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Swallowing My First Surgery
I thought only kids got their tonsils out?
The theme of June 2023 was “Get your throat filleted and cauterized.” It’s like a “backyard barbecue” party theme, but a little different. After a year of relentless tonsillitis (preceded by many other years of relentless tonsillitis), I decided to schedule the surgery.
A tonsillectomy is a common elective surgery routinely performed on kids (probably some of you) but also often on adults (me) when the frustration of constant illness makes it worth it. Doctors usually suggest it after a half-dozen or so incidents of tonsilitis or other throat infections.
From the first IV prick to the chopping block to waking up in recovery, the whole procedure only takes about 90 minutes. It is straightforward and comes with very low chances of complications. I had been told all of this years ago when it was first suggested that my throat was doing me more harm than good, and it proved entirely accurate on operation day.
But it hadn’t been the prospect of the surgery itself that had made me put it off for so many years; it was the subsequent recovery period. I had been told by doctors, nurses, and acquaintances to expect at least two weeks of searing pain, nausea, exhaustion, and, as one medical professional put it, “weird burnt flesh in my throat.” The tonsillitis…
