I thought I would share my story as I usually hear a lot of negative stories about tonsillectomies on the Internet and I never really found anyone around my age too!
I had my tonsillectomy on 18/09/15 aged 19 after having it 7 times in 7 months also 5am trips to A&E unable to breathe, dehydrated, sky high temperature and very low blood pressure. I must admit I was extremely nervous about it having read pretty much every single post on the Internet. Now after having and fully recovered from my operation I have no idea why I was so worried!
I arrived in the hospital early morning where I was shown to the ward, asked to change into a gown, had a blood test taken and had questions asked. I was then seen by the doctor and anesthnatist very quickly and taken first for surgery. I had calmed down a lot by this point where I was asked a few more questions then taken to be prepped for my operation. It took them a while to find a vein as I hadn’t eaten since the night before but the people around me kept me very calm while they tried to get the canula in my hand. Next thing I know I told them I was feeling very sleepy! Before I knew it I was waking up in recovery! I was still very much out of it, I tossed and turned falling asleep occasionally before waking up properly with an extremely dry throat and dry lips! I asked for a drink straight away. The nurse got me a drink of water which I couldn’t drink much of because I couldn’t suck water up through the straw very well! Once I had a drink I felt a lot better. The nurse gave me morphine and sat me up before my fluids drip finished and I was taken back to the ward.
Back on the ward other people started arriving back from surgery but I knew I was the only one who had to stay in all day. The nurses told me I wasn’t allowed out until at least 5 because they had to monitor me for bleeding. The rest of the day I just slept and constantly drank water or weak juice. I also surprisingly managed to eat a cheese sandwich while I was in there. Then my boyfriend picked me up and took me home.
For a few days I was just sleeping and drinking juice, eating very little. I could only manage to sleep sitting up which killed my neck so I definitely recommend a travel pillow! I managed to eat a bit more by day 3 (mainly mash and gravy)and I was feeling pretty good. Regularly taking codeine and ibuprofen. My boyfriend looked after me a lot for a few days while my parents were at work.
By day 5 the pain started to get worse as the scabs started to fall off. The pain in my ears was horrible and I could hardly move my mouth never mind eating but once I managed to get painkillers in me I could eat and then I’d sleep and wake up for more painkillers. By day 7 I had managed to get up and just drove in the car to my boyfriends house where I just slept. (He drove the car not me) the pain was still bad as the scabs were falling off but it was just intense pains every so often. On day 9 one of the sides of my throat started bleeding a little after I had eaten the smallest amount of food. That was the most pain I was in the whole time, it wasn’t nice obviously but it wasn’t the most painful thing ever. The bleeding had stopped overnight and I was starting to feel loads better. I had pains in my ears every so often but not much at all. From that point on I just got better and better, I slowly weaned myself off my strong painkillers although I kept some ibuprofen and paracetamol in me for a few days! I slowly built up my strength again and in no time I was back to myself!! Lucky for me though I got a cold a few days later!
Having my tonsils out was definitely the best decision I had ever made!