Anxiety- having an op on Fri

[Goodbyetonsils]

I have ongoing anxiety, and am having my tonsils removed on Friday. I am terrified- first of the pain and second of being sick. Being sick gives me panic attacks. I feel queasy from nerves today, shaking, tearful and tempted to cancel. Hold my hand someone please

[amazingmumof6]

Oh I wish I could!
I had them removed when I was 21. I don't know what the procedure is in England so I will only tell you about my experience if you want me to.
I wish someone would have told me what happens, as I prefer to know the gory details, so I can brace myself! I hate the whole " only a bee sting" attitude done to me, but understand that some people rather not know ahead.
I'm not a doctor so can't advise you about the medical side, but if you don't go ahead the problem is unlikely to solve itself..
I had tonsillitis 4 times in that summer, than my gp said just get them out.
I know it's scary, so do ask what they can do to calm you down!

[Goodbyetonsils]

I've had tonsillitus 7 times in 12 months... It has been horrendous. Yes please do tell! I have read the most horrific things online and do prefer to know. I'm 23, and the surgeon is using the traditional scalpel method. Right now, I'm leaning towards cancelling the whole thing tbh.

[amazingmumof6]

ok, here goes : I had lidocain (?) spray in my mouth to numb the pain of needle going right behind each tonsil delivering local anestethic (can't spell this, sorry).they did hurt, but not worse then dentist numbing tooth for drilling.
Then she started hacking away at right tonsil, blood running into my mouth, can't swallow, made me feel sick, plus thought I'd choke. so far so good, I was looking at the ticking clock, wishing to be elsewhere.
then she stopped, slightly panicked as she discovered I had the largest vein she'd seen in 25 years right behind the tonsil. so after 2nd (!) injection into right tonsil and what seemed an eternity she managed to cut it out without snipping giant vein. left one was a doodle in comparison. she told me afterwards that she was trying to figure out how she would go on about stopping arterial spray in my throat, but couldn't think of the best way, so told herself to concentrate really hard instead on not snipping into it. She was an amazing surgeon and it had to be done.
You'll be fine. get on with it. just think of me and try not to laugh!
tell me what time you are scheduled for and I'll be thinking of you, invisibly holding your hand!

[Goodbyetonsils]

Oh my goodness I didn't know some do this under local anaesthetic! I am going under general. How was your recovery? The hospital rang me before to say they had an emergency and have to postpone my op until next Thursday... Half of me thinks this is a sign- I shouldn't get it done! I am going to spend another week living in fear

[amazingmumof6]

recovery was ok, the right side healed a little bit slower coz of the extra trauma, but good all in all. it was 17 years ago, so I'm glad I don't get sick from tonsillitis anymore, one bout affected my joints really badly.
Under general will be a doodle, I know it's scary, but please don't pull out of op, you do need to get this done and move on! I think it's unfortunate you have to wait longer - equally they might bump you up again if something else changes!
have you ever been under? they just prep you the wheel you in, put a mask on you to inhale something that makes you sleepy.when you come round your throat will be sore and when you try to drink or eat you'll find that there's too much space so you might end up coughing, which hurts. not sure about painkillers, you have to feel what you are doing swallowing-wise (kind of re-learning it), but they will tell you! first day best to avoid talking, be selfish on this, you don't want to strain your throat! pureed food and cold drinks are best, smoothies & ice cream will be strictly ordered by the doctor ! I know I'm making it more and more appealing now! I used to put icepacks on also but be careful to wrap it in something so you won't burn your skin! do no suck on ice chips/cube in the beginning - choking hazard!
Is there anyone who can be there when you wake up?

[Goodbyetonsils]

Thank you, in the UK they are pretty strict on visitors, my bf isn't even allowed to wait with me when I go in. Yesterday when I was trying to re-arrange everything around my renewed date I explained to a lady on the other end of the phone why I was re-arranging my ds' appointment and she said "Oooooh no not your tonsils! Nasty! Had mine out when I was 21 I won't even tell you the details!". So basically completely reenforcing my fears.
You have made me feel better about recovery, do you know what method they used- lasers/scalpel? Also here in the UK we are told to eat toast! No ice cream! Apparently it scrapes off all the nasty debris, and they don't let you home until you have had a slice . I am calmer at the moment because I have another week now, but really not sure i'll be able to do it!

