20 days after tonsillectomy

Hello there fellow blog hoppers,

I'm sorry that I was unable to post after the 7th day onwards, been pretty busy, or just the fact that I'm lazy to update. Anyhow, during day 8th day, the feeling of having a stone in my throat just disappeared and there's no more of that pain in my ears. It's like a miracle and I was overjoyed by it, but.....it still hurts when i eat too fast and do not chew my food until it was in very fine pieces. That goes on until day 10 or 11.

Just as it hits day 12, I can eat normally, but it still gives me discomfort when I'm yawning or open my mouth widely. I still feel, like a gut feeling that my wounds are healed but they are still tender, that I have to watch the way I eat and what I eat. I still avoid super spicy food and hot drinks. But I no longer consume super cold drinks either. Room temperature food and beverages will do just fine as long as I take them slowly.

As it hits the 14 days mark, everything just heals quickly. Now on my 20th day, there is still that discomfort whenever I yawned but not as bad. As for my SMD, there is still some blood clots came out everytime I sneezed. I think it is yesterday that it had stop showing off blood clots, even when I'm rinsing my nose using the special solution to prevent infections. I have cats, so it is very important to take care of myself recovering from SMD. 

In just few more days it'll be the 3rd week post-surgery. I'll be glad by then because then only that I can engage  in strenuous exercises and tennis! hehe

Well,

A la prochaine fois!

A week after Tonsillectomy

Hey there people.

I had a serious case of depression until i lost my appetite.

Thinks are getting better i think. Except I am so...depress having this sore throat.

Until when should i suffer!!!!

Anyways, tomorrow is my appointment with the doctor. We'll see how things goes and what will he says. :)

A la prochaine fois!

Day 6 Post- Tonsillectomy

I'm not sure what was happening to me last night, but it definitely brought me up to panic mode up till today.

My doctor's appointment was scheduled on 16/5/2012. Two days more. Last night, during dinner, I think I've made my scabs fall off prematurely that some bleeding occurred. It was all my mistake you see, I attempted to eat a tuna sandwich as I had no problem swallowing. Now, i have been going round and round, pressing this, clicking that to find out whether it is normal to bleed on day 5.

None of the outcomes indicate that it is normal. Sure does give me a scare. Nonetheless, I'm being brave here, which..I shall wait for Wednesday. Plus, I'm too stressed out to drive myself to the hospital. The bleeding lasted for only few minutes. But I'm afraid. I sure don't want to be admitted to the hospital again.

Oh well, will find everything out on Wednesday that is.

Sheesh.

Day 5 Post-Tonsillectomy

Bon apres-midi,

I come with negative experience.

I woke up today with a very very painful ear ache, it feels as if my ear drums are going to explode.

My ears hurt when I'm chewing and swallowing.

Like i mentioned, recovery experience is different in every individual. What i suggest is, always prepare yourself for the worst.

That's it for now.

A la prochaine fois!

Post-tonsillectomy - Ear pain and humidity

Bonsoir.

I just had my dinner, which is vanilla ice-cream with a banana.

I have been feeling better today, thus, i gathered the courage to have some diary product. I even had some mac and cheese for lunch, but it didn't went well.

Anyways I felt tired today, so I took a nap. And I woke up with the ear pain (much painful than before) but my throat feels fine. I've read in countless forums and journals that it is advisable that post tonsillectomy patient buy a humidifier. Ok, I live in Malaysia where the humidity level here is generally high, meaning that we tend to sweat a lot even after few steps outside of the house.

Places like Australia and Europe are less humid than Malaysia. Anyways, what I'm going to share is....keeping yourself hydrated after tonsillectomy is important as a very dry throat will cause you pain, believe me, it is worse when you try to sleep at night. For me, after few hours of sleeping, I will wake up because my throat is so dry, I avoid sleeping with the air-condition on as it'll make the room dryer (<----is this even the correct word to use??. Pardon my English if I'm wrong.) My point is, even if I'm living in a place with a high rate of humidity, I still encountered such situation, luckily I have a fridge in the room, so its easier for me to get some cold water at night.

Therefore, i sure recommend any of you out there that soon to be a tonsillectomy patient to get a humidifier. Remember, the healing process of each individual is different. As for me, I do not take any pain medications except for my antibiotic. Maybe my body can handle pain better than anyone else, maybe it's the fact that I have been sick (tonsillitis) numerous times before until it had numbed me. But, I am glad to share my experience because reading what others experienced is helping me a lot now.

Chewing gum is highly recommended as it will exercise your throat muscle that helps with swallowing. It hurt at first, but the pain will ease in just seconds and you will feel more comfortable.

Now, I'm drinking room temperature water, as my throat does not hurt as bad as it was few days ago. But I experienced ear pain/ discomfort every time I woke up from sleep / nap.

That's it for now.

I'm watching Gilmore Girls to fill my time recovering, starting from the first season. Haha. I also reward myself with Baskin Robin's chocolate ice-cream earlier today. hehe

A la prochaine fois.

