

The drive home

It stunk as I was car sick the entire ride.

Finally home

It was great to make it home as I was hungry and tired. The first thing I did when walking into the house was to eat some sorbet and jello before taking my first dose of pain medication. Since I don’t do well taking medication on an empty stomach, I had to eat something. The medication went down fine.

I went right to bed after eating and taking my medication and relaxed for a while. I made sure to start drinking lot’s and lot’s of water and took my medication at three hour intervals after setting an alarm to remind me.

After the local anesthetic wore off from the hospital it was very painful to swallow and my face would cringe every time I tried to. It’s not like you can’t swallow, it’s just that it was very painful. You must drink water to help recover so concentrate on remaining tough. If you don’t drink water  you’re opening yourself up for a really bad experience and most-likely a visit to the ER.

Overall I rested, drank, and ate sorbet and jello. Swallowing really stunk but I finally went to bed that night with no problem.

The tonsillectomy night life

I set my alarm at three hour increments to take my pain medication. Here is a quote I heard which you’ll need to live by during this short time in recovery.

“Don’t let the pain get ahead of you, you stay ahead of the pain”

This simply means to take your medication at the prescribed times and don’t miss one, you’ll be sorry.

I am 34 years old and I have had problems with enlarged tonsils for the past eight years. They have been getting worse and more recently – over the past year or two – my tonsils have become so large that they have actually gagged me when I’ve become very ill. Things were so bad to where I would get the common cold and my tonsils would grow enormous. I finally decided to get them removed, but first let me give you a history of the events that led up to my surgery.

Winter of 2008 & 2009 – The first doctor

Winter 2008 to 2009 – I had visited an ear nose and throat doctor about my tonsils and had explained that I wanted my tonsils out immediately. This all stemmed from getting strep throat that winter which led to the worse experience to-date. This was the first time my tonsils had become so large that I was gagging and vomiting from them. This was a huge wake-up call for me as I did not want to go through this experience again. The doctor didn’t ask me any questions as he heard the desperation in my voice, and agreed that they should come out as soon as possible. After speaking with my family they told me to stop and think as a procedure like a tonsillectomy at 34 years of age should not be taken lightly. So I went to get a second opinion, which was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Winter of 2008 & 2009 – The second doctor

The second doctor asked me about my history and I had explained everything that happened to-date. At that time it had been weeks since my strep throat episode and I had lost some of the desperation in my voice in demanding a tonsillectomy. This was good as this new doctor could look at my history and could make an impartial decision without me swaying him one way or the other. He decided to have me wait three months to monitor #1 whether I get sick and #2 if I do get sick, how bad things get. Over the course of the next three months I did not get sick and the doctor concluded that I should not get a tonsillectomy. He prescribed me with a steroid and instructed me to take it should I get sick and my tonsils become enlarged. I was somewhat relieved, but that was short-lived.

Summer 2009

I did not get sick all summer long. I was also washing my hands feverishly becoming more and more germaphobic. How long could this last, I would ask myself, but I would just put it off reasoning with myself that I could realistically do this for the rest of my life.

Fall 2009

My two little boys finally get their first sickness of the year, a cold with a cough, mixed with a little fever. Any parent knows that whatever your kids get, you’ll most likely get as well. It didn’t take long for me to get the cold and cough although I did not get the fever. My tonsils responded by becoming grossly enlarged and I was on the brink of being gagged again. I even took the steroids that my doctor prescribed me a year earlier and they worked only slightly, but not good enough. This was the final straw! I sat down with my wife and explained that I wanted a tonsillectomy.

She wasn’t happy because of all the risks involved, but it came down to a “quality of life” decision for me. How could I live with this for the rest of my life, after the doctor explained to me that infections would occur more often as I increased in age. In short, it would only get worse. After speaking with my doctor we set a date for the surgery on November 11, 2009. He gave me two prescriptions to be filled before the surgery.

• Antibiotic – would need to be taken 10 days before the procedure to minimize the chances of infection. Any sickness, whether viral or bacterial before the surgery, would postpone the date of the surgery
• Pain medication – I think this one is self-explanatory.

The antibiotic . I must have washed my hands after touching anything and everything as I became focused and determined on getting this surgery done once-and-for-all.

Well, my day finally came…