Tonsillectomy

My goal for this year was to take one picture per week on my "real" camera. So this week's photo is from this afternoon. Let's go back a bit...

In November hubby was again home for a week with tonsillitis. The doctor advised that he have his tonsils removed.  He was warned that it would not be pleasant, but otherwise he'd continue having 5-6 infections per year.  The date was set for what would be a calmer period at work.

The big day was Monday, February 15th. However...10 days before he got another infection! He said it was one of the worst ones. Started antibiotics on Wednesday.  So sad that he was already suffering.

We arrived at 1 and Mateo and I were allowed to go with him to his room.  On the phone they had said he could come home at 6pm. When she was there, they said he wouldn't be ready then. I could come check then, but it would be later or the next day.

I went at 6 and found a very drugged hubby with a HUGE lip! I'm not sure if I'll even post photos of it.  The doctor came a bit later to say that the operation took more than an hour, when normally it takes 20 minutes. The tonsils were clearly chronically infected.  A week later she told hubby that it was one of her hardest operations ever. The tonsils were apparently very big and very deep, almost to his tongue. Very swollen and very infected.

A nurse brought him ice water and told him to drink. He couldn't talk and could barely move. That same nurse came like 10 minutes later and was mad that he hadn't drank yet.

The doctor said he should recover another 2-3 hours. The day hospital closes at 6:30, so they had to find a place for him. Later he was wheeled to geriatrics. I decided the nurses in that department don't have a clue about patients who just had their tonsils out and has a lip that is 10x it's normal size. The doctor had just said no milk products and to drink with a straw and they come with a yogurt and say he needs to eat it before he can go home...not to mention the questions they were asking.

I left and came back a few hours later to find a locked door! Never heard of that, but ok. There must be a doorbell somewhere? Found an intercom. Called. No answer. Called again. Someone said they were coming. No one came. Someone else came out and I snuck in.

We got hubby home, went to give him his first round of painkiller. Fizzy tablets. Only these didn't fizz. Didn't even break up when poked with a fork. The pharmacist gave the wrong kind! At 10pm I got to drive back to the pharmacy. Didn't even get an apology.

The first 2 days hubby didn't eat anything. Just drank some apple juice and water with his medicine.

Wednesday he thinks he started fainting. I was out, so he called me. By the time I was home, he was with it again. He was in bed the whole time, thankfully. I then decided he needed to drink some bouillon.  Every sip hurt I think. The lips was still huge.

Thursday I think we did some shakes and more bouillon, but no pieces. That hurt too much. By this time we realized there's no way he'd be back to work on Monday.

Friday our GP came to our house. Gave him another 2 weeks off, something for the swelling in his lip and a heavier painkiller.

Saturday, after a better night sleep, hubby came with to his parents for a few hours. There he had soup for the first time.

Sunday. More soup and some mashed potatoes. Still lots of pain and a huge lip.

Monday we finally decided to call about the lip that wasn't changing. By now it looked very nasty. Yellow pieces of skin hanging off of it. I wanted to pull it off, but he wouldn't let me.

Tuesday he got a hold of the surgeon and she said he could come in.  She pulled the skin off, looked inside and said it wasn't healed yet, but that it would be ok. That it was healing. She didn't seem to have any concerns. Hubby also mentioned that when he tried to chew, his jaw didn't seem to line up.

Come 3am Wednesday morning. "Oh no!" I groan, "wwhhhat?"  There's blood on a tissue. I really wanted to roll over, go back to sleep and deal with it in the morning, but he called my sister. Good thing it was only 6pm there. She advised us to go to the ER. After discussing we decided on that. But where? I wanted to go to the closer hospital, where he was operated. Turns out they don't even have an ER anymore, so we went to the better known one. A first for me here and only the 2nd time in my life I've been in one.

There was just one guy waiting. First it seemed a bit of a 'problem' that he hadn't originally been there, but it worked out. Even for the better I think.  An ENT doctor 'happened' to be in right then, so she could do a thorough check.  (¨*side note* my very kind BIL was woken up to come sleep on our couch, so the kids were taken care of. Also, everything is taking place in Dutch, so some of the descriptions are now hard for me to write in English)  She could see the problem. The scab on one side was gone, which was ok, but the other one was hanging and it was bleeding. With her cool light that goes through the nose, she could see that there was blood in his throat. She wasn't going to allow him to go home in that condition. He had to stay for observation with a very real chance of another surgery.

After a teeny mixup, we were placed in a room with another man on the ENT floor. From 6-8 we waited and texted each other and lots of other people. We couldn't talk, because the other man was trying to sleep. A doctor came in and looked and it was still bleeding, so she said they'd operate as soon as possible. No point to wait any longer.  I then headed home to sleep with a promise to return.

He said those last 2 hours were so traumatic. The blood would pool up in this throat and he couldn't cough to get it out, so it would have to build up enough till it would "fall" down his throat. He kept feeling blobs and like he'd suffocate. Scary, huh?  Want to know something else scary. He said they said that even though he had fasted, his stomach had blood in it, so they would have to close his throat, but they'd do it when he was falling asleep. He said they like put their hands around his neck and choked him to shut it! But he said it sounds worse than it felt, because he was already falling asleep.

Apparently this surgery was also more complicated than normal. Other blood vessels started bleeding, so they burned them all shut. Hopefully they stay closed! He has a small mouth, so they didn't have much room to work. Wanna know something good? His lip looked so much better after the operation! It's like being touched and stretched again helped the swelling.

He was back to his phone around 1:00.  I was there at 4:30. He could talk. What a pleasant surprise! And then an hour later he ate 2 yogurts! We decided this is how a normal person would experience a tonsillectomy.  His uvula is swollen, so he keeps thinking he has a blood clot, but there's no more blood coming out!

It's now 10pm and I think he's watching soccer with his roommate. He said he feels pretty good. The wound was infected, that's why it was bleeding, so now he is getting antibiotics and painkiller though an IV.  We are happy he's sleeping there a night, then if there is a problem he has immediate help.

We received lots of positive messages today. Thanks friends and family!