The Way This Life Revolves
I just wanted to write about my experience as an adult who must undergo tonsillectomy.
This surgery is more painful to do when you're an adult, rather than child.
Now I know that it is true.
I just had tonsillectomy at May 21st, 2021 and it was a disaster!
I will write my experience from day 1 until it is healed,
so this post will be updated frequently.
The night before operation, I heard cat's noise outside my home,
and I already had bad feelings.
You should know that my feelings were 70-80% true.
Especially if I had a dream of losing a teeth.
There will be 100% bad news of someone's death for the rest of a month or so.
It happened a few times, I once told my college friend about the dream
right in the morning after I had it.
Was it like a warning?
But I didn't mean it for him, I didn't know for who the dream was.
It's just that I used to hear bad news for a family
or people around me, a family of a friend or so, up to uncle but not to
my own grandmother who lived with me since I was a baby.
So this dream couldn't foretelling people who live with me,
or not yet.
And the next day, my friend's grandmother died...
This thing had happened since I was in high school or college.
DAY 0 : SURGERY
Need to take out the sample of my blood, X-ray chest, and not eating for 6 hours.
Only my mother (one person) could wait because of COVID procedure.
At 4.30 PM, I was brought to the surgery waiting room, there were three beds.
Then, at around 5.15 PM, I was given anesthesia in the green surgery room.
Sleep, and woke up after everything had done.
I felt pain on all my throat and tongue.
But it's bear-able, since I had experienced dental pain.
It was similar, but this time, the wound is on every side of my mouth.
In my room, I tried to see the result of my tonsil.
And from speaking too much, the wound got opened again.
Nurses only gave me a glass of half-cold milk
(it wasn't cold at all, just room temperature).
I suffered from heavy blood loss, about a bowl, after the operation
because my wound was not being stitch and
the blood couldn't clot enough for about 10 hours.
At 1.30 AM, the blood had stopped and I slept a bit.
But I woke up twice from coughing and itchiness.
Around 3 AM, the left tonsil was pouring blood again.
Everytime I didn't drink water, blood poured down to my teeth and tongue,
I look like vampire on the mirror.
When I drank water, because it wasn't cold enough,
I spit out almost clotted blood.
And it was disgusting, similar to puke.
The not-so-cold milk didn't help, since it was not as cold as ice cream.
For sure, this hospital sucks at giving cold menu for tonsillectomy patient.
The doctor at emergency room checked on me twice, calling my ENT at her home too,
covering my wound with cotton etc, no result.
From 8.30 PM-7 AM, my blood finally clotted enough to cover the wound
after drinking water and puking half-clotted blood for 3-4 times repeatedly.
DAY 1 : AT HOSPITAL
My ENT arrived at 8 AM, saw that the blood had clotted properly now.
It was a mess, but it finally ended.
She suggested to eat only porridge for a week.
She said my left tonsil had pus, so she didn't perform stitch on the deep wound.
But I couldn't go home yet, must survive 3 days and 2 nights at the hospital.
My ENT came again at noon, 5 PM.
She saw my wound is now covered with white scab, glad that it's healed.
The nurses at day 2 were horrible,
they let my liquid infusion empty and blood came out from the needle.
I was the one who woke up first, then two more patients called the nurses.
I suffered from anemia.
Even when I was just sitting, I could sleep anytime.
My mother, who helped me all night, also seemed very tired and
had similar sleeping all day behavior like me even though she didn't have anemia.
Because I had surgery in the time of COVID-19,
only one person could stay with me and no visitor.
I didn't even told my friends about my surgery.
Only few people at office knew.
Well, I will keep it secret until I recovered fully.
My dad and sister only knew about my bleeding today.
He was against surgery, and if I mentioned it when I was still bleeding a lot,
he would get panic.
DAY 2 : GO BACK HOME
I used insurance and was waiting for my ENT.
She came late, about 2 hours from her promised time.
