Andrew’s Tonsillectomy and Recovery

Ending Day 6

… the good, the bad, and the booze. I’m 40 (Ugh) male. The sun has set and I’m at the end of day six. It’s been a total rollercoaster. Here I’ll mention some basics as well as a pleasant surprise. Prior to surgery I stocked up on everything soft and cold that could keep me through 2 weeks of recovery: tons of healthy options full of protein and other things like popsicles, ice cream, pudding, jello, soups that weren’t gross served cold, tons of Gatorade G2, etc. etc. you get the point. After the hell I went through the first two days of trying to get down as many cold liquids as I could to keep hydrated I started noticing that cold things made it burn more. Figures. I’ve swapped out the cold stuff for tea and hot brothy soup. Ice cream, milk, yogurt…. Not gonna happen.

I got so phlegmy that it wasn’t worth the pain of having to spit after having those foods. My throat hurts, my ears hurt, my head hurts. I’m never not hurting, and swallowing sends shocks down my body. Also, fair warning: hiccups are the devil. I can’t even remember the last time in my life that I had the case of the hiccups, but yes, day 1 after a tonsillectomy. As for pain meds I’m taking 10mg of Oxycodone every 4 hours. I have supplemented by adding 1000mg of Tylenol with some of those doses but not all. After requesting a refill on my Oxy, my doctor gave me Oxycodone 5-325, which is 5mg of Oxy and 325 of acetaminophen. I’m taking 2 of those every 4 hours now. It helps cut the pain but doesn’t get rid of it all, that’s for sure. The good news: I decided to have the surgery because I’ve always had large tonsils and was so susceptible to infections and strep. Aside from that I noticed huge changes in my sleep and friends would tell me how scary it was to see me sleep because of my gasping and loud snoring. I figured it was time.

When I woke up in recovery I had a nice chat with the nurse for a while. It was great to laugh a bit after the stress of the procedure and I was thrilled it was over and feeling semi-normal. I mentioned my sleep issues and she asked me if I would dream when I slept. I rarely remembered any dreams I had and assumed I just forget them when I awoke. But I went home that night and when I awoke the next morning I had such a strange dream… and then a while later I noticed that breathing through my nose felt entirely different, as though the passageway was unobstructed and I was able to really fill my lungs with almost no effort.

It was then that I realized that I never dreamed all those years because my breathing was so restricted that I was never able to enter into a fully deep sleep. It was the apnea. Now every bit of sleep, even just a short nap, is filled with dreams, which makes me feel so good that I’m sleeping comfortably and deep. I look forward to seeing how this will improve further when I’m fully healed and how this will change my day to day life for the better. Don’t get me wrong: this is hell. I have never in my life cried while eating a damn pancake. But as I go through this I’m reminding myself of what has already improved. When that doesn’t work, I remind myself how great it will be to guzzle down a nice bottle of wine or two. There’s a light at the end of this tunnel and it’s called Cabernet Sauvignon.