Day One: Dooms Day!





Right before heading back to surgery; terrified!  

A little background information: I'm 24 years old (until next week) My surgery date was set for August 15th, 2012. I've been having trouble with my tonsils since 2007. Symptoms I suffer with include:

• Tonsils are always swollen crushing my uvula
• Strep at least six times a year
• Tonsillitis every other month, each bout worse than before
• Large craters in tonsil beds
• Gigantic Tonsils stones weekly
• Constant swollen glands/sore neck

The reason I've been waiting so long to have the surgery done was multiple ones. I have gone through three or four different Ear, Nose, and Throat doctors. One said I was too old to have my tonsils taken out, another didn't want to touch me because I suffer with TMJ, and the other blamed all my issues on acid reflux (what?!) Also the past four years I’ve been working on getting my bachelors degree and it would have been hard to take a few weeks off classes without getting seriously behind. I just recently graduated and was blessed with a window of opportunity to get this done before getting a big girl job.

So now that you're caught up: Day of surgery...

Like I said my surgery date was August 15th 2012 I was scheduled at 9:30 am which was a perfect time for me because I live an hour away from the surgical center that did my procedure. The nurses were very kind and set me up with my gown, booties and started my IV (they even used the numbing spray!) While I was waiting to head back to surgery I got to chat with the nurse who made me feel very comfortable and answered all of my questions. The longer I waited the high my pulse went, I was really nervous and this was my first surgery! Eventually my doctor and the anesthesiologist came to talk to me. I had the chance to go over what he would be doing, as I’m glad we had this discussion because he had forgotten that my adenoids were also going to be removed! I continued to ask a few more questions, signed a paper, and before I knew it the anesthesiologist was putting two syringes full of medicine in my IV line and they were pushing me down to surgery. I felt an odd calm as they wheeled me down (the meds I’m sure!) I can remember joking around with the doctors and sliding onto the OR table and I was out. Waking up after surgery I was bawling my eyes out and I could not tell you why. I was not in any pain at all. Before the surgery I was dreading the first swallow post op the most, but it was a synch! After I finished my pity party (A side effect of the anesthesia I’m sure) the nurse offered me a Popsicle and I gladly accepted. After two popsicles, an apple sauce, and a Percocet I was getting dressed and heading home! The hour drive didn't feel like it took as long as I anticipated and as soon as I got home I lounged around. The pain was perhaps a 3/10. Everything I was reading online said I should be in pain and terribly weak. I was up moving around talking to my Dad and just hanging around the house like normal. Day one was a piece of cake! Most of the day I kept an ice pack around my neck and ate popsicles to keep my swelling down, this helped a lot! Another trick that helped a good bit was the humidifier my dad hooked up in my room. It kept pumping water into the air to aid in keeping my throat moist. The rest of the evening was the same, low pain, my boyfriend came to visit, I ate frozen things, kept ice packs around my neck, watched some TV, and tried to drink until my eyes were floating! All-in-all Day one, piece of cake! The hardest part was the nerves waiting for surgery!

My throat fifteen minutes after surgery.



Day Two Post Op.

My Throat Day Two.

I didn't get much sleep last night because i kept waking myself up by snoring, I was so exahusted everytime i heard myself start to snore i worried why my throat was making such a funny noise and got freaked out; I blame the percecot for making me wonder why i'm snoring haha! I found out that if I laid straight on my back my uvula blocked my air way the only way to lay down and sleep was to lay on my right side. During the day I wasn't in a great deal of pain, to be honest this was one of my best days pain wise. I can feel the white membrene starting to form around my throat; it feels really goopy! The goopy and nausea is really the worst part for me today. The rest of the day I was able to eat some ice pops, and later in the day my dad was generous enough to make me my favorite stuffing and mix in some gravy so it was nice and mushy. The rest of the day was pretty boring. I attempted to paint my finger nails but I found myself zoning out a lot when i tried to concentrate, thanks Percocet! Around 8 p.m. I started to feel pretty shaky. That I'm so cold i can't stop shaking feeling when you know the flu is starting to arrive. I took a Percecot at 11 pm and went to bed. It was 1 am when I woke up with the horrible urge to throw up. I made it to the bathroom in time to see around 16-17 brown blood clots which really freaked me out. I ended up calling my mother who helped calm me down. My sugeron's office had an in case of emergency number So i decided to call it and get the ENT on call. It turned out it was me surgeon. He told me there was no cause for concern unless the blodd was brand new (pink or red) That I should have a pudding cup, take another perceot when it was due and head back to bed. Around two I slowly ate a pudding and did what I was told. I was able to sleep another 20 minutes until I started throwing up the pink clots I was warned about. We ended up calling my surgeon back and he reffered me to the Emergency Room to get some fluids.