Because the later she came, the more time needed to adjust insurance
approval funds, mostly took 5 hours.
But she gave me her homemade brown sugar bubble drink!
That's great, since all drinks in this hospital are not cold enough for my wound.
After waiting for insurance approval, I ate my dinner at the hospitalthen went back home after receiving medicine to take home.
I will keep updating here until I recovered fully from tonsillectomy.
But I had another problem after arriving home.
I stayed for 2 days in the hospital, without moving (except to toilet)
because of anemia.
It caused Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) in my thigh,
swollen for the whole body.
I noticed redness, a bit warm when I touched, around my right thigh.
I could not reach my back when putting soap in the bathroom...
My hands and all bodies were stiff.
Everytime I ate food or medicine, I would take a bit spoon of ice cream cup.
I didn't empty it, just 3-4 scoops should do.
DAY 3-6 : SELF-HEALING
Thanks to Hoshino Gen "Koi" dance I did every morning at home,
slowly, my body became healthier and the redness on thigh had gradually disappeared.
But because of anemia, I only did Koi dance, together with "Koi wa Deep ni"
theme song by back number, "Kaitou".
Only 5 minutes each in the morning, but my blood had gradually became normal.
Speaking of Hoshino Gen, I am glad he finally married his co-star in Nigeru ha Haji,
da ga Yaku ni Tatsu, Aragaki Yui!
They are a lovely couple in the dorama.
May they be blessed with cutie child like in the special episode this 2021.My numbness and swollen body also disappeared gradually.
Consuming vitamin B everyday, twice for 5 days, then only once a day.
Only eat porridge with minced chicken (adding sweet soy sauce).
I suffered heavy pain on day 3-5.
I think it's normal since the white scab is covering wound, becomes hard.
In these times, I couldn't sleep well.
Every 2-3 hours, I experienced itchy in my throat.
So I changed my sleeping position to sitting.
It helped reducing itchiness, still did but less.
On day 7, I felt eating porridge and soaking biscuit in hot water was boring.
I tried ordering brown sugar jelly and ham & egg toast.
Surprisingly, I could eat ham & egg, but the burning part of the toast didn't.
I could eat it, but very slowly.
So I left the toast and only ate the meat part.
DAY 7 : BLEEDING AND CONSTIPATION
On day 8 (May 29th, 2021) after tonsillectomy,
the redness on thigh, had changed from warm and about 10cm,
now became red spots, almost invisible and at my skin temperature.
As for my tonsil, I think it would need 2-3 weeks or more for healing.
But in the morning, my throat was in pain again.
I could not eat properly, so it damaged a bit of white scab at the most damaged one
(the bleeding scar for hours above, on the left side tonsil).
Thankfully, after drinking cold water, the bleeding stopped.
But at noon, I suffered so much from constipation.
I used full force and finally able to do it,
but it left scar on my left tonsil again!
Not that much though, it's heal-able.
Constipation could happen after tonsillectomy due to non fiber food.
But I ate banana everyday!
Speaking of my white scab, some hard scab had gone a bit.
It left me fragile soft white scab after a week, so it was easily damaged.
I hope more scab will go fast and I can eat rice properly again.
I missed ramen, soba, Korean yangnyeom chicken (from watching
"My Roommate is a Gumiho") so much.
DAY 8 : PAIN
I woke up with pain in my throat.
Maybe because the wound had opened again yesterday.
I read that when the white scab is falling off,
it will bleed again and hurt until around day 10.
I hope it will be better next week.
After eating painkiller medicine, I ate as usual.
For lunch, I wanted something different,
so I bought vegetarian food near home.
A tofu soup, rice vermicelli soup, a little bit of "perkedel".
Perkedel is a kind of mashed potato, but it is fried.
Though I could eat it well since the fried skin is not as hard as fried chicken.
Ate the vegetarian leftover for dinner too.
My mom made ready-made silky pudding in avocado flavor.
I noticed it is not as tasty as peach flavor.
