I’ve been reading through the site for a few days now and decided to join. I’m having surgery with Dr Bove at Northwestern in Chicago this Wednesday. My anxiety is pretty high as I keep hearing this is considered a “major procedure.” Surgery will be intraoral on my right side with the tonseil removed. Dr Bove believes through the mouth is less invasive, safer to do, and faster recovery time. He’s done 20 of them so far. I have read a lot of stories on here about surgery going through the neck, I’m wondering how people did with intraoral surgery? What was recovery like? Should I worry about the surgery with hitting any arteries? Nurse told me take a Xanax the morning of to calm my nerves, still deciding if I should or not? Looking for any comfort to calm my nerves .
Here’s a link to a post yesterday from a member who had surgery with Dr Bove- hopefully this will reassure you: Life after Eagle 3 yrs later
She says anyone can PM her with questions.
I had external surgery, so can’t comment personally about intra-oral, but from what I’ve read it seems to be the same as recovery from a tonsillectomy- it can be quite tough & eating can be difficult. If you google recovery from tonsillectomy as an adult you can get some info about what to expect as well as the info in the Newbies Guide section on here!
Obviously you’ll be nervous about surgery, but Dr Bove is experienced, so will be aware of avoiding blood vessels & nerves. (Nerves are often monitored during surgery to avoid any damage). Having an experienced surgeon is the best thing you can do to ensure a good result! Whether you take medication is up to you & how you’re feeling beforehand- get yourself as informed as possible & hopefully that’ll calm your fears, a bit!
God Bless
Hey Rich - I had intraoral surgery on both sides, concurrently, and it was not bad. Worst part for me was that my tongue swelled up from the device they use to hold it out of the way, so I had a hard time breathing and swallowing for 24 hours. Have someone with you in post-op with a pad of paper and pen so you can communicate. The pain was very tolerable after the first 24 hours, but they gave me steroid injections and some searious pain medication overnight because my tongue was so big. Have crushed ice and cold liquid for the first 24 hours. After that, warm liquid - bone broth and coffee with cream kept me going until everything settled down. I could not eat normally for 2 weeks then another week of soft food. I could not drink protein drinks or eat ice cream because they made too much mucus. I was scared, too, after all I had read, but it really was not a bad experience at all. Looks like you have a good surgeon lined up. I was better almost instantly, so it was worth the effort to do it for me.
Thank you for the replies, I really appreciate the advice and letting me know its not too bad. Sounds like maybe the first 24 hours are the worst and then it gets better after. I heard removing both sides at the same time is not good and thats why Dr. Bove only wants to do one side at a time. In his opinion he also said recover would be better and quicker as I would still have one tonsil and could maybe take food sooner and easier. I am hoping that is still case. I’m nervous of course waking up and having that initial hit of being in really bad pain. I’ve had surgery but its been a long time and I always feel that initial waking up is so bad/scary.
Thanks again and I’ll be sure to let everyone know how it goes.
I finished surgery and heading home. I’m in pain of course but I’m managing it and will survive. I will say that it does hurt to talk so im doing my best not talk. It also kills to swallow, that’s when I feel the most pain. Dr Bove was amazing and even saw me after surgery. He said the styloid he cut out was the largest he’s ever done. I’ll try to update as the days go on.
I’m doing alright, thank you for asking. It has been way more pain than I anticipated it was going to be so I’m still struggling with that part of it. I’m on day 5 and I’d say 3 and 4 were by far the worst days with pain so far. Honestly I feel its been hard to tell if it took away the ES pain because I’m still feeling the ear pain, jaw pain, throat pain from the surgery. I’m hoping once my surgery pain improves I’ll be able to tell. I do think in the back of my mind what if this didn’t take it all away.
I think those days are often the worst, so hopefully things will improve very soon. (If it’s any consolation I’ve read posts from members soon after surgery & they’ve regretted having surgery sometimes because it’s seemed so bad, but have then posted a few weeks later & said things have improved loads & they’re glad that they did have it.)
Have you been given painkillers? Is ice helping at all?
Thinking of you…
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