When I was 15, I was all scheduled to get my tonsils removed. I went to the pre op appointment a few weeks before surgery and the doctor was checking my throat and lymph nodes. I don't remember his name... And I feel bad because he saved my life. While feign my lymph nodes, he noticed my neck was swollen. I made a few phone calls and an hour later, I was getting an US of my neck. That's when they discovered that I had Graves' Disease. Like... A pretty bad case of it. My tonsillectomy got cancelled and within weeks, I had all sorts of testing done, many hospital visits, and was given radioactive treatment to kill my over active thyroid. The doctor saved my life because...had I gone under anesthesia with my thyroid in that condition, and had it of reacted to the anesthesia, I may of not come out of surgery.
Now fast forward 10 years. I still have those tonsils. I. Hate. My. Tonsils. I get strep a couple times a year, it's not that bad, but I had tonsil stones. Don't know what they are? Google it. I got them all the time. And I was ready to be done. So...10 years later, I scheduled another tonsillectomy.
I'm all healed up now. I took nearly 2 weeks off work and slept a lot. My throat pain was manageable. I ate a lot of soup, ice, pudding, yogurt, and...yeah, that's about it!
The miserable part wasn't my throat. It was my ear. Apparently, your tonsils and ears share a nerve. And my left ear killed the entire time. Couldn't sleep more than a few hours. Couldn't even make it 4 hours between medicine without crying most days.
But it's been over a month now and I'm all back to normal! I was well taken care of between Darren and my wonderful neighbor. So far, it's been nice not having them! I can't scratch my throat anymore, but I'm hoping I can retrain myself to do that haha. Goodbye, tonsils. You're not missed!