At night, I tried not to eat painkiller again.
It had been three nights without painkiller for sleeping.
They will be useless too, since I don't use my mouth for eating.
But of course my tonsil and under tongue are hurting a lot everytime I gulp.
Tomorrow night, I need to consult with ENT again.
Anyway, I felt a little bit better at sleeping now since day 7.
I used to cough every 2-3 hours, but now only 1-2 times.
DAY 9 : VISITING ENT (1)
I visited ENT again this noon.
She checked up on my tonsil and said that my left tonsil seem
to be dangerous for bleeding because the clotted blood is soft
and not covered perfectly by white scab.
I should eat soft food until I visit her again in the next 4 days.
Well, it's not a problem for me.
I come to like porridge now for dieting.👧
Though I still miss fried food...
After coming back home, I noticed some part on the left of
white scab (the dangerous part) disappeared and I gulped it!
How come?
Did it came off after the doctor told me to open my mouth?
But thankfully, it didn't bleed.
Still, if I don't eat painkiller, I will experience pain.
But I think the pain level is lower than yesterday (hey it was bleeding yesterday).
DAY 10 : GOOD DAY
Today, at June 1st, I feel good.
I woke up in the morning with pain on this holiday.
But I only ate painkiller once today.
It's still hurt a bit, but I can bear with this and still eat casually.
I must go to office tomorrow, just a bit, to take some files.
But I need to visit another doctor first, not ENT.
It will be another hectic day, so I will sleep faster.
Anyway, I think it's true that once you've arrived on day 10,
the tonsillectomy pain will gradually disappear and appearing again.
I hope it will work the same for me too.
DAY 11 : HECTIC
On this day, I went to another doctor to check up my different illness.
Waiting for 2,5 hours just to meet the doctor for 5 minutes!
This is very tiring and I must spend money only for 5 minutes consultation.
After that, I went to office to take some work files for an hour.
I didn't eat vitamin B so I felt very tired after arriving home.
Maybe it's also my first time going outside after surgery except to a doctor.
Only ate one painkiller in the morning and lasted for 10 hours...
DAY 12 : TIRED
The effect of not taking vitamin B yesterday finally came.
I wanted to sleep for more hours, but my sister woke me before the time.
I woke up earlier and ate breakfast, but still felt sleepy.
So I took a nap for an hour.
I'm very tired today, my tongue is white again for iron deficiency.
Maybe because yesterday was too hectic and made me sleepy.
The pain was similar to yesterday, I only took one painkiller.
Turns out I'm very tired because it's also my period too.
DAY 13 : LAST CHECK UP
I didn't know I must wait for an hour to see my ENT.
Everytime I went to her before, about 4 times already,
I always got first place at waiting.
But today, I got number 6.
After came in her room, she checked up on my tonsil condition and
finally said this will be my last check up!
Yay!
Oh, and the biopsy result from my tonsil arrived.
It was said that I only had chronic tonsillitis without danger (ex:cancer).
She didn't give me any medicine as the most painful part
had fallen off now, without bleeding.
But still had little white scab so I must be careful not to eat fried food.
I think I must wait for another week to eat fried chicken,
until the white part changed to pink like my overall throat.
But now, I can eat rice again (since two days ago though).
Anyway, as for me, the wound on my left side,
especially under my neck is still hurting every morning and night.
So I will keep eating painkiller just in the morning until it's fully healed.
I will be updating more progress until I have fully healed.
When to eat fried food, if it's bleeding again or not,
what will become of my voice later after it's fully healed.
Because right now, even though I could talk like usual
(with some pain on the left side), my sound felt weird.
It's like there is an empty space inside my throat.
I want to make sure my voice come back like usual...
How long does it take, I wonder...
I wrote it as day 13, but it's actually day 14 for the doctor.
But I wanted to write it as day 13 because I want to write
in the position as the patient who is recovering and need a full day after surgery.