[amazingmumof6]

I don't remember what she used, felt like scissors! hahaha! I think it must have been a scalpel.
can you talk to the surgeon about all these details & your fears, also the aftercare? if they are not helpful, can you get it done elsewhere? I don't remember being forced to eat toast - maybe you can say don't eat bread coz you are on a diet . I mean they can't force feed you, can they?
no idea what debris to scrape off, they chop off the tonsil and tie or seal the end bits. you definitely need cold things as you'd do with any other cut/bruise, only it's an internal cold compress you need! (best alternative name for ice cream yet!)
I do remember that it does feel awful when you wake up, but it gets better fairly quickly,and you do want to get rid of the taste of blood (yuck), but after a 4-5 hours it feels more sore than painful! it's the "cave in the throat" feeling that was more shocking and weird for me, no one warned I'll be half choking on sips of water! it will be so much better within 24 hrs, you can do it! pretend you are not scared, you might even believe it!

[amazingmumof6]

I didn't mean it feels more sore as in worse, I meant it's best described as sore rather than described as painful

[amazingmumof6]

I hope you go for it. I will not check back as I won't have time, but all the best and I hope you'll get on ok!

[Goodbyetonsils]

Thank you for your replies, I have been to the GP to seek some reassurance! Made me feel a little better. What did you mean cave in mouth feeling? Does your mouth feel much bigger without tonsils? Lol I will try to refuse toast and insist on ben and jerry's!

[Cailleach]

You'll be fine: I had truly evil tonsils that'd caused me much misery over the years, and frankly and it was a relief to say goodbye to them at the age of 19.

I won't lie to you, I felt grotty when I came round and took a while to get better, but the difference that op made to my life was amazing: pre-op I was on antibiotics all the time and was constantly getting chest infections etc on top of repeated bouts of tonsillitis BUT! Once the little sods had been whipped out my general health improved massively.

You do need to eat hard foods to scrape away the manky dead skin around the wound: the first time I ate post op they MADE me eat a bowl of sodding cornflakes. Cornflakes FFS! And the biatch nurse stood over me and made me eat them...

Looking back it was quite funny as the lady opposite me had had the same op, and was also being made to eat cornflakes. They'd given us both morphine, so we were as high as fucking kites trying to eat these cornflakes and wincing at every mouthful, but still giggling our arses off.

Oh yeah I forgot! They give you morphine, post op. Morphine makes the Pink Fluffy Clouds roll in, and the Bunnies of Happiness come to dance round your bed.

It's ace...make sure they give you some.

[Goodbyetonsils]

Hahaha that made me laugh- I had morphine when I had my son and I loved it, thought there were babies being pushed around my room in shopping trolleys! I would feel better if i thought I'd get some morphine, but at my pre-op assessment the nurse said I'd get ibuprofen and paracetamol!!! Surely if I demand it they'd give me morphine?

How was your recovery when you were home? I get a lot of strep throat, had doctors literally recoil when they saw my tonsils at times! But I've gone about 7 weeks without tonsillitis so far which is a record so keep thinking maybe this is it and it's resolved itself!

[Cailleach]

Well my throat was such a state before the op - lots of abscesses - that the wounds they made were pretty big; they had to, to get rid of the mess. My dentist thinks my tonsilectomy scars are hilarious (quote "looks like they used a bread knife in there!")

I was warned it was more likely to get infected as the wound was bigger than usual; and lo and behold it did. Basically I felt wiped out even a week later, plus the wound was still bleeding slightly...saw the GP who said it was infected and to get to A&E.

So I went back into hospital just overnight for intravenous antibiotics and after that I made a rapid recovery...literally three days after that I was more or less back to normal.

Despite that, honestly I would go through the whole thing again if I had to - the health benefits of not having an infected throat more or less all the time were well worth it.

OK, so you're going to have a sore throat and feel a bit shite for a week, but after that you'll definitely feel so much better...permanently.

One last thing: I ended up having my adenoids out as well eventually, and a sinus op, to boot. The reason for these ops was that the infections from my tonsils had migrated up into the back of my nose over the years and had caused a lot of scarring. Yes, even in my sinuses. Who knew that could happen?

Tonsils are little bastards, see? Get rid!

Hope it goes well.

x

[Goodbyetonsils]

What are the adenoids? Keep hearing about these being problematic after tonsillectomy! Was the pain far worse than a bad bout of tonsillitis?

Gosh you sound like you had a horrid time of it! I'm not really sure of the state of my tonsils- the ENT doc said they are scarred, whether that means they are bigger or not I don't know. I feel calmer- everyone on google is saying it's worse than childbirth etc!

[amazingmumof6]

"cave in mouth" I meant that the space in the part of your throat were tonsils are now will feel twice as big after they are out.

well there will be more space coz tonsils won't be there! it will be a strange feeling at first.

adenoids are much smaller than tonsils, they are in the nose I think. they sometimes remove them for kids at the same time as tonsillectomy