Day Three Post Op.

My Throat Day Three.

This morning early I was in the Emergency Room. Both my parents were working today so my boyfriend got a 5 am wake up call and came to pick me up. The emergency doctor asked why i was in and didn't seem to find the situation as distressing as me, which irrated me. He looked in my throat and told me that everything seemed to be on track. He told me the shaking could be coming from the percecot and that he wanted me off of it as soon as possible. SAY WHAT!? But what about the pain I asked him? His reply Motron. Oh yeah because all I have is a sore throat! after a wee bit of an arguement with him that my sergueon did not want me on anytype of blood thinner until after 2 weeks post op. he smuggly told me that ENTs in my hometown (I traveled 45 minutes for my surgery) would glady give me some motrion (uhh, theres a reason I didn't get the surgrey done in my home town!) So we settled on him writing me a script of Tylonel with Codeine and Some Zolfran for my nausea. He pumped me with a bag of fuild and I was on my way. My boyfriend took me to target to drop off my new perscriptions and we had to wait twenty minutes before the pharmacy opened. It was torutre. I hadn't had a pain pill since 3 am and that i couldnt even keep down. My throat was raw and killing me, I could barely talk, i felt that sick all over fluish feeling, and that dreded ear pain everyone was talking about started kicking in. The wait for my pills was another 30 minutes so my boyfriend and I headed over to sonic where he got to eat something that looked rather amazing (thanks babe!) and I got a Cherry coke. At least 30 minutes later my pills were ready to be picked up and we were headed home. I felt like pure crap by the time I got back to my place and we both ended up taking a long nap. Upon awaking i felt even worse than when i went to sleep. The tylonel had woren off and that ear pain was back!! My boyfriend decided to head home for a bit and left me to fend for myself. I laid around feeling like death for a bit until my tylonel kicked in (The liquid is VERY soothing, not a burning sensation like one would think) and i decided to walk outside in my garage, i had to get my mind off the pain. I sat in my garage and watched the rain for a bit, and i decided i couldn't take the blasted pain any more so i called my sugergon who was in surgery (wacking more innocent people up Dr. Abrham?!) I asked the receptionist if there was a happy medium pill betwee the codeine and the percocet. It took her a while to call me back but she finally got ahold of my doctor and sent me in a perscriton for Loritab. Thank you Jesus! I spent the rest of the aternoon sitting in the garage on the phone, the cool air felt good to breathe in and the pain was finally starting to ease up. My boyfriend swung by and picked up my new pills on his way back to my place. Upon doing a little research I found out Loritab is just a generic for Vicodin, which i cannot take. I was more than disapointed; am I really going to go through all this pain with just the help of tylonel? My boyfriend and I spent the rest of the night watching movies and eating popsicles. We also headed to bed earlier than we have on a Friday night in a long time!

Day Four Post Op.

My Throat Day Four.

 

