Tonsillectomy, Part 1

I've been wanting to get my tonsils out for years, I just wasn't "sick" enough. That was until I returned from my trip to Ireland. A day or two after returning, I took a four hour nap and woke up to my throat feeling awful. I called my mom and she suggested I grab a flashlight and look at it. Well, I did and was horrified. I grabbed my shoes, keys and was out the door in 15 seconds; a record for me. What did I see? A throat full of yellow pus! They tested for strep, but came up negative. Still, they saw what they saw in my throat, so I got on meds. When I would eat my throat would be yellow and red from the pus and blood.

Days later I was feeling worse and my mom wasn't so sure it was just strep. So, back we went to the doctor. I told her the left side of my throat felt immense pain. The doctor took a look and saw a cold sore on my tonsil. I had no idea that was even possible, but it was. It was worse than it sounds. They have me a numbing mouthwash that made my feel like my throat was closing. Getting over all that took over a week.

I talked to my primary care physician about getting my tonsils out. He said he'd make me a referral if I wanted, but they looked okay at present. My mom and grandma thought otherwise, so I asked for a referral.

In October, I had both a serious eye infection and an upper respiratory information. With that came back the ever-pleasant (*sarcasm) tonsil stones. Since my tonsils are cryptic, meaning they have holes/pockets in them, I started getting tonsil stones, which are about as fun as they sound. During that time was my appointment with the Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) Dr. Pease. I made sure to reference all my tonsil issues and even happened to have a stone in there during my appointment. His office waiting room was cheery on that cold October day with giant paintings of birds and flowers. It gave me a warm, comfortable vibe. He was straight-forward which I appreciated; he told me this would be the most pain I'd ever be in, in my whole life. He wanted to talk with my rheumatologist to make sure he was covering all bases, which I appreciated. He said with my immune issues to expect the normal healing time to be a week longer than most peoples; a total of two weeks. I knew we'd have to wait until Christmas break. That was hard at the time since I was having so many stones and pain. So we planned for January 5th.