I am supposed to be having my tonsils out in month, if I do not cancel it but I need advice and want to hear what other people have been through before I make my decision. I hear most people say 2 weeks at home and others say I will be fine in a few days but here is the thing, I CANNOT miss more than 1 day of classes! Missing 1 is going to be hard enough as it is.....so I really need to hear from others out there! I have to get the surgery done they say because I get sick like every other week, I am also still on my mom's insurance for another 5 months until I graduate, meaning, she will pay for everything...so it will be easier to get it done now but I am very busy and unsure about it anyway. Any stories or help would be great! Thanks yall!
Hi there! I am 33 years old and just had my tonsillectomy this morning! So I really don't have a lot of advice just yet but I have been reading all of the posts on here. I can't imagine that you would be able to go back to school before a week--possibly two. My throat feels pretty awful today and of course I am still groggy from the anesthesia...but everything I have read and what people have told me says that worse is still to come in the next 4-6 days. With that being said...there is no way I would play to work or go to school at all within this first week. I think it would just be too miserable.
Hey....knowing what you are going through actually will really help me out. I am really hesitant of doing this, everything I am reading and hearing is really pushing me to not have the surgery and just deal with being sick a lot. But, I do not take pain medicine for anything, I have been through a lot without pain medicine and if I do have it I am asking for no pain medicine after I wake up....did they give you pain medicine in the hospital?
They did give me pain medicine in the hospital and I was thankful they did. But it still hurt alot. They sent me home with liquid lortab to take every 4 hours, and I have been taking it like clock work. It is just enough to take the edge off but is still very painful. i consider myself to have a very strong pain tollerance but this is not something that I would suggest going through at all without paid meds. As hard as it is right now, I do not regret it and know that it will be so much better in the long run without all of the constant strep infections and tonsillitis.
Hmmm : ( this just does not sound fun at all lol. It sounds like you are dealing with it well though but I am very busy person who literally cannot sit at home for more than an hour without going crazy so that's where I am worried because I can't have 2 weeks off and I don't take pain medicine : / Think think think.
Well, I'm not sure if I'm the best to offer advice on this topic, as I came on here myself looking for some tips/moral support. I just had a tonsillectomy this past wednesday, so I'm a little over 48 hours into recovery. I'm 27 years old, and was told by my surgeon, and several others, that it's more difficult the older you are. So, I was expecting a bit of a bumpy road with recovery, but can honestly say that it's a little more difficult that what I expected. I work full time, but take classes at night, so I hear you in regards to missing class. I too debated whether or not to go through with the procedure. After much consideration, I decided to take an internet class this semester to avoid the problem of missing class, and used vacation time from work. The thing is, I was getting strep so often that #1 it's just not good for your health the older you are to be having this type of recurrent strep, and #2, it's just plain inconvenient to be so sick so often as an adult. SO, while it may be a pain in the butt now, in the end, the few weeks of downtime you'll spend now, will pay off. Better to do it the younger you are, and of course while you are still covered by mom's insurance. I hope it all works out for you, take good care of yourself!
Hi,
I am 39 and had my tonsils out 2 1/2 weeks ago. It was pretty bad the first week. You might want to schedule it during a time when you don't have classes, like spring break, because you will miss otherwise. I don't like to take pain medication either, but believe me, you will need it!! They do give you pain meds right when you wake up from the surgery, and the best advice I got was to stay on top of taking the meds every four hours - I even set my alarm during the night to wake up and take it. The meds make you very tired, so you will sleep a lot. I went off the meds after the first week because I needed to get back to my routine of work and taking my kids to school and it ended up being fine. I am feeling pretty much back to normal now except it still hurts some to yawn.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! HTH!
