Tuesday, February 8, 2011

A Poll Question

Yesterday I had a little visit to the doctor. And not just any regular family practice doctor. It was the Ear, Nose, & Throat guy, or otolaryngologist if you want to be technical. I had been to visit him before but it's been a long time & I had completely forgotten that he was an older, balding man with a ponytail. I wonder if he has a Harley?
Anyway, I paid a visit to the Doc because I have this ongoing problem. I won't get too detailed or technical because I don't want to gross anyone out. The problem is this: I have enlarged tonsils. They are rather monstrous. They are also pitted or scarred. That means that they have lots of rough spots & even a hole or two that are the legacy of infections past. Because I have this pitting & scarring my tonsils catch lots of debris. Some of the debris is food particles & some of it is tissue that sloughs off from the mouth in it's natural cycle of cell growth & shedding (just like your skin does). The gross thing is that this debris inflames my tonsils & causes all sorts of irritation. I am much more susceptible to infection & sore throats (my throat hurts - although not unbearably by any means - probably 4 days out of 7). I routinely gargle & flush & try to clean my tonsils. But I was having so much irritation I made the doctor's appointment. I was hoping he had some magic trick that would help me out. He didn't. He gave me two options: keep doing what I'm doing or have my tonsils removed. It's entirely up to me; he thought either option was reasonable. So my question is this:
How many of you have had your tonsils removed? How many of your children have had their tonsils removed? How long was your/their recovery? On a scale of 1-10 (1 being you would never do it again & 10 being super happy every day since your surgery) where would you rate your tonsillectomy?
At this point I have no intention of signing up for another surgery, although like the gall bladder situation, this won't get better & will probably only get more bothersome. My goal of dying with all the body parts I was born with is really just crushed, crushed, crushed.
Leave me a comment & let me know all about your tonsil health!
Yeah, I realize that was a really super weird way to sign off of this post...

5 comments:

Jenny said...

Michael gets these "tonsil stones" too. He sucks them out with our nose-sucker contraption and has no plans to get his tonsils removed. I hope others are more helpful than this. Sorry your throat hurts you all the time.

Karen said...

When I was a kid, I got strep every.single.year. (really. No fewer than a dozen times.) My doc threatned to remove my tonsils, but he never made good on it. I wih he had, because adult strep is the worst!

Karen said...

*threatened*
*wish*
(Argh! Keyboard can't keep up with me!)

Mary Ann said...

Jenny, I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one! It is kind of super annoying, isn't it?
Karen, you are so right about adult strep being the worst. I mentioned that to the ENT doc & he labeled strep at 'toxic'. I heartily agree.
Thanks for your thoughts!

Rebecca said...

Jadon had his tonsils out when he was 4. FULL recovery took 2 weeks. He was significantly improved in 1 week. His overall health is much better. The surgery was DEFINITELY worth the effort. I say the pain you may have would be worth the lifelong relief. Especially considering the fact you may have no choice but to have them out later on in life. I would say get them taken out when you can do it on your own schedule rather than on an emergency basis. That's just my 2¢ worth. :)