A good tonsillectomy story. If you're scared please read mine!

I think the word alone, tonsillectomy, scares many people.  It certainly scared me.  The only thing I could think about was the fact that I would be going under the knife to get some type of body part removed.

Here is a little bit about me.  My name is Susie. I am a 21 year old female and I live in Las Vegas.  Ever since I was a teenager, I had struggled with tonsillitis and strep throat.  I would say for every time I got the flu, I would have had tonsillitis or strep at least three times prior.

The reason why I decided to have my tonsils removed was because of the multiple bouts of tonsillitis and one day I discovered I had tonsil stones.  I remember swallowing, and it felt like I had something stuck in the back of my throat.  When I had grabbed a mirror and popped my mouth open, I saw this nasty yellow-whiteish little ball.  I went to the doctor and he prescribed me amoxicillin and said it was probably the start of an infection.  I took the antibiotics and they did nothing.  So after some research on my own I discovered that they were tonsil stones.

When I first went to the ENT, I told him I was eager to have my tonsils removed.  I knew it would get rid of the nasty taste in my mouth, no more tonsil stones, and certainly no more tonsillitis.  He asked me, "does it really bother you that much?" and I said yes.  He prescribed me some more antibiotics that did nothing, so on my follow up appointment he decided it would be best to have them removed.

I had read so many horror stories that I was petrified to have them removed.  I almost thought it would be better to deal with the tonsil stones the rest of my life. WRONG!  I am on day two of recovery and I am so happy I got it done!  I'll describe what happened day of the surgery.

I showed up at the surgery center at 9 am with my mom. My boyfriend came shortly after.  They called me back, put my medical bracelet on and asked me a serious of questions.  How to spell my name, what my date of birth is... if I have any piercings.  This one was super important.  I have my ears and my belly button pierced.  I did not wear earrings, but I went out and got a plastic belly button ring and that was fine.  The reason why you cannot wear any metal jewelry is in case something goes wrong and they have to use the shockers to resuscitate you. If you have metal in your body, you will be electrocuted.

The pre-op nurse led me to the bathroom.  In there I had to put all of my clothes (except underwear, they let me wear those) into a bag, put on my hospital gown, and pee into a cup.  Because I am a female, they had to make sure I wasn't pregnant before going on with the surgery.  From there, I got up on my bed and talked to my mom and boyfriend for a while.  The pre-op nurse put the IV in my hand.  I hate needles, but after she was done she showed my mom and I that they use a needle to pierce the vein and then there is a plastic tube in there.  They had something measuring my blood pressure, heart rate, and something to massage my legs on me.  The thing to massage my legs was so I wouldn't get blood clots during surgery. 

The anesthesiologist came over and talked to us.  He went over the basic procedures and told everyone he would be the one making me go to sleep.  He was pretty cool.  He told us he has had to cancel surgeries on 14 and 15 year old girls because they are pregnant.  Another nurse came over who was wearing a Jagermeister lanyard and wheeled me away.  We almost hit another bed and joked about playing bumper cars.

She took me into the operating room.  I remember glancing around the room and just seeing a lot of lights.  Dr. Foggia, the one performing the tonsilectomy, was talking to someone on the phone.  He told me he'd be prescribing me a loritab elixir.  They wheeled me next to the operating table where they had me scoot up on to that.  They had me tucked in nice and tight with the blanket.  The last thing I remember is the anesthesiologist asking if I wanted to go to sleep.  He started the anesthesia and told me it might burn a little bit.  I remember feeling a small burning sensation in all of my veins, and I *think* I said "Holy Jesus!"

...And then I woke up in the recovery room.  I was afraid I was going to start crying.  It's very common for girls to cry when waking up out of anesthesia.  My mom and boyfriend were afraid I was going to start crying too because I had worked myself up so much over this operation.  I didn't cry.  You know what I did?  I started RAPPING.  I started rapping "Stay Fly" by Three 6 Mafia. I have no idea why I did this.  I didn't even know I knew that song!  The nurse laughed and I asked her if I was high.  She said yeah. As people walked by, I kept asking them if they had their tonsils.  She asked me how the pain was on a scale of 1-10.  I told her it was about a 5 or 6.  She gave me a few doses of pain medicine through my IV.  I don't remember what it was, but it just took the edge off.  Still, I was in a lot less pain than I was when I had tonsillitis or strep.  The nurse gave me some ice chips and I kept them down.  I felt a little bit nauseous, but nothing too bad.  After about 45 minutes or so, another nurse came in and helped me get dressed.  From there, they wheeled me into another area where my mom and boyfriend were.  This is where I eventually got discharged.

After the surgery, Dr. Foggia had given my mom my prescriptions. Liquid loritab and an antibiotic.  He told her and my boyfriend I had done well in the surgery, but then shook his head and said I had over 100 tonsil stones.  Eww!  So happy those came out!

So for my recovery... I've just been watching TV and sleeping.  I have an alarm set on my phone for every 4 hours to take my medicine and drink SOMETHING.  I cannot stress this enough.  I haven't been in that much pain because I am keeping my fluids up.  I haven't been able to eat any solid foods yet.  I tried to eat some yogurt last night and just threw it up.  I've thrown up about four times total, but throwing up is normal.  My temperature has stayed between 97-99.  So no major fever which is really good. 

All in all, do not be scared.  This surgery is soooooo worth it!  If you're considering NOT doing it, please reconsider.  I hope this story helped out someone!