The nights are really difficult, waking up with ear aches and jaw pain and havig to force down applesauce that goes down like a thick paste before being able to take any medicine. Its awful! I made it through another night and decided that I was going to try to take a shower before my boyfriend left this morning. I've been reading so many blogs that say weakness makes standing up in the shower impossible; I had no issues. Today I had the entire house all to myself and I appreciated it. I was able to spend the day not talking to anyone and resting my voice. I was able to talk but it hurt a great deal and i sounded like i had a mouth full of water so people had a hard time understanding me anyway. I was still in a great deal of pain but I laid around the house basking in the aloness.. until i spotted that i was almost out of my codeine (yes already) and i wasn't allowed to drive. Blast them all for leaving me home alone!! I decided that i was well enough to make the trip to target and I would do so after a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Okay in reality I could only take two sips of broth but i figured that would be enough to have the energy i needed on my big trip. I left my Pj's on and I hopped in my car and took off! The car ride actually made me feel pretty dizzy and really tired. By the time i Picked up my pills and made it back to my house I was ready for a nap, which I took! I deserved it haha! I spent the rest of the day laying around eating popsicles trying to stay hydrated. This is the first day I tried to Drink some soda. It made that thick salivia in my mouth even thicker (i have no idea how thats possible) to the point where I could barely swallow. I went back to water and waited until my boyfriend arrived back. I requested a trip to Rita's for some chocolate ice, it had been far too long sine I had enjoyed the taste of chocolate, and he gladly accepted. I got dressed for the first time in days and we were off! The car ride made me feel beyond sick and my throat was starting to feel worse. I tried not to talk as much as I could. We made a quick food stop for him.. and he ate another gigantic sandwhich infront of me.. the smell was making me feel even sicker by the minute. By the time we made it to Rita's i was feeling bad enough that I could only take a few bites of my chocolate ice, Blasted throat!  We got home and started watching the sequal to last nights movie which was hard to enjoy due to feeling generally unwell. I milked a back rub out of my boyfriend and we went to sleep.

Day Five Post Op.

My Throat Day Five.

 

 

Today was the worst morning i've had by far. Waking up every four hours to take my medicine in blinding pain eventually gets to a person. I woke up in a mad crazy coughing fit which 1. hurt beyond anything i can even descrivbe to you and 2. freaked me out beyond belief, I don't want a bleeder! The day got a little better and I played on my computer or phone all day. I was able to choke down some scrambled eggs  and a popsice. Yeah I thought that was a werid combination too! The day went on the pain ended up getting worse. I was hoping to be able to space my medicine out by now but that wasn't happening. For supper I finally was able to eat more than a few sips of soup and even got to eat the noodles; Score!!! I ended up doing a bit too much talking and later regreted it. The ear pain, tooth pain, and jaw pain is only starting to get worse and the doctors have told me that "hell day" starts tomorrow. The first couple of days are suppose to be the easiest and then you relapse and feel worse... Well tomrrow is that day for me and I cannot wait! Insert sarcasam.

Day Six Post Op.

My Throat Day Six.

 

Other than the horrible nights and mornings (like every night and morning) I felt pretty okay today. I was starved but that didn't keep me from making my nephew dippy eggs for breakfast. Note to self... eat dippy eggs and toast ASAP when well!! I was running out of codeine again today which sucked. Due to all the perscriptions i've tried and failed my insurance company is fighting me everytime i try to refill a prescription. I had to get my Parents to work with the pharamacy to get my meds all set up. I could thave done it but for some reason i'm having a much harder time talking today, so much that I didn't do any of it at all today. All of my communication has been by email or by text message. I even missed my daily/nightly convos with my boyfriend. I ran to the drug store and picked up a rootbeer on the way home. I attempted to drink as much as I could. The goopy white stuff is starting to disburse from my throat and man is it a mess. If it wasn't for all the goop I think my throat would be feeling better. I'm still feeling pretty weak. It was all I could do to make myself some egg whites (It was not the same as the dippy and toast!) and take a long hot shower, I needed a long nap.  When I eventually woke up i had a low grade fever.. 99.9. Today was the first day I was able to eat an entire pudding cup before taking my nightly meds, it was glorious!

Day Seven Post Op.

My Throat Day Seven.

