Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy

With this post I would like to tell you about my surgery and it may be a little like me writing a journal entry. This may be a long post please forgive me.

On Nov. 2nd I had to get my tonsils they do the adenoids at the same time. This all started out with me getting sick with another sinus infection and getting tonsil stones every time I get sick. When I went into the doctor they looked at my tonsils they told me that I need to go and see a specialist about how bad they were. We found this out on Friday 23 of Oct. I went home and called the specialist and got appointment for Tuesday 27 of Oct. When we went to the specialist he talked for us for a minute and then checked out my tonsils and said that I had tonsil stones on my left tonsil. At this time I didn't know that the white spots on my tonsil were called tonsils stones but they were very painful. After the doctor looked at them he told me that I would need to get them taken out quickly because they were infected pretty badly. At this point he starts to tell us all about the waning signs and everything I would go through after surgery. He told us that he would like to get me in to get the surgery done next week. He told us that he would look at my adenoids while he was in there and if they because they come out with the tonsils if they are there. Most peoples actually just fall off around age 13 though. He told me that some one would call me in a day or two to let me know when and if our insurance would cover the surgery. They called me Wednesday night and told me that the insurance approved us and that I could have the surgery the following Monday or in two Mondays. At that time I wasn't sure if we had the money to even pay for the surgery and what day to do it on because my family was all leaving on Saturday for a week to go to Disneyland. I wasn't sure if I wanted to just get it done or wait for my family to come back into town to have help after having surgery. I asked the lady who called me if I could let her know in the morning what day I pick. I really wanted some time to think about it also talk to Wesley about it all.

We decided to do it on Monday 2nd of Nov. and Wesley would just take a few days off work and take care of me and have some friends come and help when Wesley would be at work. I called the doctors office the next morning while I was at work to let them know what day we decided on. At this time I was having a hard time, I kept having anxiety attacks. When I talked to the doctors office they said that Monday was still open and that I now just need to wait for the hospital to call and let me know what time and where and all that good stuff. She told me that they would call me tomorrow. Yeah so I had to wait some more and now tell my work that I have to have surgery on Monday and will be out of work until the 18th of Nov. I called my manager and told her and I was surprised that she was willing to work with me and understood where I was coming from.

The next morning I got the call from the hospital telling me that I needed to be Salt Lake Regional hospital at 11:15 am. They told me everything that I need to do before surgery.
* Don't eat anything after midnight on Sunday
* Shower and brush my teeth
* Wear cozy clothes
* Wear no jewelry
After that call I called Wesley so he could let his work know and so he knew what was going on. Then I let my family know when I was going in.

For the next few days we were busy with me working every day, going to lunch for my moms birthday, movies with friends in Ogden, and on Halloween going to Thriller and dinner with Wesley, and family leaving for Disenyland on Halloween morning. Sunday night I made sure I got a blessing. The few days before surgery I had so much anxiety I just wanted Monday to come.

Monday was there and we got up and got ready and I got a phone call at 10:00 am saying that they were ready for us now. So Wesley and I finished getting ready and left. We got to the hospital about 10:20 am. When we got there we had to fill out some paper work like always. David (Wesley's dad) came to sit with Wesley while I was in surgery and got there right before they took me back. We met the doctor who checked things over again really quickly, and informed me that my tonsils were bad enough he might need to send them to pathology to check for cancer, luckily when he took them out he said they were okay. They got me all ready for the surgery and the next thing I knew I was feeling dizzy and then I was trying to wake up in recovery. It really feels weird waking up after surgery. Once I woke up they took me back to the same place where I got ready at. The nurses called Wesley back and he told me that everything went well and that they took my tonsils and adenoids. Wesley sat there with me for about an hour and then we got ready and then we left. I am not sure how long we were there for. I do remember the car ride home and remember walking up the LONG 5 flights of stairs to our apartment on the fourth floor Wesley pretty much carried me. When I got into our apartment I was feeling nauseous so I just went into our room and went to sleep while Wesley's dad brought lunch for the two of them.

Monday after surgery I took a nap and then I was a wake for awhile. I was able to talk to family in Disneyland that day and was feeling okay (still really drugged), all but my stomach was hurting because they put air in my stomach, I am not sure, or they did something like that I guess it's part of the anesthesia process. I asked them not to tell me what they did to me.

Tuesday I was in more pain and really wanted to eat something. (Just remember I am was so out of it so I am not sure really what went on, this is just what I remember) I asked Adam to come over and sit with me while Wesley needed to go to the pharmacy. I remember him being here but I am not sure for how long. I asked him to come over because Wesley didn't want me to be here by myself. I got some flowers from Megan this day. Wesley got me to eat some Popsicles, applesauce with bananas in it. I was able to drink water and Gatorade. I do remember Wesley trying to get me to drink lots of Gatorade or water but it would burn going down. I did do it because I didn't want to go back to the hospital for getting dehydrated. By Tuesday night I was feeling okay to take a bath and watch a movie with Wesley. After the movie I started to feel sick to my stomach again.

