Thursday, March 10, 2011

so tonsils....who needs em?


 I've kind of felt like this dog for the past week or so...

We are officially on day 8 of recovery, one week out from actual surgery date.

First post-op notes are that my tonsils were disgusting and entirely full of infection as well as my adenoids (which, yes, I had removed at the tender age of 18 months). My nose was a complete mess so he was really glad that I opted to do both at the same time. 

Yesterday ( day 7) was probably the worst day, absolute worst day of the recovery so far. Basically, I developed thrush in my throat from the constant stream of antibiotics that I have been on for the past oh, 4 years. It was a complication that we talked about before the surgery, but you just never know if it's going to happen until it does.

Anywho -- days 1 -4 went by very, very slowly. It was painful, but more than anything, it just felt like the days wouldn't end. It felt like noon never got here and the end of the day was even worse. We were basically counting down until Day 6. The day I went back to the doctor to get the stints removed from my nose and get a check up on things.

Days 5 and 6 were terrible. Absolute terror. I thought I was dying. I got very grumpy, couldn't really eat or drink anything and basically floated in and out of consciousness on my parent's couch while my grandmother sat by helpless. We got through Day 5 with a LOT of tears and prayers (mostly praying for the strength to get through the day and to the next day's appointment.)

Day 6 started out....eh. Okay. Not great, but okay. Still woke up in a lot of pain, still was unable to do much of anything. Luckily my appointment was at 9:30 so we didn't have to wait too long for the appointment to get here. My dad ended up taking the day off because I don't know why. Honestly, I think he was really worried about me and was worried what the doctor might say the next day. And since the hubs had some major meetings to go to, dad was the next best option. Both dad, grams and I head into the doctor's office. The nurse does an initial review of my mouth but doesn't see too much going on (mostly because I can barely move my moth). So, the doc comes in and things go from worse to terrible in about 5 seconds. He asks how much water I've been drinking (which at the time was minimal) and quickly gets angry at the lack of intake. He says that I've got about 5 hours to get on a different track fast or I'll end up in the hospital whether I want to or not. So, he suggests that dad and grams take me to one of those quickie ER places to get IV fluids STAT! He removes the ginormous stints from my nose. I can't find a picture of them, but they reminded me of a butterfly wing. On each side of my nostrils. About two inches in size. I didn't feel them going in or out, thank God but the look of them afterwards was enough to make me never want them again.

We went from doc's office straight to ER to get IVs. I felt a LOT, LOT better after the 2 bags of IV fluids but still kind of icky.

So today is better. I've gotten a shit ton more fluids in my body (smart cookie, after all). But I still can't really eat anything. My nose is completely swollen again, which sucks because yesterday I was able to breathe like I haven't in who knows how long. But, after the swelling goes back down, I'm told I'll breathe much, much better.

So, here's hoping the worst is behind us and we will continue on an upward journey from the hell that has been my life for the past 8 days.

Ask me in a week or maybe 6 months if it was all worth it. I haven't made a good decision in that regard yet.

Here's to a much healthier second half of 2011!

1 comment:

vanweezy said...

Ack, sorry girl. I got thrush when I was in the hospital a couple of years ago and the pain was ridonk. I hope you see some improvement soon!