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Tonsillectomy Part II

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staging_bwnrtf

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I wasn’t planning on posting today because honestly I feel like shit. But here it goes:

The Story…My Story….

I woke up this morning at 4am to get ready to head to the hospital. Mercy Hospital. I got ready in slow motion, having anxiety the entire time. Okay so many of you may say “It’s only a tonsillectomy” What’s the big deal?!? The big deal? The big deal?!?! The big deal is I HATE Hospitals, I hate needles, and I’ve never had any kind of surgery. Some may say “Your a whimp.” Yes I am, and what?!? (HAHA). Okay back to my story. So I get to the hospital around 5:05 am, I check in, and i’m called to sign papers around 5:30. Then I wait some more. Hmm waiting in a hospital you say? Of course….what’s new. So around 6:00 I get called into another office to give them more information, information I had already given the nurse, but they have to ask you the same questions, oh about….10 times. I get called into get prepped. I say goodbye to my dad and boyfriend and my mom goes with me. As I change, pee in a cup and wait in the bed I begin to get even more nervous. Now they have to put he IV in my hand, and Oh how I love needles!!! Needless to say, it was painful. I have to say though the nurses at Mercy were exceptionally nice. They made you feel as comfortable as possible. They allowed everyone to come in to say bye before I went into the operating room.

The Time Clicks…

As I sat there, while they were getting ready to give me about 5 drugs, I stared at the clock as it clicked. It was 7:17 and the red hand was going on 30 seconds. Each click of the clock was a minute closer to the first surgery I have ever had. I was scared, I was nervous, I was wanting to go home. They wheeled me into the operating room, I looked up at this black lamp, they asked a few questions, the doctor told me every thing was going to be alright and they placed the anesthesia mask on my face. After that I was out.

Waking up…

As they started calling my name to wake up, I opened up my eyes and I couldn’t breath. My asthma kicked in and my chest felt as if it had a rock laying on top of my chest. They gave me the breathing treatment right away, I started to cough a little and then, all of a sudden, the pain started to kick in. They had me in the recovery room, with strangers, cold and and in pain. I just wanted to go home. I felt helpless, and I just started to cry. I tried not too, but when the doctor said the pain would be 10 times more than when your tonsils swell, he wasn’t kidding. They finally rolled me back into the other room I was prepped in. There they gave me a new nurse, she saw that I was in pain and got me 2 Tylenol, but regular Tylenol that didn’t do anything for me. Meanwhile she called my mom to be able to see me, everyone ended up walking in. Well just my mom, dad and boyfriend. I just started crying because the pain was horrible. My entire face was hurting, my ears, my throat. I didn’t know what to do. My dad and boyfriend couldn’t stay so they gave me a kiss and left. My mom stayed with me. If you haven’t realized it yet, YES I’m a mommy’s girl, and I’m proud of it damn it! 😉

Finally going home

The pain continued and didn’t get better. The nurse offered morphine, but then stated I would have to wait until it came out of my body. It was already 11am and all I wanted to do was go home. I told her I would wait until I get home then and take the Tylenol 3 the doctor prescribed. Had I known it wasn’t going to work, I might have taken the morphine =(
Oh well, too late now.

Still in Pain

I tried taking a nap but everytime I would feel myself falling asleep, I would wake up to drink something because my throat hurts so much, and if it wasn’t that, I had to pee from all the drinking I’m doing. The doctor stated that around the 4th day it gets worse. WORSE?! It gets WORSE?! I can’t think about this right now because it’s pretty bad right now. I’m hoping that with some miracle it gets BETTER, Not Worse!

XO,
Kristin Nicole

I will keep you up to date, and tomorrow I will try to post about something other than this horrible pain heh =)

Comments

10 responses to “Tonsillectomy Part II”

  1. Leslie Avatar
    Leslie

    I hope you feel better. Its a good thing you wrote out your experience because my guess is, the details will start to fade as the pain wears off. My hubby had an appendectomy the yesterday too 🙂 Thanks for following me. I’m following you on twitter now too.