Well, I cancel the surgery and reschedule it all the time haha. It is scheduled for the 23 and has it stands right now I do have to go back to school as soon as possible. Spring break would be great but my family is renting a house in Palm Springs so I will be going down there and everything is already booked, too late to say no to that (and why would I want too right? haha) But,I am terrified of doing this and VERY hesitant of it because anesthesia scares me and I have definitely decided that I do not want pain medicine which has my boyfriend all angry but ugghhh I don't know, I still want to cancel the surgery all together :/
Well, I cancel the surgery and reschedule it all the time haha. It is scheduled for the 23 and has it stands right now I do have to go back to school as soon as possible. Spring break would be great but my family is renting a house in Palm Springs so I will be going down there and everything is already booked, too late to say no to that (and why would I want too right? haha) But,I am terrified of doing this and VERY hesitant of it because anesthesia scares me and I have definitely decided that I do not want pain medicine which has my boyfriend all angry but ugghhh I don't know, I still want to cancel the surgery all together :/
I was terrified of the anesthesia too - I had never been put under before. I kept threatening to cancel the surgery, too, but decided just to hurry up and get it over with (had to do it because of a growth). I guess it all depends on why you're getting the surgery in the first place. Can you live with the way things are now? If you can, don't do it.
The anesthesia thing was weird - I remember them giving me a shot in my IV to "calm my nerves" in the pre-op area, wheeling me out to go to the OR, and next thing I know I'm waking up and all done. I made sure to ask for anti-nausea meds so I wouldn't get sick when I woke up and I didn't, so that was good. Really very easy, but just weird that I don't remember any of it. No getting on the OR table, counting backwards or anything. They said that's supposed to happen.
Anyway, would love to know what you end up doing!
Yes well, Ive had my tonsills out Dec 3, 09 and I'm still not normanl. My throat still feels rough and dry. Along with the fact my taste for food or select food still has not returned. I', getting very "****** off" I'd love to punch that ENT right in the mouth for not telling me that this would happen. So I could be 6 to 12 months of this?? I can't stand it!!! Very frustrating.
Well I guess I am having the surgery..I say guess because part of me still just doesn't want to do it. It is scheduled for March 2 and I had the pre op appointment Friday where they went over everything and I am even more nervous after that appointment. I am in tears over it almost every night! I have been in a fight with my boyfriend and my mom over it but I guess we are all on the same page now...I think. Anyway, I am a very stubborn person so I don't know if it will work to my benefit or not...I am thinking not haha. I do not have 2 weeks off of school or work however, I go back to work 4 days after surgery and school 6 days after. I tried to clean my room today so its at least somewhat picked up (everything is pretty much in boxes because I am moving) but it didn't happen, I went golfing and did homework instead haha. I wanted it picked up because next weekend I am going big since I wont be out and about the following weekend or the weekend after that. As of right now I will not be taking any pain medicine whatsoever. If I am going to miss 1 day of classes or 2 I will have to be up studying and making up the classes I missed. Any advice still is much needed and I am very grateful for everything ya'll say! I don't know where all of you live but I am in Oregon and we are having gorgeous weather this weekend so if ya'll have nice weather too I hope you are enjoying it!
OK, if you are going to refuse any pain meds you MUST insist that they give you this novacaine gargle gel that deadens your throat. It doesn;t seem to be that popular these days but I would have never made it without it. The pain meds didn't do me much good as it was hardto swallow them but the gargle was wonderful! You spit it out so no swallowing and getting it into your system if that what concerns you. You;ll be glad you got it when you are trying to eat...I ate a steak the 3rd day after having mine out because of this gel.
Good luck! Just be prepared to be worn out for a while.
Well, I was planning on just dealing with it :/ Wow...brave with the steak haha! Lucky for me I do not eat steak haha. I will bring it up. But, I am wondering how it will work in the hospital with no pain medicine? I am wondering if they will try and keep me there longer or if they are going to be unhappy when I say I don't want any medicine...?
I imagine they will have you sign a waiver because you are going to be in pain....I don't want to scare you but I don't want to sugar coat it either since you seem to be adamant about this. Please consider at least OTC pain meds - Aleve, advil, tylenol, etc...I hate to think of you in pain. I wanted to "gut it out" when I had toe surgery but once I woke up - that went out the window and the lortab went in my mouth.
If the pain is that bad will Tylenol even touch the pain? I haven't taken Tylenol or Advil for anything in the past couple years because it doesn't seem to help me at all. I was a very serious athlete for many years and took Advil before practice and after practice every single day of the week and sometimes more than twice a day, can you have an immunity to those medications even? I don't know but I suffer from migraines too and nothing even touches the pain but I just deal with it.
