Emma's brave adventures in tonsilectomy!!

My Adventures in Tonsillectomy
By Emma Kallner

Definition: A tonsillectomy is a surgical procedure in which the tonsils are removed. Sometimes the adenoids are removed at the same time.

October 9, 2007 was one of the worst days of my life! It was the day I had a tonsillectomy. A tonsillectomy is when a surgeon takes your tonsils out. I was having my tonsils and adenoids out. Now I will tell you what a tonsillectomy was like for me.
The night before the surgery you eat your dinner and you go to sleep and by midnight you are not aloud to eat. So I woke up in the middle of the night and was really worried. It was so hard to get back to sleep. I woke up the next morning really nervous with butterflies in my stomach. The thing that was worrying me was the needle that they were going to stick into me to make me fall asleep. I was afraid that it was going to really hurt. I was also concerned that I would not go to sleep even with the needle. I eventually fell back asleep for a few hours.
In the morning I could only drink water until 9:30. I couldn't have any breakfast. We left home at 10:30 and quickly stopped in at school to get homework and to say good bye. It was nice to see some friends before I went to the hospital. It calmed me down for a little while anyway.
When we got to Children’s Hospital, we had to check in at the Surgical Day Care. There was actually a line up of other kids getting surgeries done. I looked at all the other kids and they did not look worried at all. I wanted to turn around and get out of there. When we got to the front of the line the nurse that was checking me in said, “Your surgery is at 12:30 and you can go sit over there on those benches till they call you”. I listened to my i pod while we waited to calm my nerves. Then the nurse opened the door and called my name to come in. I thought my heart was going to pop out as I was so scared.`
She brought me and my parents to a curtained off room. She asked me to get in to a hospital gown. After I changed, the woman came in and put a cream on my hand that makes it numb so I can’t feel the needle. The hospital calls it “magic cream”. Maybe they could have used all of that magic on something else maybe like on getting me out of there! I sat in that room for about 10 minutes and then the nurse brought me out to where all of the other kids wait for their surgery. It was packed!! Unfortunately, the only seat left was right next to the door where all the kids come out from surgery. This was not the greatest seat to sit in because when you watch all the kids come out from surgery it makes you want to cry not only because it makes you more worried but also because you feel bad for them. Imagine a little girl being rolled out on a bed after her surgery. She was crying and moaning and her face had lots of purple spots on it. My Mom told me that she had some laser surgery done on her face to get rid of marks. That is what I had to see over and over.
I had been waiting 2 ½ hours and no one had called my name. My surgery was an hour late so far. I was getting really hungry and more and more nervous. My Dad went to go ask how much longer it would be. The nurse said that the surgeon was running behind and there were two more people ahead of me. Yikes!!! That is the moment I thought I would just walk out of there and not do the operation. I got so mad at my parents for making me do this. It was going to be another 2 hours before my surgery and I didn’t think I would make it. The nurse gave me a bed to lay down in and I watched Seinfeld to get my mind off my nerves, headache and hunger. I started to get dizzy and a little nauseous from not eating. I thought to myself that this must be what it feels like on Yom Kippur. Finally at 3:15 when I was the last patient in a once busy waiting room, a nurse came to bring me into surgery. This made me cry. When I got into the surgery room I saw all of these silver bowls and tools. My Dad came in with me all dressed up in a blue cap, slippers and a yellow gown. That made me laugh a little.
My Dad held my hand as they put the gas mask over my face. I tried really hard not to fall asleep but the gas was too strong . I guess that is when they put the I.V. in my hand and started the operation. I was in surgery for half an hour and then they brought me out to recovery. My parents said I was really funny when I woke up. I asked for Popsicle's right away and had three by the time I got up to my room for the night.
I had to share a room with another girl that also got her tonsils out. I wasn’t too excited about this but that is all they could do. My Grandparents came to visit me and brought me balloons. I really appreciated that. I watched T.V with my brother for a while and then my Dad and Jeremy went home. It was just my Mom and I for the night. The nurses kept coming in to check my vital signs, give me Tylenol and ask how my throat was. It actually felt O.K. I couldn’t fall asleep though. There were lots of beeps and moans and noises coming from other patients. The IV machine kept beeping through the night. It was really annoying. I probably slept about 2 hours the whole night. My Mom tried to sleep in the chair beside me. She kept telling me to sleep but I couldn’t so I watched movies and my Mom got me more Popsicle's. In the morning the surgeon came to see me and said my tonsils and adenoids were very big. It was a good thing that I got them taken out. He told me about what to expect as I healed and said I could go home. Yeah!!
The days following were really hard. My throat hurt so much. I could barely swallow. I could only eat about three spoons of a Slurpee. Can you imagine turning down a Slurpee, milkshake and frappacino? I have started eating some soup and cannot wait to eat a big bowl of chips when I am better. It takes two weeks to feel better and three weeks to be completely healed. One more week to feel better. I can’t wait!
This has been my adventure with a tonsillectomy. Stay tuned as the adventure continues. The disgusting scabs are due to fall off any day now. I understand this can be the beginning of another adventure.