    I’ll be praying your pain eases.

    Blessings~Leslie

    Reply
  2. Kristin Avatar
    Kristin

    Dear Leslie,

    This is true, we always seem to forget the physical pain we feel. Never seems as bad in your memories as it did the day you actually felt it. I hope that your husband is feeling better. Thank you for also following me. I look forward to your comments in the future

    XO,
    Kristin Nicole

    Reply
  3. Lisa Miller Avatar
    Lisa Miller

    OMG. It’s Thursday, March 19, and I’m leaving for the hospital in a couple of hours to get my tonsils out AND my deviated septum fixed and my sinuses fixed, too. I am trying not to freak out….okay, I’m freaking out. I’m not scheduled until 2:30, which really, well, sucks, because 1) I can’t eat or drink, and 2) gives me way too much time to worry.

    I should say, I’m old….I’m 47. I’ve had two c-sections and a horrible abdominal surgery (you don’t wanna know) last year, but somehow this has me more worried — the whole not being able to swallow thing. Lucky me, I get to stay the night at the hosptial and plan on being heavily medicated….

    I really hope you feel better soon. Keep posting so I’ll know what to expect next!

    Lisa

    Reply
  4. Kristin Avatar
    Kristin

    Dear Lisa,

    Your doctor decided to do your tonsils and your deviated septum at the same time? Strange, my doctor told me he wouldn’t do both at the same time because it would be too painful. I don’t want to discourage you though, it is actually probably better to get it all out at the same time. I might have to go through another surgery for my deviated septum if the tonsils don’t help with my breathing better. Which means having to go through pain more than once, so that I am not looking forward to.

    They also should have scheduled you for the morning since you can’t eat or drink anything. But you definitely have a bright side of this, since you will be staying in the hospital they can medicate you. I wasn’t so lucky and the pills they gave me don’t do anything, so I’m still in a lot of pain. Just drink a lot of fluids, that’s what I do. Pudding seems to go down easier than most stuff too.

    And last but not least, having your family there definitely helps. =) Also you have gone through 2 c-sections, you’re a trouper. You will do fine!!!

    Everything will go fine. Good luck and I look forward to hearing from you.

    XO,
    Kristin Nicole

    Reply
  5. Lisa Miller Avatar
    Lisa Miller

    Dear Kristin:

    Thanks so much for responding!

    Yes, I debated about doing two surgeries instead, but my doctor said it will be okay — that my throat will hurt so bad, I won’t even notice my nose….ha. Since they are both causing me so much trouble, and because I really can’t afford to miss so much work, I decided to go for it. Hopefully I won’t be kicking myself about it later. And getting to stay the night at the hospital(even though, of course, I’d rather be at home), getting pain meds and hydrated via IV (I’m lucky, that doesn’t bother me too much) instead of having to swallow them sort of sealed the deal for me. And this way we can prepare the kids what to expect when I come home tomorrow, too.

    Well, this is it. Time to go get ready. Eeks…..

    xoxo

    Lisa (:

    Reply
  6. Kristin Avatar
    Kristin

    Dear Lisa,

    That’s probably the best way to go, I wish I would have had that option. Good luck, I know you’ll do fine. I look forward from hearing back from you once your home and up to writing.

    Good luck, god bless.

    XO,
    Kristin Nicole

    Reply
  7. Lisa Miller Avatar
    Lisa Miller

    Hi, Kristin. Just a note to let you know I am alive. Had some unexpected complications. Will write more ASAP. ):

    Lisa

    p.s. I’ll be fine. Just not feeling too good! More later.

    Reply
  8. Kristin Avatar
    Kristin

    Dear Lisa,

    Oh so sorry to hear you had complications. Please let me know how your doing when you get better.

