So the deed has been done and I am heading to bed after what has been a long, fairly challenging and, at times, surprising day. Long due to arriving at the hospital at 7.45am and not getting home until 6pm coupled with staying up late to ensure I have adequate analgesia for a comfortable night. Challenging in a sense of today was always going to be hard. Despite the compliments of the nurse looking after me commending my 'cool as a cucumber' attitude, there's been moments where, internally at least, I have had a strong sense of frustration, lack of patience and, obviously, pain. But I have to truly praise the role of people near and far who have been supporting me with encouraging words and a reminder of them praying for me. Near has been the absolutely incredible Anna. My girlfriend is truly brilliant. From sacrificing the ability to make any plans during the day due to the uncertainty of when she needed to be available to pick me up to small touches like cutting toast in quarters to make it easier for me to eat, she has been amazing. Always loving, always patient, always kind throughout today, it has made the day that extra bit easier. And for Mum, who has spent the day encouraging me and reminding me how much she loves me over text whilst from work where she was desperate to be able to take leave from but was unable to. For these two wonderful women, as well as countless friends & family who have been in touch over text or Facebook (how great are these things in their own right!), I give thanks to God. And surprising for lots of reasons. Primarily I have felt the most amount of pain when I wasn't expecting it and have been most comfortable when I thought I would be experiencing peaks of pain. In recovery, you are normally feeling the effects of copious amounts of strong analgesics given IV to help cover the worst of the surgical pain. However today it seems I am 'opiate naieve' to quote the anaesthetist. Basically the dose that would normally be the correct amount to ensure I received the benefits of morphine was interpreted by my body as too much and, combined with the anaesthetic, I demonstrated signs of overdose, requiring administration of nalaxone, the opioid antagonist. So when I woke in recovery with my throat having a pain score of about 6 (increasing to 8 when I succumbed to the feeling of my dry mouth and asked for water) I was unpleasantly surprised. I've had morphine before and never responded in this way and, thankfully, was fine when I received a couple of slow bolus pushes in recovery, having no adverse effects and eventually feeling comfortable. Combined with this was the fact pain in the left side of my throat diminished much quicker with morphine than the right. The less thought about this the better I think; simply my ex-right tonsil was not in a great way, requiring a bit of extra work to remove it meaning it results in it smarting a bit more than the considerably easier to extract left. Also, the reactions I was actually aware of to other drugs that I have previously had was a surprise. Tramadol (another opioid) made me feel sick, break out in a sweat and, whether it was this, morphine or combination of the two, made me quite itchy. When I had it before after having my appendix out, I was none the wiser except, like this time too, it did succeed in decreasing my pain. Moreover, I have had numerous anaesthetics in the past and have NEVER vomited. Well that changed today, seemingly brought on by motion, but I can tell you now (stop reading if your squeamish)- gastric contents and recently exposed tonsil beds do not like each other very much at all. On the subject on things causing pain to the throat, both times I have eaten toast today has felt like punishment and as if I am being tortured. It took so much to force myself to eat it as the description I heard most commonly is correct- like swallowing razor blades. Thankfully water and cut up banana, whilst still painful, was relatively heavenly compared to toast. But I think the issue today was with timing of painkillers so hopefully tomorrow there will be better control and more comfort when eating in order to eat the rough foods, seen to decrease prevalence of infection when used as part of recovery. Finally, the care I received from everyone today was great and it was encouraging, as nurse turned patient for the day, to experience compassionate, efficient and dignified care. I am proud to be a nurse on days like today. Also, I was first on the list, that never happens and meant I was under and surgery started even before 9am! Right now I am fairly comfortable with little to no pain owing to alternate administration of paracetamol & ibuprofen, regular hydration and infrequent use of hexylresorcinol lozenges (whether this is recommended or not I don't know, but it's been bringing relief at any rate). Also I have to say that I do wonder if attempting to do the 'rough diet' has contributed to a reduction in pain by eliminating the potentially more painful slough/scabs forming, even at this early stage. I have titled this 'Tonsillectomy Complete' but in reality know this is probably far from true and the next 2 weeks are going to be a bit of a slog. But for now I am content with feeling quite comfortable and hope for decent sleep (interrupted for analgesia administration of course) and will deal with whatever Day 1 post-op has to deal with when it throws it at me.
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