Wednesday Wesley was suppose to go to work half a day but I was really not feeling well so he just stayed home with me the whole day. We did have a friend lined up if we needed her to come over if he went to work but I wanted him to be there in case I needed to go back to the hospital. Wednesday I just stayed in bed and tried to sleep as much as I could because I just didn't want to throw up. I did try to eat some mash potatoes this day. I kept them down but was tasting them all night, I didn't want to eat them again. By this day I was hating life because of the pain and nausea and was wanting to feel better by now.

Thursday was worse Wednesday. Wesley stayed home with me again, almost taking me to the hospital a few times. He is a great husband to be willing to stay home and take care of me. This day I didn't want to eat much so I just tried to drink a lot. I think I did eat some things but I don't remember what. I just remember right before Wesley had to go and pick up Laura from the airport I started to throw up. I had a rough night after that. I just remember feeling so sick and so weak by now and really hating life. I felt so bad that I was so sick when Laura stayed the night at our house that night. We think I was throwing up because I had nothing in my stomach and all the pain meds. At this point we weren't sure we were just trying everything to get me to stop and just go to sleep. Adam and Wesley gave me another blessing to help me clam down and to help to feel better. It worked of course and I didn't have to go back to the hospital(I remember Adam coming over but that is all I remember about it all.)

Friday Wesley going to go to work because Laura was going to stay with me but because I was throwing up so much I didn't want him to leave me. I am so glad that his work was okay with him missing the whole week to take care of me. Friday I just and tried to drink as much as I could so I didn't have to go to the hospital. I don't remember what happened on Friday much.

Saturday I started to throw up again and couldn't stop this time so Wesley made a call into the Doctor and he called in some medicine for me to help with nausea. The doctor said he thinks I had been throwing up so much because I wasn't eating anything with the pain meds that I was taking. I should of taken the liquid stuff but I just didn't want to at the time. The medicine really helped and it put me to sleep for some time. Other than the pain I was feeling quite a bit better. I just remember my family texting me that they got home and asking if they could come over. I told them I was sleeping and not feeling well. Next thing I knew it was 3:00 pm. I texted my mom and told her she could come over in a few hours. I ate some Mac & Cheese on Saturday when I woke up at around 6 pm. Wesley's mom told him to have me eat that because that is what Daniel was eating now. (Daniel is Wesley's little brother, he got his tonsils out and had his sinuses cleaned the day after I did.) Then my mom came over and brought Wesley some dinner and sat with me for a few hours and told me about their trip. I was still a little out of it but it was nice having a visitor. At this point I was still really weak and staying in bed.

Sunday I started to feel a little better but still really weak. I don't remember much about Sunday. I do remember my mom came over after Church and visiting with me again and brought Wesley some dinner. I stopped throwing up now, and I was trying to eat more so I didn't throw up again. It was so painful to throw up right after having my tonsils out.

The next week I still had it off of work. My mom was able to get off work at noon Monday and Tuesday to come and sit with me. I needed some one to be around just to make sure everything was okay because I was a very high risk for bleeding. If that happened someone had to be there to rush me to the hospital. Wednesday Laura was able to come and sit with me around noon. Thursday and Friday I was feeling okay enough that I didn't need some here with me. Wesley was only 5 minutes away at work and my mom was 2 minutes away at her work if I needed anything. Thursday was the first time I left the house for awhile. I went with Wesley to get his hair cut. I still felt weak but feeling a little better. At this point it was hard to talk loud, it took me awhile to eat, I had a lot of mucus and had a cough. Friday night we headed down to Payson because we had Family Photos on Saturday morning.

I had my next doctors appointment Tuesday the 17th to see how everything was healing. At this point I didn't have any more scabs but still a lot of pain and a bad cough now. The doctor said everything was doing what they needed to be doing but that I could not go to work until next Monday. I was off of work for a total of three weeks. He also told me that it would take six weeks to really start improving. Today the pain isn't that bad but the cough is still here but not so bad. I can't wait till I feel 100% again.

All the Papers for the Hospital, I did forget to take a photo of the paper that Wesley took track of when I took my medicine. It was so often and so much we had to make sure we kept track accurately.

This is most of the drugs I was on for two weeks, my throw up bowl, and my water jug. Also not on here I got lollipops called tetracaine pops. They tasted like deodorant but numbed my throat really well and helped me eat.

This is some of the food that I lived off of for two weeks. Also the ice that I couldn't of lived with out.

The two things that I enjoyed the most while being sick.

Thank you everyone for praying for me and helping me out. I am so grateful for all your help. Thank you so much Wesley for all your love and support. I am so glad that I don't ever have to go through it again. I would tell you to never get your tonsils out unless you really have to.