.my tonsillectomy.

assalamualaikum!

first day:

it was fun watching the registration process at the service counter. as it was my first time being warded, i was in awe of the hospital's fast and friendly service. there was even an usher who escorted us to my room on the 3rd floor! haha.

as i admire the room i was going to be in for the next two days, ejal paid the deposit of RM500 at the counter on our floor. dinner was served and i was given a hospital gown for the operation the next day.

someone from the pathology lab, i think, came and took my blood. later on, an anaesthetist came and asked me a bunch of questions. a standard procedure, i guess.

.the night before. gotta start fasting from 10pm.

second:

woke up early as usual and got ready for my tonsillectomy that was scheduled at 9.00am. donned the hospital gown and cap with nothing else underneath. awkward! around 8.15am, a nurse came and wheeled me to the OT. gotta cover up with the hospital blanket! ejal accompanied me till we reached the door. poor ejal. he spent the first and second night on an uncomfortable couch.

i was wheeled inside the preparation room and asked to lie down on a stretcher. i was on it for almost 30 minutes, i think. i had no sense of time as i watched nurses, doctors and anesthetists walked back and forth in that room. a kind nurse came over to adjust my blanket and gave me another one when i informed her that i was cold. i'm not sure whether the coldness was from the air conditioners or my nervousness. i prayed to Allah that everything will go on smoothly and that i will wake up from the general anesthesia (after all the bad-ending-operation-stories from my doctor in slim river, i admit i was worried!).

an anesthetist came over and put the cannula in the vein of my left hand. later, a few staff pushed the stretcher into the OT. i was excited and nervous! i wanted to see my doctor before the operation but i didn't see her at all.

they started performing a few procedures on me. one started pulling and pushing me side to side to secure my arms. another put the arterial blood saturation probe (i googled this, not sure whether it's the correct term or not haha) to monitor my heart rate and such. the anesthetist then put a mask on me and asked me to breathe in the gas. i waited for him to ask me to count backwards or something like in the movie, you know? but he didn't hehe! after a few seconds, i struggled to open my eyes as they got droopy and then boom! 

the next thing i know was when i woke up, i can feel the stretcher being pushed and heard my mother's and ejal's voices. i was back in my room. alhamdulillah. thanks mak, abah and ejal for taking charge of protecting my modesty.

.thanks to dinot, i brought along a small towel.

third:

woke up dizzy. tried to take a shower and wudhuk but gotta move reaaal slow or the world will spin. i was being put on a drip and it was quite hard to move around as some blood flowed out of the iv. breakfast and lunch was the same as the night after the operation. slices of bread with warm milo and dinner was chicken porridge. i didn't/can't finish them.

fourth to sixth:

more or less the same things happened through out these days when i was at home. struggled to eat and sleep. i desired all kind of food. ejal obligingly bought me some but i can't even finish them because they didn't taste the same. weird how my tonsils were removed and not my tongue but my taste buds had been altered. oh just imagine the frustration when you can no longer taste the delicious fried kue tiau!

i googled the effects of having your tonsils removed and many shared their experience of not having the same sense of taste for almost a year!

therefore, i resorted to eating campbell soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner. just the soup. not dipping them with bread or anything. yeah, i know it's not healthy because of the high sodium ingredient and it being a processed food but i can't finish any other kind of food. i tried fish soup and even ice cream! i found out that dairy products such as vanilla ice cream, yogurt and yogurt drinks produced phlegm. phlegm made me cough and coughing hurt like hell. so, i avoid them. but hey, if they works for you...go ahead and get some!

.abah holding up my tonsils and adenoids.

yup, the doctor removed my tonsils and also some adenoids. this operation had cost around 10k but thanks to my insurance, we only had to pay around 1k.

on the night of the sixth day, somehow the pain increased. my jaw, ears and throat hurt so badly that i had to sleep or sat by the bed, contemplating whether the decision of removing my tonsils was right. through the nights i had to put the reusable gel ice pack on my jaw and ears. painkillers didn't really help at this point. i gargled some antiseptic oral rinse given by my doctor but it gave temporary relief.

surprisingly, throughout these ordeal, i realized i didn't yawn as much as before. i didn't sneezed too. imagine the pain if i did! i wonder how wide my mouth or jaw was spread open during the operation to cause me that much pain.

seventh:

we visited the doctor for an inspection. received good news that healing process was good. she admitted that most of her patients went through the same cycle of pain that increases on the the sixth or seventh day. however, she can't explained why. mystery of the medical world?

advantages:

loose weight!

(i lost about 6kgs)

snore no more

2-weeks-leave from work haha!

alhamdulillah,
no fever since 16th may

disadvantages:

the pain

lost sense of taste

the pain

sense of taste
still has not fully recovered

after 2 months, 8 days

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thank you for reading!