Mmmmmm Tasty

       I walked out of the doctor’s office that May morning, got in my car and drove the ten minute drive back to school. I thought about how my day had started with a check-up appointment for my allergies, but had turned in to a commitment to have surgery on June eighth. The doctor informed me that tonsils and adenoids had become swollen, nearly blocking my airway causing my ailments. Nasal polyps peppered my sinuses, making the issues worse. Fast forward about three weeks and I was walking back into that same building on an unusually cold morning at ten. The waiting room was a warm relief, which nearly put me to sleep before I went into the back of the building. When my name was finally called, I stumbled back to the room, slipped on the awkward gown and climbed into my bed. I was promptly hooked into an IV, cleared for surgery, and gently put to sleep by the warm surge of anesthesia.

Two hours later I awoke to find what felt like a hand around my throat and a feeling that I had been hit square in the face by a baseball bat. Apparently that is what is deemed a “success” for that procedure. Luckily, I was allowed to go home only an hour or so later, carried out in a wheelchair and loaded into the front seat of my Dad’s car with my Mom driving. The anesthesia wore off about three hours later and the recovery, from what I thought was a relatively surgery, began. Immediately I questioned why I had gone through this surgery. Designed to make it easier to breath, I now felt like someone had stuffed my trachea full of cotton and plugged my nose with carrots. For two straight days and nights my time would consist of nothing but watching television on my couch in my basement. Well, that isn’t entirely true because the bleeding started. Television came between the nearly hourly vomiting sessions. The bleeding from my throat would trickle quietly down to my stomach, eventually causing me to vomit nothing but blood and whatever little Gatorade I could stomach. Those really were some of the most colorful vomits I have ever had. The comical part was that I had to be sure to keep an out for any of my stitches amidst the vomit, so I would know if one came out. I didn’t keep liquids down consistently for three days, and didn’t eat solid food for five. In a matter of seven days I had lost thirteen pounds. So, if you are looking for a quick way to lose a couple pounds, get your tonsils taken out!