Tonsillectomy at 37... YE GADS! Or "A Very Long and Boring Blog"

I have to say I am sitting on the fence with this one. I've had 6 various surgeries. Never been really scared. UNTIL NOW! JEEZE! You want to get your panic button whapped, you just go sit in with an ENT Doc giving you full disclosure on a Tonsillectomy. ACK! I must have tuned out at times, because after my visit I couldn't remember him looking into my ears, lmao. Turns out I have a spot on my tonsils as well. He said I'd have to have it removed and biopsied. With my past history, cancer is an issue. Yet another spike of fear. He also said my tonsils were terrible. Hmm, ya think? Nothing new there. I had just gotten over a bout with tonsillitis a little over a week ago, or maybe 2 weeks. Why did he think I was there to see HIM, an ENT, in the first place??? Whatever! I fit the criteria for chronic tonsillitis and surgery. Now, do I really want to DO this? Having had sore throats since I was a child and my ears hurting because of them, well. *I think so.* I see many pro's. But the con's are REALLY big, REALLY serious. I understood everything he was telling me. I was polite during the quit/dangers of smoking lecture and I held eye contact the entire time of the visit. My brain may have buzzed off a few times, but I had backup. It is going to be very painful. And this pain is going to be worse than childbirth and back surgery. Back surgery was nothing. I don't think it will be as painful as when I ripped my lower back muscles off, but I am sure I will let you guys know! I have been doing research and taking the stuff off the net with a grain of salt. I now wish to GOD I had them out when I was a youngun. Here is a VERY TAME version of a Tonsillectomy. I know this site, from an office, didn't want to scare off prospective patients. Snort.

Adult Tonsillectomy

What Is a Tonsillectomy?

A tonsillectomy is when your tonsils, the lymph tissue that lies on either side of the back of the throat, are removed during surgery.

What to Expect

Moderate to severe sore throat pain (mostly when you swallow). This may last 1-2 weeks.
Ear pain. This may last for 7-10 days.
Blood tinged mucus. This is normal for about a week. Avoid lots of coughing and clearing of the throat.
A heavy grey-yellow membrane. This will form where the tonsils were removed. It will slowly go away as you heal. This often takes 3-4 weeks.
Bad breath. Your breath may be bad smelling for a few days while your throat is healing. Drinking lots of fluids and good oral care are needed to help decrease this odor.

Pain Relief

For throat and ear pain, take the pain medicine as directed. You may also want to use an ice pack or ice collar. Many patients feel this helps ease the pain. If you take pain medicine ½ hour before meals, it will help to decrease the pain when you swallow.

Activity

Limit your activity for one (1) week.

Avoid too much physical exercise and activity, swimming or lifting greater than 25 pounds.
Be sure to get plenty of rest.
Plan to be out of school or off work for about 1 week. (MUsT HAVE SOMEONE THERE TO TAKE CARE OF YOU!)

Diet

Follow the "tonsillectomy diet" for 1-2 weeks. This means
Begin with clear liquids (water, broth, apple juice, popsicles). Cold or lukewarm liquids are easier to drink at first.
Advance to full liquids (milk, cream soups, ice cream, cooked cereals) as soon as you feel ready.
Add soft, bland foods when you feel you can swallow them (scrambled eggs, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes)
Avoid these foods:

Acidic foods (orange or grapefruit juice, tomatoes)
Spicy foods
Rough foods (popcorn, peanuts, potato chips, cold cereals)

Drink plenty of fluids to avoid getting dehydrated.(EVERYONE CAN NOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH) This will also help you to heal. Begin eating more full liquids as soon as you are able. Your throat will still be sore but eating more solid foods and taking in liquids helps to coat your stomach and can help decrease nausea.

Follow-Up

You may be scheduled for a follow-up clinic visit about 1 month after surgery. Or, your doctor may not schedule you for a follow-up visit if you feel comfortable with the healing process and have no other concerns.

When to Call the Doctor or Clinic Nurse:

Call one of the phone numbers below if you have:

Any bleeding in the throat (YOU CAN BLEED TO DEATH, POST-OP AND 7-10 DAYS AFTER)
Nausea and vomiting that doesn’t get better
A fever over 101ºF (taken by mouth)
Pain not controlled with medicine (FROM WHAT I HAVE READ? NOTHING MAKES THE PAIN BETTER-MAKE NOTE TO SPEAK TO THE DOCTOR THAT I WILL NOT TOLERATE POOR PAIN CONTROL)
A feeling that you are not healing as you should. It takes about 7-10 days before you will start to feel better.