 

 

 

Today my throat feels absoluetly horrible. There are two spots back there that feel exteremly dry and drowning them in water is doing nothing. It feels like when your nose is raw from a cold and it just keeps getting more chapped before it gets better. Even breathing through my nose is drying these two spots out. I'm pretty sure they are scabs and if they would fall off live would be worth living. Pain meds are a must today i feel awful! My Dad had been slow cooking beef and noodles in the crock pot, talk about tourture! I decided that a little bow tie pasta wouldnt be the end of the world; it's soft and mushy, right? I slowly cut up three noodles and ate them they were pretty delicious. About half way through my feast I accidently swallowed a piece of beef. You can tell from my picutre when it slid down my throat it took almost all the white membrene with it. I immediatly got a ton of ear pressure and pain for about five minutes before it subsided. The right side of my throat felt awesome! Absolultey prefect!! If it wasn't for the left side of my throat still hurting from the other scab I dont think I would need the pain meds anymore! I worried for a bit I knocked the scabs off too soon and bleeding would start but it didnt, i was in the clear. I visited with my grandparents and mother for a bit. It was hard to listen to them have a normal conversation, my ears were super sensitive and aching pretty bad. When I returned home I took a nap which intensified the ear aches. Thank god for my heating pad it can subside the pain in about five minutes. After waking up i decided that it was time for some more pasta and to give lefty the same freedom i did righty. It took a couple swallows until i finally felt the scab fall 1/2 way off. The pain was intense and i had to force myself to swallow again to knock it the rest of the way off. SCORE!! I felt the same intense throbbing for a few minutes and my pain was gone. I instantly felt better and was able to start drinking more fluid than i had been the other days. My Dad was nice enough to use our magic bullett and create a gatoraid slushie for me. Stoked i attempted a chocolate pudding cup to get something in my stomach but it was a fail, my throat started to feel super sensitive and everything bothered it, even breathing.  I decided to take my pain meds before bed just incase the ear throbbing wanted to come back in the middle of the night and to get rid of the sensitivity i was feeling. I woke up 30 minutes later with a horrible burning sensation in my throat. My meds were irratating my throat hard core. I was able to fall back asleep after drinking some water to get rid of the burning.

Day Eight Post Op.

My Throat Lookin' Awesome on Day Eight.

 

 

To me the above picture is a beautiful one. Things are finally starting to look up, there's the light at the end of the tunnel everyone was talking about! This I woke up at 4 am and took my codeine as normal and fell back asleep. My next dose was at 8 am and I over slept it by thirty minutes. When I finally decided to get my lazy butt up my ears were throbbing the worst yet, but no jaw or molar pain. I decided to lay on my heating pad before I took my meds and soon the pain subsided. I felt pretty darn good. The throat sensativity went away and so did the throbbing. I decided to go back to bed and forgo the medicine in hopes that when i woke up it wasn't the worst decision of my life. I got up around eleven thirty and felt pretty good. I knew i we dehydrated so i made another gatorade slush and started to play around on my computer. Swallowing was pretty easy to do. I decided to ran sack the house to find some foods that i could shove down my newly healed throat.. DONT JUDGE ME!! haha.. My Father continued to be a food natzi so i put all the bad items away and made some soft carrots. I was able to make it through lunch and into the evening with out the pain meds today. I never thought I would be able to say that. At this point the pain in my throat is about equal to the worst strep i've had.. so its firmiliar. I'm hoping to be able to enjoy some mac and cheese for dinner tonight and start re-hydrating, im getting pretty dehydrated. The plan is to keep using the codeine at night to help with the intense ear aches. The funny thing is, I took the codeine last at four a.m and since about 12:30 noon i've been feeling super shakey, I think my body is reacting to not having it in my system anymore.

The last few days were a breeze, as long as I didn't eat anything with too much acid or scratchy. I'm amazed now how small my uvula is. I'm almost certain that the doctor shaved it down; it's so tiny lol!! I have felt great since surgery! It was a really hard road but all in all it was definitly worth it!
Since the surgery I don't wake up with swollen glands or tonsils, I can talk, yell, and cry without my tonsils becoming enlarged and swollen. Any little tension on my neck and they would swell up.Since then i've started running now a few times a week, before the surgery I could only run a few days without getting run down and sick. It's amazing to me how much air I get now, I can breath!! : ) If you are thinking about the surgery.... it's rough I wont lie, but in the end it's more than worth it! I hope this blog at least helped one person. It really helped me get through a tough time. The biggest help I felt I had through this process (besides my family members) was reading everyone elses blogs so I knew what was normal. Thanks for reading!