Post-op recovery - the scabs

Well, well, well - Bonsoir!

I have taken some time to overhaul the design of my blog here. Pretty bored with the old one but still, i have not digress from the previous theme, which is 'je t'adore paris!'

Today I will not talk/ write about my admiration of 'la ville lumiere' and I'm sure that most of you are annoyed with me talking about Paris and Frenchies. But....I will share with you my progress of post tonsillectomy. I've gathered some courage today to see my wounds, I was about to say tonsils but I no longer have them. Let me just say where the tonsils were.

Though, some advised that one should not look at it, but i saw dozen of pictures of the scabs online (via google anyways) and it does not disgust me. I must say, it looks the same. Having seen that, I'm pretty happy that the recovery now is going accordingly to what the medical forums/ journals mentioned.

Swallowing is less of a hassle now, maybe it is because I'm used to it by now, but I'm still on soft diet and eat minimally. Though the scab is forming on top of the wound, but there are some parts of the wound that is still red, meaning...that it is still an open wound.

The scab sure gives you some discomfort, but hey! it is part of recovery right. I'm so looking forward to get better and to be able to eat pizza, drink hot coffee and even go out for tennis. Time like this that you appreciate of being healthy and can enjoy whatever food that your tummy desires ( I am body and health conscious, I usually eat salads and avoid carbs whenever possible).

So, much for whatever my tummy desires.....I have lost 10lbs now, just few days after the surgery, due to the drastic change of diet, I know that I'll have to stick to this diet for another 2 weeks. But I'll try eat some bread somewhere next week.

To take some precaution, I gargle after every meal just to avoid from being infected from food debris that might get in the wound. I am anticipating (not actually in a good way) for the scab to fall, one thing that sure is painful is coughing. I have been coughing every now and then, maybe due to the muscle movement of the throat, I felt slight pain while coughing. There's also the discomfort in the ears today, just an annoying discomfort. But overall, I feel okay.

I guess that's it for today.

A la prochaine fois!  

Post Tonsillectomy and Turbinectomy & Submucous Diathermy of turbinates (SMD)

Turbinate reduction

8th May 2012 is a historic date for me. It is on that particular day that I've undergone a surgery (1+1 surgery). Which is Tonsillectomy and Turbinectomy & Submucous Diathermy of turbinates (SMD). Prior to the surgery, I have made tremendous research and reading about recovering from Tonsillectomy and oh my! the 'horror' I felt about actually doing it. I was about to cancel my surgery because I was so terrified of the pain but due to the fact that I've resigned from work with the excuse of going for surgery made me forced myself to get this over it. After all it is for my own good. 

Tonsillectomy

The first and second day of post Tonsillectomy was painful, it is not like you will feel the pain throughout the day and night, but you will feel the pain when you try to swallow things, even water. Its like your tonsils is soooo large (for those who have enlarge tonsils, you guys may be familiar with this annoying situation). Thats all! I'm so relieved that this is how the pain feels like. I've prepared myself for something even worse, maybe having that thought in mind helped with me trying to cope with what I'm going through right now. 

I'm on my 3rd day post-op today, i guess the scabs have started to fill the wound as i can feel it but do not dare to see it. My nose is bleeding because of the SMD procedure. The doc gave me a nasal rinse for me to wash all the excess blood from the procedure. I figured many would be familiar with SMD, where the doc burn your nostrils to widen the airway. This helps rhinitis sufferer as yours truly over here. 

Now, my diet consist of pudding/jelly and lotsa cold water, popsicles and mashed potato. Right now i crave solid food so badly, but whenever i feel the pain (not as bad as the first and second day) while swallowing my own saliva, it just cut off my craving for solid food. Generally, I'm making good progress recovering, I don't feel any pain except for the discomfort while swallowing, and they say that the pain will decrease as time proceed. 

My nasal rinse

Just as most of you out there are doing research prior to your surgery, you are aware that recovering from Tonsillectomy as an adult is much more painful as it is in children. I am 23 year old female. And as what the doc told me, women can cope with pain better than men, that's why we can give birth (totally different topic). Anyways, it is not hell (for me the IV is giving me more pain than the sore throat), it may seem like it on the first 2 days, but you'll get better. I was on 3 bottles of NaCl + Glucose right after the surgery until the next day (that's why I'm not hungry). I was discharged yesterday (2nd day) and BTW I did not take any pain medications (I am sooooo tough, haha) but they prescribed me with Augmentin. Yes! a very familiar antibiotic, a bottle of gargle solution, and nasal rinse. And I thought that trying to swallow my pills is going to be hard, it is not at all. 

On a totally different topic, I've received my CAS Statement!!! Hoorah! Now I just have to focus on getting better, hopefully in 2 weeks time, and then translate several documents and then to VFS to apply for visa. At least something that made me smile and ease the post-surgery depression (i don't feel any).

I will definitely share my progress from the surgery until I'm 100% better. :) 

Might just have to prepare myself for the scabs to fall off.

I'll keep on posting!