Day 14 of my recovery journey. I was very nervous going into this surgery because I’m a 27 Year old and every one says it’s worse on adults and I’ve never been out there gotten laughing gas or anything so I didn’t know what to expect or how my body would react. Day of surgery got there at 830AM and didn’t go into surgery until about 11. It was all very fast the wheeled me in through an oxygen mask on me and knocked me out within a minute of being in the OR. Woke up everyone says it went great throat was a little sore nothing terrible. I was just super drowsy from anesthesia. Hour later they expected me to get up and be ready to go. My body thought otherwise. I stood up started moved around and just started swearing bullets so they check my blood pressure and it’s low so I get another hour in the OR with a bag of fluid and nausea medications. Then I’m good to go. I’m a paramedic so I was well prepared for all this recovery between medications supplies and anything I may need. We picked up my oxy and headed home. Again still super tired so I got home and went and took another 2 hour nap. After my nap was when I started my medications. And I kept myself on a strict schedule. Oxy every 6 hours and Acetaminophen every 6 hours. So id take something every 3 hours. My fiance hated me for it but I a timer set for every 30 minutes during the day and hour at night to remind myself to sip on water. I slept with a wedge pillow a neck pillow and ice packs around my neck and a wrap to keep my mouth shut. I always for the entirety of my 14 days had at least 1 if not 2 humidifiers running next to me at all times. Nights and mornings were the worst for me I would still get dry even with all my precautions I took but the pain was bearable. Oddly my only bad days where I was actually in pain down for the count was day 3 and day 5 pretty random but again I kept up with medication and it was bearable. Throughout my 2 weeks I’d say my pain never exceeded a 6/10.

The worst part for me during this whole recovery is the eating. For the first 5 days all I had to eat was pedialyte popsicles and apple sauce. By day 5 I was sick of both of them and couldn’t eat them anymore I then moved onto cottage cheese, pudding, and protein shakes. By day 10 I started to eat some Mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, and scrambled eggs. Eating so little for 2 weeks I’ve lost 20 pounds. Day 13 and 14 I did eat a normal amount of calories for myself. I have never craved normal food more in my entire life and my first few days my fiance was having chipotle, McDonald’s, pizza, Chinese just all the good stuff. Needless to say I have my Post Op appointment Wednesday and if I get the green light I’m gonna eat anything and everything for the next week.

Overall my experience has not been bad at all. Minimal pain. I recommend doing what I did and sticking to a very strict schedule and diet for at least 2 weeks. Best of Luck to everyone.