So, for an 18 year old that had very rarely been into hospital, the prospect of me going in to have my tonsils out seemed huge.

I arrived at the Ear, Nose and Throat Department at my Local Hospital at about 7am. I was greated by a nurse who checked me in and showed me to my bed. Once we had gone over the necessaries, such as Age, DOB, Hight, Weight, etc etc, my mum went and i sat in the day room watching television with that horrible butterfly feeling in my stomach.

Whilst sitting there, I had 3 different people come and see me.

The Ward Doctor
The Anaesthetist
The Surgeon

Each Doctor told me about their role within my operation, and then left me. ( I suppose by doing this they aim to make me feel slightly more comfortable. That didnt work.)

Once they had left, the nurse that checked me in told me to get ready and wait by my bed. I undressed and put a hospital gown on, with my dressing gown over the top and some slippers. I then sat and read a magasine waiting to be collected by a theatre nurse.

At about 12.45pm a young lady in a dark blue uniform came and fetched me, and i took what seemed to be the longest walk of my life. She lead me into a department and i took the first left into a small cubicle style room with a bed and a few cupboards. The nurse put a canula into my hand, and we waited for the Anaesthetist.

He came after a few minutes and reassured me that i was going to be okay. He put the first 2 seringes of anaesthetic into the canula, and i felt nothing. He then put the second seringe of anaesthetic in, and told me to think about something nice. It was extremely strange. I, at first, felt a burning sensation, i couldnt pin point where it was however because before i could think about it i was asleep.

The next thing i remember was being woken up by a nurse, and asking me how i felt. I can remember feeling sick, and having a lot of pain, and so they at this point gave me Pethidine and Citirizine. One for the pain, and one for the nausia.

They then took me down onto the ward where i slept for a few hours. The pain was unbearable. What was worse was that they put an oxygen mask on my mouth, to help me to breath, but it was drying the whole of my mouth out, making it even more painful.

I came round after a few hours and the nurse asked me to try and eat something. I managed half a tea spoon of ice cream and could do no more. The bowl of soup next to it could do one!!!

 

At 7pm, my mum came and took me home, where I lay on the sofa and slept. I had an extremely rough night the first night (my mum thinks they were too eagar to discharge), i was coughing up blood, choking on blood, struggling to swallow even sips of water, and dribbling everywhere because i wasnt swallowing.

I am now on day 3, and it is a lot more comfortable. I have been able to eat egg on toast and i am sitting here chewing chewing gum - which is supposed to be good for building up saliva in the mouth and healing the wounds around where the tonsillectomy took place.

I an definitely over the worst of it now.