TonsilHater

Hope, take a deep breath and try to relax. I have to say that before I had my tonsillectomy I was terrified that I would be in horrible pain afterward, but that wasn't true. It was not as bad as I envisioned in my mind, but that's not to say that it's a day at Disneyland either! (heh)

I can tell you that this was my second surgery (I had the tonsillectomy done 13 days ago on April 19th, and about a year ago I had surgery to have pins put in my hand I broke waterskiing, oops) and both of them were basically the same as far as the proceedure. The morning of your surgery you will check in with the outpatient surgery center, and then you'll be called to the back and the nurse will give you a gown to put on and a bag to put your clothes in. After that, you'll get your vitals taken, blood pressure, pulse ox, etc, and then they will start an IV in your hand that everything will be injected into from that point on. The IV isn't really a needle, (it IS put in with one however) it's a piece of cylindrical soft plastic that goes into your vein and it really doesn't hurt to have it put in, it's about like having blood drawn.

Then you're done. You can have someone come and talk to you until they are ready to wheel you into surgery. Typically the anesthesiologist will come and speak to you and maybe joke around with you a little, and then he does you the biggest favor in the world and gives you an injection into your IV. You'll feel like you're on cloud 9 at that point, and any nervousness you may have had is pretty much over because honestly you don't care what happens next. I remember when my anesthesiologist took me back to the surgery suite he was singing something that was on the radio and said, "Oh you probably don't want to hear my bad singing." I just waved my hand and said "I don't care what you do." haha, and I meant it.

They'll probably give you an oxygen mask to put on and have you take some deep breaths, and he'll start injecting drugs into your IV that will make you go to sleep, but he'll be talking to you the whole time and then the next thing you know you wake up. Literally, there is no lag time. It's like you're talking one second, and the next you're waking up in the recovery room. I can't tell you how unusual it is to experience. It's almost like nothing happened at all. Of course, you realize quickly that something did happen, because you're throat is a little sore.

The nurses will be quick to give you painkillers into your IV and you wont be in any pain at the hospital. I was joking with my nurses a few minutes after I woke up (granted it wasn't pleasant feeling, but I've had worse sore throats being sick with strep). After you get medicated and coherent they will have you drink some fluids, and give you something like a smashed up popsicle with a spoon to eat. It's pretty soothing, and after I got home I'd make them myself my smashing up a popsicle and adding a little sprite in the cup, almost like a quick slushy.

Then after you go the bathroom on your own, you get dressed and go home. The first few days aren't so bad, the 4th day through the 11th day were the absolute worst for me. I had mine removed via coblation, so I can't speak for any other method though. Anyway, that's the description of the surgery so you can maybe rest a little easier knowing that part. If you have any questions about the recovery that I can answer I'll help you as best I can. My best advice is to get a vaporizer, and a heating pad. I used to wrap the heating pad around the back of my head (ear to ear) when my ear pain was really bad and it helped so much. The ear pain would go away quickly with the heating pad. The vaporizer was for my bedroom at night. It really helped my throat I think, because I didn't have it for the first 6 days or so, and after I bought that my morning pain was far less.

You're going to do great, and after this is over you won't be having any more infections! That was what I kept (keep) telling myself. Keep your chin up, and good luck!

Best Wishes!!