Saturday, January 16, 2016

Tonsillectomy Recovery: Day 3

Weight: 221
Change from yesterday: -2
Change overall: -4

For a day that started out in brutal misery, it ended up being not so bad. I went for 12 hours without pain meds, and as luck would have it, this was when some of the more intense pain started to creep in -- beyond my throat, unto my jaw and ears -- such fun! I realized that I HAD to get back on the pain meds, which meant in turn that I HAD to get some food in my stomach, so I made that my #1 goal for the morning.

Starting with ice chips, I progressed slowly to a popsicle, some jello, and finally an Ensure shake, waiting after each to make sure my stomach was settled. After the Ensure, I was ready to take the plunge with percocet again, and I was so glad I did! Within half an hour, the pain had eased and I could relax again, and my stomach was totally fine. So I followed that pattern the rest of the day, making sure to get food into my stomach before taking the percocet. I had applesauce and mashed potatoes, and for dinner I ate Ramen noodle soup.

I'm still drinking water constantly throughout the day because it's important to stay hydrated! I've continued using ice packs on my neck (and have already noticed how they help with the jaw and ear pain!), and I'm also using a travel neck pillow to support my head and keep me propped up. Unfortunately it's a child-sized one, but sometimes you gotta make do with what you've got!

When I'm not eating or drinking, I'm spending most of my time sleeping, still mostly in small spurts, because the drugs make me drowsy. When I'm awake, I mostly play Candy Crush or Words With Friends. I've been able to respond to a few texts and FB messages, and I've read a few chapters of a book. That's about it as far as entertainment goes -- I rarely stay awake and alert long enough to do much else. What I'm noticing though is that the time is passing really slowly. That is a strange sensation for me! I'm nearly always in "go" mode, with never enough hours in the day to do all the things I want and need to do! Now here I am, doing pretty much nothing, and seeing exactly how slowly the minutes tick past. I think maybe I would prefer for life to move at a pace somewhere between this and my usual rush.

Random observations: my tongue is still swollen and sore, and most of my throat pain is focused on the right side, which is the opposite of the side where I had the peritonsillar abscess. I have no idea if that is connected or a coincidence!

Oh, and I now have anti-nausea meds, in case eating before each dose of percocet isn't enough to keep my stomach in check. Huge thanks to the hubs for calling the doctor and taking care of that for me!

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