OK! THIS? ^ Up there? Pfft. Nothing like they tell you in the freakin' chair in the exam room. Here's a link that an actual doctor wrote on a Q&A. You gotta see it as it's very close to what my doc told me to expect. Though I didn't ask a stupid question. LINK! The very next day after my visit, the surgical coordinator called me to book surgery. I wasn't home, so I have until Monday to figure out how and when I am going to do this. You need someone there to take care of you for a week. Thank God I'm close to the fire station, lmao, and a hospital. Because this darn surgery has made ME paranoid. I liked this artical I found, so I'm including it as well. Maybe there's one of you like me that needs their tonsils out as an adult, lol. I wish Doctor Hoffman was my doc, he seems to be saying what makes me feel a bit better about going through with this surgery! Not saying my doc wasn't great!

Pain & Adult Tonsillectomy
By: Douglas Hoffman

Question :
I'm scheduled to have a tonsillectomy in a couple of weeks. At my age, 45, I'm being told repeatedly that the post-op pain will be excruciating. ("You will want to die" is the exact quote.) Why is this? If the pain's so excruciating, why are painkillers not prescribed in amounts that will control the pain? If the pain is not controlled, doesn't this set up a dangerous situation that could result in chronic pain? Are doctors paranoid about prescribing effective relief? I find the thought positively intolerable, and I am no stranger to post-op pain -- this will be my ninth operation.
Deb
Answer :
I have never read a convincing explanation as to why the postoperative pain from tonsillectomy increases with age. Most ear nose and throat doctors (ENTs) assume that the nerve supply to the throat must change with age, but I do not think that this has ever been proven.Arguably, a more interesting question is whether this phenomenon is even real. Do kids tolerate pain better than adults? Do adults whine more than their children? Pain is very much a "brain phenomenon." As we say in the biz, "no brain, no pain." Example: Under general anesthesia, the patient experiences no pain, because the patient experiences nothing at all. Nevertheless, the body reacts to surgical pain. Surgeons commonly inject local anesthetic agents before making their first incision on a patient under general anesthesia. Why bother, if the patient is unconscious? Because the patient's body still reacts to pain. By injecting a local anesthetic, the surgeon makes the anesthesiologist's job easier, because the anesthesiologist does not have to deal with the great fluctuations in heart rate and blood pressure that are associated with surgical pain.
The adult brain is a great deal different than the toddler brain, which is different from the older child's brain, and so forth. Does the same injury (a 1cm incision on the back of the hand with a scalpel, for example) entail the same degree of pain for a four-year-old as for a 40-year-old?
I suspect that a great deal depends on fear, anxiety and depression. When we tell our adult tonsillectomy patients that they are going to be in a world of pain, is this a self-fulfilling prophecy? In other words, do we provoke so much fear and anxiety in the patient as to predispose him or her to a more painful outcome?
Sorry to rant, but your first question is thorny and only stimulates a variety of other questions, all of which are, I suspect, unanswerable. Your other questions are a great deal more approachable.
Can your doctor prescribe pain medications sufficient to control your pain? Certainly. You will need to be very clear with your doctor ahead of time that this is extremely important for you. I would ask, "What are you going to prescribe for me? And if that doesn't work, what will you prescribe for me?" Make it clear that you will not tolerate inadequate pain management. Given this forewarning, your doctor will probably make absolutely sure, ahead of time, that your medications are adequate. Otherwise, he'll have an angry patient (bad for business) who will call him at all hours to complain about her pain (bad for the doctor's mental health).
Can undertreatment of pain lead to a chronic pain syndrome? Theoretically, yes, but I have yet to see this occur following tonsillectomy.
Are doctors paranoid about prescribing effective pain relief? Absolutely. In times past, doctors used to be afraid that they were "creating addicts," and consequently there was a tendency to underprescribe narcotics. This sort of prejudice still exists in the medical community, but most caregivers now realize that narcotics are not addictive if they are used only to relieve pain. Nowadays, we're not as afraid that we're creating addicts.