Day 7

Hallelujah! There is a light at the end of the tunnel! I feel soooo much better today. No constant pain, and I can talk without it killing me! The eating is still very limited but I'm able to keep myself from being starved. !!!! I think this calls for a celebration by putting down another deep thought by Jack Handy:

“The next time I have meat and mashed potatoes, I think I'll put a very large blob of potatoes on my plate with just a little piece of meat. And if someone asks me why I didn't get more meat, I'll just say, "Oh, you mean this?" and pull out a big piece of meat from inside the blob of potatoes, where I've hidden it. Good magic trick, huh?”

Oh dear, I think it's time to get back to some normal posts. But to any of you who may be considering a tonsillectomy, now you know what you're in for to a degree, I mean everyone is different. I do remember my Dr. saying though that the 7th day is the turning point, where you'll feel like living again, boy was he right! I'll keep posting up to the 10 day mark, by then or maybe already I'm sure you will be so annoyed with hearing about it.
Here are some recovery tips I would give if someone were to tell me they were getting their tonsils out:

• make sure you have an ice pack to place on your neck when the pain is bad, and at night.
  
• set your timer on your cell phone for when you are supposed to take your meds next, stay ahead of them or you will regret it. I'm still taking them every 4 hours.
  
• Suck on crackers (2) and swallow right after you take the pain meds even in the middle of the night or else you will get a sour stomach.
• drink tons of ice water, never let your throat get dried out. I learned a little trick at night to keep my throat moist even when my mouth was open, because it's bound to happen once or twice at least.... I put the sheets over my nose so I was breathing into them, it kept things nice and moist.
• Keep your mouth closed as much as possible to keep things moist as well.
  
• It's gonna feel like something is constantly stuck in your throat for a while, don't try to get it out or cough it out, it's normal.
• If you are the main care giver for any little ones in your house get some help for at least one week to come in. I had my in laws here, they left yesterday, which was one week after the surgery and I still am feeling pretty overwhelmed about keeping up with my two little ones while feeling like this.
  
• Don't eat milk products for the first 3 days at least, they cause upset stomach and excess mucous.
• Don't eat anything hot, or spicy.
• These are the best foods to eat, chicken noodle soup (luke warm), even if you can just get the broth down, it helps you feel better., apple sauce is great before or after pain meds for filling your stomach and not upsetting your throat. Eggs for protein, cream of wheat, pancakes if you chew them up real well and eat with lots of water. mashed potatoes, same thing,with lots of gravy or water.
• Last but not least, don't get too cranky (like I did in my last post), it will get better it just takes longer than most healing processes. I know I'm not exactly finished healing yet either, I still have a ways to go, but the level of pain has come down tremendously so I feel like I can handle things better.