Gigi’s Tips For Tonsillectomy

I had my Tonsillectomy on 15/01/18. I’m not generally a sickie type of person and usually only have one or two day a year off sick. Last summer I had a series of very mild sore throats. I wasn’t even in enough pain to go to the doctors because by the time I would have been able to get one, the sore throat would have gone away anyway. Then one day in early September last year I noticed a lump on my left tonsil.

To cut a long story short I got a referral to the ENT who recommended getting my Tonsil out. My parent were going to be staying with me so they picked me up after the surgery and we went home. They were with me for 2 nights until the anesthetic wore off but none of us realized how bad the pain would get. I could only drink 3 long glasses of water each day along with some food like lukewarm soup, scrambled eggs for the first week.

Day 6 was the worst and even with 1000mg of paracetamol each time the pain was getting on for an 8 or 9 out of 10. By this stage I was maxed out on paracetamol every day along with Codeine at night and even over did it because I was too drugged up to count properly.

The night time was the worst and woke up every 1 or 2 hours with pain. I thought my turning point was day 7 and then each day was getting better and better and on the Friday (day 11 ) walked into town and back ( 2.5 mile round trip) and looked to do some more exciting things food wise wise. Beans an onion on toast for tea I thought. Big mistake. That night I’d only been a sleep for an hour or two I woke up in pain in my throat. It wasn’t my tonsils, it was my throat. A few minutes later I realized there was fluid in my throat which I tried to swallow down but couldn’t. I went down to the bathroom and spat it out. It was bright red blood. then more came, more and more by the gulpfuls. This was a big bleed. It stopped within about 15 mins. I went back to bed because because by now it was about 3.30 am and I realized I was cold and had to get another duvet to but didn’t get back to sleep and walked down to A & E first thing in the morning. I told the ENT doctor it was about 100ml looking at measuring jugs after the event it was more. It might have been as much as 250ml plus. They decided to admit me for 24 hours observation. In the middle of the night I had 2 further bleeds but smaller ones which both stopped of their own accord to so no further surgery or transfusions. By the Friday I thought I could do a bit more so sorted out my paperwork at home and rearranged some things so ended up going up and down the stairs a few more times than usual. Another big mistake. Just as I was deciding what to eat for tea I felt something funny in my mouth. The uh-oh feeling came back, spat on my hand and it was blood again. I went to the bathroom for get a few more spits out. There was no warning. There was less blood than the big one before but still the size of a small cupful.

My lodger drove me to the hospital this time. The again admitted overnight for observation but no further bleeding or surgery When I saw the ENT doctor the next day I said I thought there was blood coming from the back of my throat not just the tonsils. She said maybe one of the wounds could have reopened on the base of my tongue. It was too far down there to see. We think it was worse for me because of my high blood pressure and not necessarily an infection. Looking back I think the first big one might have been from dehydration. That was on Saturday and its is now Tuesday (day 22 after the original surgery and 10 days after the big bleed) and so far so good. I am almost off the paracetamol. The voice which also sounded like it was coming through my nose is gradually coming back a bit to but that to be honest has been the lest of my worries. Unfortunately I am now on my fourth week off sick from work but need to be clear of the next few days as the second trip to A & E as 6 days after the first one so I need to make sure that doesn’t happen again before going back to work.