If someone were to tell you that they were having surgery, what would be your first thought? Like most people, you might ask Why? Any surgery is a serious thing, since complications can arise any time. Tonsillectomy is the name of an operation where the surgeon (often an Ear Nose and Throat specialist) removes your tonsils. Your tonsils are two large circular clusters of tissue located on both sides of  the back of your throat. In most cases now, tonsillectomies are only done when it is truly needed. In my case it was.

As a child, I was plagued with strep throat and over-sized tonsils – making eating, drinking and breathing difficult. Constantly, I would miss school days because of my inability to breathe, let alone swallow. This chronic pain continued all of my life until I couldn’t take it any more.

On Monday, August 8th, I was scheduled to get the procedure done at 8:00 am. Surgeries such as mine are an out-patient procedure, this just means I was not admitted into a hospital. In this case your surgery will most likely be handled in a surgery center. This type of surgery or procedure is nothing really to worry about. The only thing to look for is bleeding, which in only 15% of cases has this happened.

By  9:00 am, my surgery was complete. I could finally go home. In the beginning there was virtually no pain at all, but when the medicine began to wear off –  it was just unbearable. With a tonsillectomy you will receive a list that states that you are not allowed to eat anything hard, crunchy, or sharp. When people hear someone is having a tonsillectomy, they will tell you about all the ice cream you get. But trust me, you are not gonna want any. By your second and third day, you might think you’re ready, but in my case food was the last thing I was thinking about. Trying to swallow (including water) felt like swallowing a bunch of razor blades.  Now that may seem like I’m exaggerating, but I’m not.

Now that the two weeks of pain, pain, and even more pain are over, I have to say that without that surgery I wouldn’t feel as good as I feel now. Thankfully it’s all over now…or is it?

Did you know that tonsils can grow back? After the procedure, some tissue may still remain, causing them to grow back. Now it’s extremely unlikely to occur , but I  still have to keep an eye out.