Not for the squeamish...Tonsilectomy day one:

Hey seriously, if you get grossed out by pictures of open wounds and such, don't read this post!  

Did you know that I have chronic tonsil issues?  Yep, since I was a kid.  My tonsils were disgusting, huge, and always getting infected, so yesterday I had them removed.  Bye bye, gross tonsils.  

I decided to do a daily update on my recovery for y'all.  I had many warnings from doctors, and friends that have experienced a tonsilectomy in adulthood.  Warnings about how miserable it is. "Stuck on your back for 2 weeks!"  They said.  I just wanted to make a journal about this little adventure, so I could see how I really felt about it.  WARNING:  There are going to be pictures, and they are going to be gross.  Not for the squeamish.

BEFORE:

As you can see, these are my gross tonsils on Monday night.  I was not "sick" at the time.  No sore throat, no cold, nothing.  This is what they look like all the time. You should see them when I'm sick!  (I think I've posted tonsilitis pics before if you are really curious). They needed to go.

AFTER TONSILECTOMY: Day one:

Tuesday morning at about 9ish I fell asleep with tonsils (although I don't remember falling asleep), and an hour or so later woke up without them. (before I fully woke up I could hear the nurses talking about how I had an adorable brand new baby in the waiting room!  They wouldn't lie about that unless they knew I was awake, so just proof that he must really be adorable.) 

While I didn't feel great, it wasn't as bad as I expected.  The most uncomfortable thing was that my tongue was swollen and felt bruised (which they told me was likely to happen), but I could still talk.  I kind of sounded drunk and raspy, but it was better than I thought. We were discharged by about 11:20am.  I spent the next several hours in and out of sleep, taking pain medication every four hours, and pumping and dumping every three hours (have you ever had to pump and dump?  Its so sad to see all that milk go to waste running down the drain.  But I can't nurse while I'm on the pain meds so I gotta do what I gotta do). 

Anyway, drinking anything was hard, and eating was downright impossible.  I quickly learned to drink as much liquid as I could within the first 30 minutes of taking the pain meds because that is when it hurt the least.  I somehow managed to stay hydrated throughout the day.  I tried to eat too, just because I'm trying to keep my milk, and I need calories to do that (plus the doctors said I could eat whatever I wanted, but most people don't want to eat).  By the end of the day I had only managed to eat 2 puddings and 2 popsicles.  And I'm pretty sure my milk supply is suffering because of it.  If you have any suggestions on how to get more calories in by liquid, please don't hesitate to give them to me.  Right now I'm actually drinking egg nog.  I don't even like egg nog, but it has so many calories!

To sum up: By the end of day one I felt very tired, queasy, and pretty sore in my throat.  Especially when swallowing and talking, but overall things went better than expected.