Finally, at the age of 22, I got my tonsils out on 1/19. Even though I've had chronic tonsilitis, tonsil stones, and strep my whole life, my parents were total assholes concerning the doctor...if we literally weren't dying, we weren't going.
During the Summer of 08, things got really bad. After a routine case of strep, I received the antibiotics and the problem went away as per usual...except this time, it came back after a week. After continuing this cycle with the doctor 5 or 6 more times, they finally sent me to an ENT specialist. Of course, he wanted to take them out, but not having insurance at the time, I did not go through with it.
So, ever since that summer, I have lived with tonsils that were greatly swollen. Since I got in a car wreck in the Summer of 09, and my deductible had already been met, I decided it was time to get the surgery done. Unfortunately, I did not meet the deadline, but oh well. My fault for procrastinating so much. After going back to the doctor pretty much a year and a half later, even though he didn't remember me, he instantly said "they have to come out. They're horrible." Keep in mind, the appearance or pain of them had been consistent that entire time.
Anyways, I remember going in to the room and laying on the table...I was pretty nervous, as it was going to be my first time under anesthesia. Not being in control of my own sleep kind of scared me. The nurses did a couple things to prep me and then the next thing I knew(literally, I have no recollection of them introducing the anesthesia or anything else...no countdown, nothing), I was waking up...
In the worst pain of my entire life. The doctor said recovery would be 7 days, but from everything I've read online, it typically takes adults quite a bit longer, 10-20 days "at least." I haven't eaten a damn thing yet, and highly doubt I will be any time soon. Even pudding was too painful. So, I've been surviving solely off of water. The meds don't do much at all to ease the pain...and I've always had severe sleep apnea, so I've kind of just been lying around, sleeping 15-30 minutes at a time. Fortunately, I was laid off from my job the beginning of this month, so there is no better time to have gotten it done.
When it's all said and done, I know it will be worth it. The proposed benefits to me were loss of pain, loss of bad breath due to tonsil stones, possible loss of sleep apnea, improved hearing, sense of smell, less frequent earaches/headaches, and even improved health overall. (Not catching colds and such so often.)
Anyways, just thought I would share. It's not like I have anything else to do at 3 in the morning. 😞