Second Surgery - Lingual Tonsil Removal

I went in for my second surgery on Tuesday, Nov. 29th to have my lingual tonsils removed.  I was scheduled to go in at 1:30 PM, then got bumped up to 12:00 PM then got pushed back to 4:00 PM.  A little annoying but we rolled with it, my wife and I.

At least this time we warned them of the difficulty I had last time of getting my IV inserted.  As a result of us mentioning this they prepped my arms by rolling them in warm towels and hot packs and sent in a very skilled nurse to start my IV.  She was brilliant and got it the first try.  I can't tell you how much of a relief this was.

I don't recall if I mentioned this previously but it took three different staff members on three different locations on my body to get my IV started last time.  I almost ended up passing out.  Finally the anesthesiologist got it done.  Besides recovery, the worst part of the last surgery.

The staff mentioned on several occasions that I would be meeting with my doctor, which didn't happen last time, before surgery but I was prepared to insist on it if need be.  I was relieved when I saw him and I knew I wouldn't have to push for it.  It's always nice to be able to talk to your doctor before and after surgery.  Last time his physician's assistants gave me wrong information before and after surgery.  This time I was determined to get it from the horses mouth, as it were, before and after my procedure.

I wanted to make sure that when he had me on the table and before he removed my lingual tonsil that he scoped my throat and went all the way down past my Adams Apple which is where I'm experiencing the most pain and discomfort.  I also wanted him to make sure that there wasn't anything going on down there.  He insured me that he would.  He also explained that he would be removing both lingual tonsils.

I met with my anesthesiologists one of whom said a prayer for me.  They then administered the sedative that would "relax" me and before I even got to the operating room I was out.

I awoke about four hours later in my recovery room with my wife by my side.  The surgery only took a couple hours.  Post surgery is a lot of checking vitals and making sure everything starts working again.

The only thing I had trouble with was urination.   I initially thought there was something wrong with me.  I just didn't feel the need to go, but apparently that's a side effect of the anesthesia.  I had to be "drained" once with a catheter.  I've never had that done before and the discomfort motivated me to get on-board the pee train, sorta speak.  I knew that if I tried, I could go a little, whether I felt it or not.  Now all I had to do was go more often and I could keep my bladder below the point, approximately 500 ml, where they would have to catheter me.

Apart from that everything else was pretty normal.  I was able to drink clear liquids, protein juice and jello, and take my medicine, with the aid of the Aloe Gloe I brought.  I stayed overnight and  began an advanced liquid diet the next day consisting of creme chicken soup, sherbet and pureed pears.  The soup was good and I was able to finish it which was a significant accomplishment because it allowed me to get the calories needed to heal quickly.  The sherbet was ok but after I saw all the sugar it had I put it aside.  Nutritionally it was just not going to contribute to my healing so why bother.  The pureed pears were too acidic and burned going down so I left those unfinished too.  I also had one of the vegan protein drinks I had brought; another moral booster due to the calories and nutrition it provided.

In the afternoon they finally gave me the news that I could go home.  I think that's always welcome news when in the hospital.  Everyone was really nice and attentive there, but, as they say, there's no place like home.  I heard my doctor was in the building so I asked if he could come by before I left.

He came in the room with a couple interns, I believe.  I'm not sure since he didn't introduce them.  He was under the impression that we had specific questions for him ready-to-go but I really just wanted to talk to him about the surgery.  He seemed kind of put-off, but my wife got the ball rolling and it turned out to be a very informative conversation.

The obvious question, which he had already informed my wife who in turn informed me, was that initial pathology didn't find any squamous cells in the tonsil tissue.  They'll be sending that out for a detailed analysis which should come back in five days.  He said they removed an area about the size of two half-dollar coins stacked on top of each other.  I was surprised at how large of an area they took out in relation to the relative little pain I felt.   He also took out a ridge of suspicious tissue in my throat and that was healthy too.

He did scope my whole throat again going below my Adam's Apple and he said all the tissue looks really healthy.  He said this will be my last surgery, at least for awhile unless it shows up somewhere else.

I asked him where else it could be hiding.  He said either my immune system got rid of it, my body formed a cyst around it somewhere, or it's somewhere very, very small.  I then asked if at such a small size could it still have spread to my lymph node?  He nodded and said, "Yes.".

He also acknowledged the contribution I made in discovering the discrepancy in radiology images to his interns.  He said I am the person responsible in bringing it to their attention that images were missing when transferred between databases.  He let me know that they had a meeting that very morning with radiology where he had some firm words expressing his dissatisfaction with the discrepancies in the system and was determined to get it corrected.  That made me feel good to think that I may have had a part in finding a flaw in a system that, once corrected, will insure people can be diagnosed more accurately.

Despite him being a little put off by having to come down without me having pre-scripted questions he ended up being very forthcoming and communicative with the conversation even venturing into the jovial realm at times.  I'm sure the pumpkin bread my wife brought him and his staff had a little something to do with that.