Tonsillectomy

After suffering from sinus infections 5 or 6 times a year for about 5 or 6 straight years, I had sinus surgery in Feb 2010. It was very successful for the first two years; I was only getting infections about twice a year. But then in Dec 2011 I got a really bad sinus infection and went to see my doctor (I had moved, and switched doctors since my surgery, and I like my new doctor MUCH better than the old one!). He gave me strong antibiotics twice a day for 10 days. But about 10 days after the antibiotics were finished, the infection was back and seemed even worse than before. He prescribed me the same antibiotics for 14 days, and that did clear it up. Until about 2 months later. And a couple months after that. And a couple months after that. And so on, and so on, and so on.

At some point during early 2012, a CT scan was done as a follow up after I had completed a couple weeks of antibiotics to look at my sinuses and make sure there wasn't anything more serious going on (they didn't say "tumor" but....), and the CT came back clean. My previous doctor had done a good job on the surgery, said my new doctor. But there were still two big things in the way...

Dr T: Has anyone ever talked to you about getting your tonsils removed?

Me: No.

Dr T: Are you aware that your tonsils are much larger than normal?

Me: Yeah, they've always been like that.

Dr T: I think that might be a big part of the problem of what's causing these infections again. Because your sinuses look good. But with those giant tonsils blocking about 40% of your airway, that's blocking a major outlet for germs and bacteria. If those things that you're breathing in aren't able to get out of your sinuses because your tonsils are blocking so much of the pathway....

Me: Hmm. I've never thought of that connection before, but I have always been a little surprised that no doctor has ever suggested that I have them removed.

Dr T: Well, it's definitely something to think about.


And every couple of months as I was back to see Dr T for another infection, he would always ask if I was ready to get my tonsils out yet. It was something that I had been thinking about. But I guess I wasn't totally convinced that my tonsils were the main cause of my reoccurring sinus problems. And I have two cousins who had their tonsils removed as adults. One of them was out of work for 3 weeks. She said it was like 2 weeks before she could eat solid food and a 3rd week before she could talk again. Didn't sound like fun. Didn't make me super-want to volunteer for this procedure. And then my other cousin was allergic to the pain medicine they gave her and she was only able to take OTC pain meds which did pretty much nothing to relieve her pain. A few months after her surgery she was still not fully recovered. And although I'm not known to be allergic to pain medication, that still wasn't really pushing me in the direction of getting it done.

But on another visit to my doctor he was asking me about how well I sleep. Not very well. I don't have sleep apnea, but I was snoring pretty badly (sometimes to the point where the noise of my snoring was loud enough to wake me up). Dr T said that my tonsils were definitely a huge contributing factor towards my snoring. And if my snoring was so bad that it was waking me up a lot, and I was tossing and turning all night, and never really getting a very good nights rest (I would feel tired ALL the time, no matter how many hours of sleep I was getting), that reason alone might be something else to consider, he said. And in the end, that really was what pushed me over the edge to get it done. I had gone home that day and discussed it with my husband (who has always been on board with it--even when it was "just" to help my sinus problems), and we agreed that it was time.

Back at the doctor's office with yet another infection last month...

Dr T: So are you ready to get those tonsils out yet?

Me: Yep!

Dr T: Seriously?

Me: Yeah!

Dr T: All right. When do you want to get it done?

Me: January.

Dr T: Okay. We have a surgical center right here in the building. We'll do it under general anesthesia. And you'll be out of work with a sore throat for about 2 weeks. Does that work for you?

Me: Yep.

Dr T: Okay. Here's a prescription to clear up this infection. I'll send the nurse back in to give you all the information, and I'll see you back here 2 weeks post-op.


So yesterday was my surgery! I had come down with a sinus infection over the long-new years-weekend (ironic) and was concerned that they wouldn't be able to do the surgery. But the admitting nurse sent my doctor into the pre-op waiting room to talk to me about my symptoms and he cleared me (pending a listen to my lungs and heart), the surgical nurse cleared me after talking about my symptoms, and after listening to my lungs and heart was finally cleared by the anesthesiologist and her assistant. Since the infection was all in my sinuses and not in my chest, we were good to go. And there was already antibiotics in my IV, and I had been prescribed antibiotics 3x a day for 10 days post-op anyway, so everyone seemed confident that there were no risks involved in doing the surgery with my congested sinuses. And by the time I woke up from surgery, I think the IV antibiotics had cleared everything up.

So far I've been feeling a LOT better than I expected. I had heard that the anesthesia could take up to 12 hours to fully clear my system, which meant that up until that point I could be feeling pretty good, but that the first morning you wake up post-op is usually MUCH worse than the day before. I woke up today feeling the same as I did last night. So I dodged that bullet. But of course everyone is different. I've read lots of accounts on the internet about people who say Day 4 is the worst, or Day 6, or Day 7, or Week 3, etc. So I'm certainly not out of the woods yet. But for now, I'm happy to be feeling a pain level of about 3-4 on the 10 scale.