    I am still not feeling well, still in a lot of pain =/ but hoping it will get better from here on out.

    Hope you feel better soon.

    XO,
    Kristin Nicole

    Reply
  9. Lisa Miller Avatar
    Lisa Miller

    Hi, Kristin!

    How are you doing? I am finally back among the land of the living….barely. What an ordeal.

    But first, you: How are you? Are you feeling better? How is your throat, both pain-wise and the ick factor?

    As I told you, I had a really hard time. The nose part went just fine. My doctor was right: my throat was so bad, I really didn’t notice the nose part! If anyone out there is going to have a deviated septum repaired and/or a turbinate reduction (where they repair your sinuses), just let me know. I have some good advice.

    Re the tonsillectomy, my first complications came from my blood pressure dropping during and after surgery which forced me to be on non-stop oxygen for 24 hours — just what you want, nice dry air being blown on your throat…not! I had lung pain too when I was waking up and fluid in my lungs, which made me cough and was just miserable. I also ended up throwing up lots a few hours after surgery….pretty traumatic.

    The fisrt couple of days at home really weren’t that bad. But a few days into it, like they say, the pain DOES get worse and then my throat swelled (remember, I had a lot of other throat tissue and muscle removed, as well as some work on my upper palate, AND I was forced to breathe with my mouth open because of the nose stuff, further drying my throat, so I’m sure this is unusual) — anyway, it got to where I couldn’t swallow at all and I had to be re-hospitalized for deyhdration….

    In all, complete and total and stunning misery. That said, by this Monday, I started feeling better — well enough to get by without any pain meds, yea! I am even starting to eat a little. For the most part, I have only been able to tolerate lukewarm water…yep, that’s it, for almost three weeks. I finally was able to microwave some pedialite (sp?) popsicles and drink those (yesterday), which did make me feel better. (I’d tried before but they made my throat bleed!) Pudding is now what I can get down, too. My taste is off, though. Oh, I lost 20 pounds!! I’m taking that as a gift from the angels for all my misery. (:

    So, for now, I hope the worst is behind me. I’m sorry I was too sick to write — again, it was all just shockingly bad. ):

    I think my main advice to anyone having this surgery would be:

    1. Get scheduled first thing in the a.m.

    2. Make sure you have someone around who can take care of you pretty much 24/7 for at least the first week to 10 days.

    3. Pain meds. Take them religiously and don’t be afraid to ask for something stronger, if needed. I have had my share of surgeries, etc., and believe me….this was the worst pain I have ever experienced. Don’t let anyone tell you, oh, it’s just tonsils…my kid felt better after a couple of days! For some reason, it just hurts more the older you are (and I mean, even for 12 year olds). I did not like the way the pain medication made me feel, and I was very happy to get to the point where I could get by without it, but you WILL need it, and it is okay.

    4. Remember that everyone is different and maybe you will not have that much discomfort — it can happen!

    Wishing you a super speedy recovery, Kristin!

    Lisa

    p.s.

    How is the back of your troat? Mine is still totally disgusting.

    p.s.s.

    Should you ever wish to have children, childbirth will be a breeze after what you have just been through, honest!

    xoxo

    Reply
  10. Kristin Avatar
    Kristin

    Dear Lisa,

    I am so sorry to hear how horrible your recovery has been. It could be that you did both surgeries at the same time that it took so long to recover. Not being able to breath caused your throat to dry more than usual. My throat got really dry which is why I was in so much pain from day 4-7. (yes it is true that it gets worse.) Those were the worst nights, I can’t imagine all the things you went through. I am happy however that you are starting to feel better, and yes a blessing for the weight loss. I didn’t loose that much weight lol, but the little that I did loose was nice lol =)

    Good to know that if I have children one day it will be a breeze compared to this haha.

    I look forward to future comments. Hope you feel better soon, I know Im still not 100% but slowly getting there.

    XO,
    Kristin Nicole

    Reply

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