My name is Kate. I'm 23 years old and I'm having my tonsils out in three days.
At age 19 I contracted mononucleosis (mono). From then on I was plagued with tonsilloliths, or tonsil stones. For the unacquainted, tonsil stones are small whitish accumulations of protein, bacteria, sulfur and saliva that form in the depths of exceptionally large tonsils (a complication of mono). Though not damaging or life-threatening, tonsil stones are annoying and cause exceedingly bad breath. I would often gag at feeling them in the back of my throat and would obsessively poke and prod at my tonsils in an attempt to rid myself of them. On many an occasion, these attentions ended in pain and bleeding.
As a child, I had never had a single ear infection.
The first time it happened I had no idea what I was in for. I thought that perhaps I had been overzealous with a Q-Tip and decided to wait out the pain for a few days. A week later, I found myself in the Emergency Room at four in the morning, bawling my eyes out, with double ear infections in both ears. I had waited so long to see a professional that both my ear drums were on the verge of bursting. Ear drops wouldn't fit in my swollen ear canals. The doctor placed "wicks" in my ears to draw in the drops. After three weeks of ear drops and antibiotics, I was back to normal.
Or so I thought.
It seems that every month since has seen me with an ear infection. I've lost some hearing, but not as much as I could have. I've come to know the twinge in my ear that means another one is brewing. My medical chart is filled with pages upon pages of visits for ear infections, more than 20 in three years. I stopped using Q-Tips after the first episode. A year later, I stopped showering before bed to avoid leaving water in my ears. So far as I knew, this was the kind of thing that everyone dealt with at one point or another. I must be doing something wrong- showering at the wrong time, using the wrong soap, eating the wrong food. Nothing helped.
Last month, a doctor here at UConn put it all together. He browsed my chart, looked in my ears and told me that I had a chronic infection in both ears that had caused scarring on my ear drums. If I ignored the problem, I faced permanent hearing loss. He sent me to an otolaryngologist (ENT) to get to the root of the problem.
Two weeks later, I had an explanation for everything. Mono had permanently increased the size of my tonsils. The golf balls in the back of my throat have been blocking my Eustachian tubes, which regulate pressure in the ear. Without the ability to properly regulate pressure, my middle ear had become a vacuum. My body compensated by filling the vacuum with fluid, creating the ideal habitat for harmful bacteria. Over and over this happened. Sporadic courses of antibiotics had killed the bacteria and dried up the fluid, but the root of the problem had never been taken care of.
My doctor's question: how soon do you want to have your tonsils out?
Since that day, I have been scouring the internet for information. What foods work best? When will I be able to speak again? How badly does it hurt? Forums gave me a few answers, but plenty of contradictions, especially so far as adult surgery is concerned. I found out that adult tonsillectomies are very different and more painful than the same procedure when performed during childhood.
Is the pain not so bad, or does it hurt worse than childbirth? Is cold water soothing or a good way to feel like someone has stabbed you in the throat? Will hot soup be your staple food or hated enemy?
I'm going to find out for myself over the next few weeks. You'll get pictures, words (when I'm coherent), and (hopefully) some commentary from my caregivers. I just hope that someone benefits from my efforts.
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