- When you talk to consultants about the surgery, you'll be told it will be the same pain as having a bad bought of tonsillitis; for me I would count my bad bouts as when my tonsils were so swollen and yucky that I lost my voice, felt sick and had a little bit of pain swallowing, nothing a good nights sleep, a throat sweet and antibiotics couldn't fix. In reality after my op I couldn't even handle swallowing water it was that painful for over 12 hours and ended up needing morphine and other IV pain meds to get me through the night. I ended up being discharged hours later than I should of been as the nurses weren't happy with the state I was in Saturday morning and I desperately needed to begin to eat and drink.
- Recovery is a million times worse than you expect. Tonsillitis for me normally spelled 1-2 days feeling rough in bed but still managed to eat things like soup and ice cream and then being able to man up and get back into uni as despite feeling rough I could still drag myself in. With the op it took me well over a week before I had a day were I didn't have to go lie down and some point during the day because I felt so rough. I spent most of the first week counting down the time to my next hit of pain meds and struggled to sleep for more than 4/5 hours as I would often wake up in the night crying in pain and needing more relief.
- General anesthetic makes you feel like crap. Obviously in pre-op they give you a bit of warning that you might feel a little bit groggy and sick after you wake up but the sickness lasted a good 4-5 days for me :( and definitely felt spaced out for 2-3
- You won't want to eat....at all. Anyone who knows me, will know how much I love my food, even when I was walking up to theater I was complaining about being hungry, but when I came round the pain took over any desire to want to eat. My family were so concerned about my calorie intake that I started having to drink complan shakes just to get enough calories in me to sustain the little amount I was doing in a day. 11 days on and despite the pain being a million times better my appetite has yet to return meaning I still struggle with normal meals, however it's not all bad news. I lost half a stone in 4 days but I wouldn't recommend it!
- Even though it hurt like a bitch initially I wish somebody had told me sooner about the benefits of taking dissolvable paracetamol over tablets. Amazingly they gave a small amount of instant relief going down and it was another way to try and force some more fluids down if they were laced with pain relief. I was given codine alongside the paracetamol but I really didn't like how sick & generally horrid it made me feel so forced myself to manage on the less hard stuff as soon as possible.
- Having a "spitoon" as grim as it sounds was helpful. You have so much phlegm and gunk in your throat from the wounds and you get fed up of the painful swallowing, so its handy to have something nearby, it also made me feel a bit better to know I had a back up plan when I was feeling sick!
A massive thank you to the nurses that looked after me on Easton Ward, especially those on Saturday morning who made me feel well enough to make the journey home
Hope this helps anyone who is undergoing the same and if anyone else has any tips feel free to comment
fff
xox
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