Before going back home, I celebrated my discharge (from ENT)
at a shopping mall (my first since surgery) and ate fast food.
Of course I chose grilled chicken rather than fried.
And I could eat it like normal (with little pain).
I'm so happy!
It won't be long before I can eat fried food again, but I must wait no matter what.
I miss ramen and Korean fried chicken so much.
I might eat noodles tomorrow though, I hope.
DAY 14-19 : FRIED FOOD
I tried eating fried food, but with small amount of flour.
I couldn't eat too crunchy food.
It's still a bit hurting after eating, but bear-able.
I also ate fried sushi (with flour on top of rice) and it's alright.
They didn't damage (bleed) the remaining white scab on my tonsils.
Though I will eat them slowly until the fried flour melt in my mouth.
My voice gradually changes back to normal around day 15.
The white scab is still there even at day 17
and doesn't fall off too much.
Might take longer to change my tonsil back to pink color.
Nothing changes drastically on day 18.
My neck is still hurt while swallow-ing saliva,
but only one painkiller in the morning (9 AM)
that will last effect until 6 PM.
But the left side is now gradually becomes pink.
I think it's because I always swallow food on the left side,
even though it's hurt.
Because my uvula was leaning more on the right, I used left side to swallow.
In the end, the white scab on the left fell off easier.
After my uvula changed to normal, I now ate on the right side
to make it the same as left.
Only little bit of white scab remains.
Such a long journey for me.
But now I could swallow food easier, fried food too.
Though I will keep choosing soft food for one more week.
DAY 20-27 : RECOVERED
On day 20, it means three weeks after the surgery, I tried eating fried food.
I woke up in the morning without painkiller.
This is the first day I had been feeling alright without the medicine.
I think, it's finally the day!
At dinner, I ate karaage and ramen for this third weekend.
I'm glad I could finally eat everything like normal.
Even though there was still some white scab,
just for a tiny bit more.
My mom bought a new handphone I helped her decide.
And on day 21, I went out with family for Saturday hangout.
I'm sure I don't need painkiller anymore.
It's still hurt a bit on the neck, if I touch it though.
But I could eat without pain.
I hope the rest of another week will be filled with more recovery.
On day 25 at June 15th, I have recovered for 90%.
Just a little bit white scab on the right side,
I think in the size of the top of a pinkie finger.
Also white scab under my tongue, deeper at the back of tongue.
That's also why it's still hurt a bit when I ate honey the night before.
Too sweet makes it hurt.
The back throat (part of neck bones) is in pink color, not white anymore.
My tonsil is almost pink, a little bit of wound, small size can be seen.
It's the part of the wound opened at surgery.
I think it will disappear more by times.
After more than a month from surgery, updated it at June 28th,
I think the wound is still hurt a bit when I opened mouth too much (yawning etc.).
It will have more months until the surgery wound disappear completely.
As of now, I'll try not coughing or opening my mouth too big.
But I could eat any food well enough without feeling hurt anymore,
including pizza bread and fried chicken, or a little bit of black pepper
and chili sauce.
It's just that, the wounded part is still soft and not as pretty as before.
AFTER A MONTH
But I think it is already 95% healed by a month.
So best to think that adult tonsillectomy (especially the problematic one)
had you to recover fully around 3 weeks - a month.
I won't update this post anymore from now because I think
I don't have anymore problem after surgery.
Just let it heal on its own.
Maybe the only problem for people who use their voice as a job is,
my voice still have a bit of empty space-like tone in it.
But because I don't sing, it is not a problem.
I can talk like usual and my voice doesn't change
if I don't accidentally let the voice out near my tonsil / ear
so it won't be echoing.
I hope it will be fixed after a month later or so,
but it won't be a big problem for me.
For people who want to do it at adult age, consider the damage.
It was very painful and took me many weeks.
But I hope it is for the better health.
I wrote my experience not to scare people.
But I feel this is the safest surgery so far, if not taken by me...
I often experience the most painful damage from my disease.
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