I think you should do it. Just research some ifo like " taste disorder after tonsillectomy ' google it. Ask ENT about it. quite common in adults - after a few months of having little taste for some food its coming back a little by little. MY tongue feels like getting back to normal. I finally can taste my peppermint toothpaste, now
Its not worth being sick all the time. That would cost more money than doing the surgery. My tonsills were removed due to a growth of which was not cancer - thank goodness.
I don't mean to be a downer but I truly just don't understand how in the world you are going to accomplish the task at hand. I can't believe that you truly think that you are going to be able to have your tonsils out and then go back to school on day four. First of all, I am 26 years old and I had a fall over a year ago which broke my neck and my left arm, partially paralyzing me. I have been on morphine and percocet ever since. I stopped taking ther percocet because I didn't feel it did any good anyways. I am the Queen of pain management. I am in the Army, I have had a neck fusion, and have two herniated discs in my back and I still get up and face each day like there isn't a single thing wrong with me. When I had my tonsils out, I thought, this isn't going to be NOTHING. The first three days WEREN'T nothing, too easy, well day four the bottom fell out and I busted out the percocet. I have had quite a rough time with my tonsils being taken out and I know first hand that if you try and be hard headed and stubborn and continue on with your normal life too soon that it will be two hundred times worse. With a tonsillectomy your immune system is depleated and being around tons of people in a school environment that have colds, the flu and germs from their families and children isn't the best idea on earth. I am on day 13 and still can't eat anything because I tried to tough it out and my throat got infected. Having your tonsils out means that the doctor is giving you third degree burns in your throat, in your mouth, the one place on your body that takes in tons of germs CONSTANTLY. My doctor described having my tonsils removed as " having knee surgery and then being told to walk it off" You can take this with a grain of salt or you could take some advice from one hard head to another and rethink your actions. If missing school is something you are that worried about, and a tonsillectomy is something that you truly need done that bad, then maybe spring break at home would be more logical than one would expect. Your health is more important than a vacation that can ALWAYS be taken at a later date. Also, tell the doctor that you want to be put on an antibiotic from day one. That way if you do decide to go on with your daily routine, you will have something to fight off everyone elses sicknesses. I have also started taking echinacea it is a herbal supplement that builds up the immune system. All I ask is, don't jump into this head first without truly thinking it through. GOOD LUCK!!
If the pain is that bad will Tylenol even touch the pain? I haven't taken Tylenol or Advil for anything in the past couple years because it doesn't seem to help me at all. I was a very serious athlete for many years and took Advil before practice and after practice every single day of the week and sometimes more than twice a day, can you have an immunity to those medications even? I don't know but I suffer from migraines too and nothing even touches the pain but I just deal with it.
So that you can't sue them for causing you pain! Certainly, some pain meds may simply not work for you. Advil does nothing but give me an upset stomach and tylenol is only good for headaches for me. Everyone is different.
Since you don't want pain meds the best thing for you to probably do is to let them give you whatever they normally do when they do this surgery via your IV as when you wake up from anesthesia in pain it will be easier for them to deal with you. Then simply don't get the prescription filled to take when you are at home. If oyu find you can't gut it out, then get it filled. If you can gut it out, fine. I have a very high pain threshold but I needed the meds! (FYI, I jogged 2 miles one week after having my gallbladder out so goes to show you what I can do when need be - but not with the tonsils!)
Thanks everyone 5 days until surgery and I actually cannot cancel now, I would have had to do that today but I haven't made any final decisions as to medicine or anything quite yet, I think I am just going to play it by ear and see how it goes. The main reason for not wanting it is that I do not like feeling out of it. I also have finals to study for so I want to be up and getting ready for finals. As for going back on day 4, I have to go to work, I don't really have an option, I wish I did but its an internship and I signed a contract with them and it allows me to miss 3 games max which I have already done with being sick. The team I work for is headed to play offs so all they would offer me was the day of surgery off and thats it. I lose a lot if I don't go back Saturday and it would actually keep me from graduating in June.
I don't really know what I am going to do : / still deciding...I don't even know if there is something I should be doing now to prepare...Any ideas?
