Wednesday, August 22, 2012

take note!

i'm about to tell you something of utmost importance.  something that you need to file away in the deep recesses of your brain for future reference.  you or someone you know may need this little tidbit at some point in life.  so put down your down your drink, your snack, or pull over on the side of the road and focus.  i don't want you saying that i never warned you.  ready???

getting your tonsils out at the age of 32 sucks.  the end.  

ever since i was a little kid, i have had sore throat after sore throat, strep throat after strep throat.  i typically have a sore throat at least every other month.  there's usually a bad case of strep every november and february.  chase can even smell when i'm about to get one and he'll call it the day before.  weird and gross all at the same time.  it's like it's just written down on my internal calendar to get a sore throat on a specific day.  over the course of my life, i am sure that i have ingested more antibiotics than a field full of kroger chickens. no doctor ever told me to get them out.  so as an adult, i typically just sucked it up and let it run it's course.  that usually took a week to a week and a half.  sometimes i carried around a cup to spit in just so i wouldn't have to swallow.  lovely.  well this summer i got a bad one that lasted 21 days until i finally went to the ENT who gave me an antibiotic (to make certain that i was beating the chicken at his own game) and told me that those petri dishes in the back of my throat were coming out.

coming out?  i thought tonsillectomies were for 5 year olds?  and i thought it was absolutely horrible to get this done as an adult?  and as of friday i found out first hand that yes....it IS absolutely horrible to get this done as an adult.  so if you have a kid that may be on the verge of needing his tonsils out (or maybe not even close)...i'd just go ahead and take those suckers out now.  spare them the misery 20-30 years down the road!

it started out friday morning with the nurse having to stick me 3 times to get an iv in.  this always happens to me.  i have had 3 kids and 7 epidurals.  the numbers don't add up.  apparently, i make a dang good pin cushion.  thankfully, some really cool anesthesia girl came by and made me feel like i was floating, so that was awesome.  they should consider that as part of recovery for the week after.  i might could have handled the pain and nausea if i had been somewhat drunk.  instead, i sipped gatorade round the clock for two days rather comfortably, and then day 3 tried to kill me.  i offered to let william shoot me with the new gun he got for his birthday to end it all, but he likes me and didn't want to do that.


(you would think at least one of them would take me up on the offer!) 

day 4, i was straight up miserable and angry.  after a text to my doctor demanding steroids (not really...he was super sweet and offered it), i went and got a steroid shot and some zofran.  it took the angry and miserable away and left me just kind of hurting and hungry.  so...practically good as new compared to day 3!!!  i've professed my love for steroids before after injecting them into my knee, but now....let's just be glad i don't play professional baseball! whohoo for steroids!  and high five to the sweet doctor that texted me to check on me.  guess i looked pretty angry and miserable that morning?!? : (  anyway, i think i really turned the corner on day 5.  after staying in bed until after lunch drunk on pain meds, i finally got some food down.  i think that made all the difference.  now don't get me wrong....my throat still hurts, but i can function.  and that's good because i'm kind of tired of my bed!!

once again...my family rocks.  my dad fixed breakfast and played with my kids all weekend and then transported reed to chase's parents for the week while my mom has taken on the role of clothes washer/kitchen cleaner/lego fight breaker upper.  chase has played nurse fairly well despite my dirty word looks when he shoves a gatorade in my face and tells me to drink.  friends are bringing supper for the people in this house that can actually eat food.  and the little people have made sure i have everything i need including a room full of handmade cards.



they make me happy, but i'm glad to know this is a once in a lifetime thing.  in fact, they can just go ahead and give my antibiotics and steroids to the chickens because i've filled my surgery quota for the next hundred years!!

2 comments:

Heather Wood said...

SO sorry, Laura! This sounds miserable! I hope everything is on the uphill rise from here out. So, I guess you weren't mowing grass two days later either. My yard boy sent his helper the next week. He said he rode by and we were looking like a jungle. Take it easy!

Paper Pregnant said...

I'm so sorry you had to go through that but glad you are on the mend. I'm also glad you are blessed with such wonderful family & friends! Please let us know how we can help. Promise I won't bring you any gatoraid.