Tonsillitis and tonsillectomy...?

Anyway, decided to blog abit about my tonsillitis. I've not mentioned it on this space before, but I've been having frequent bouts of tonsillitis. In fact I just had it on Wednesday and I'm still on antibiotics. This last episode of tonsillitis actually sparked off some intention to undergo tonsillectomy, which warrants a blogpost as I contemplate my decision.

Background information
Just to aid in understanding, tonsillitis is the swelling and inflammation of the tonsils - those two flaps at the back of your throat. Tonsils are part of the immune system. They function as filters, helping to trap germs which could otherwise enter and infect the airway. They also produce antibodies. Tonsillitis occurs when the tonsils themselves become infected with virus. Tonsillectomy is the surgery to have tonsils removed - via laser or other methods. Typically, doctors do not recommend getting tonsillectomy since tonsils are part of our immune system, unless the patient suffers from very bad tonsillitis.

Back to my story, my first episode of tonsillitis was back in 2012, when I was in J2. I remember my GP telling me to be more careful because it's a recurrent condition, meaning once I've gotten it it's pretty much going to keep coming back. At that point in time I just thought how horrid it would be because I'm prone to sore throats, so my throat is a sensitive area. Plus I remember that was a really bad episode of tonsillitis - my tonsils were super blistered and full of yellow pus pockets from the inflammation. Anybody interested can go Google images of tonsillitis, but let's just say it's not a pretty sight. However, I lucked out because it did not reoccur anytime after that, not till last Summer, July 2014.

It was sometime before FWOC and I was having photo-shoots. I remember having high fever and flu, but because the photo-shoots involved everybody, it was unfair for the rest if I didn't turn up so I carried on with what I had to do. But throughout the week I felt horrible. I remember waking up at 5, 6am in the mornings because I was shivering so bad from fever that I couldn't sleep. Then something prompted me to check my tonsils, which I did, and I realized it was swelling badly and inflamed. That was when I realized the fever was because of my inflamed tonsils, not just from flu. I went to UHC - clinic in NUS, and got diagnosed with acute tonsillitis.

Thereafter, I've had tonsillitis almost every month. I remember the episode I had in August/September was so bad that I had to revisit the GP for more antibiotics and paracetamol because I finished my prescription, but my tonsillitis & fever that accompanied wasn't clearing. In between that time till now I've had bouts of tonsillitis in smaller scale. Sometimes they cleared out before I needed to get antibiotics, and I only had to endure 2-3 days of mild fever and discomfort.

So yeah, this condition has been on my nerves for a couple of months now. I've had 6-7 episodes of tonsillitis since last July. It's come to the point that I'm considering surgery to remove my tonsils because well obviously, they aren't functioning anymore. In fact, they're just causing me a lot of pain and discomfort. I also feel gross and horrible having to take so much medication almost every month. It's so bad on my health. And this time round it actually set me back on school. I was feeling so unwell I couldn't do anything.  I felt like I wasted a whole week of my life, just as I was feeling motivated to do well.

With all these, what's holding me back from surgery? Well.. the recovery's daunting. I did my research on tonsillectomy. The surgery itself sounds pretty low risk and safe, plus it's a day surgery that takes no longer than an hour for most cases. However, it takes 2 weeks to recover. During which, I'll have difficulties talking and eating. The online community also stated several things that are really making me cold feet, mostly about how painful the recovery is.

For instance, some relied heavily on ice 24/7 to numb the pain, and I read from a blog that this girl was so dehydrated (because it was too painful to swallow anything) she was sent back to the A&E a couple of days after her surgery. For someone with zero pain tolerance, the recovery process is really giving me second thoughts about the surgery. Plus, it's so cumbersome and expensive too, I'm just really hoping my tonsils will somehow recover by themselves so I can avoid this whole situation. But of course, every cloud has a silver lining. I know some people go through tonsillectomy and recover well and relatively pain free.

The dad says I should probably go down to my GP to discuss about it and if I really need to get tonsillectomy, I should plan it during the holidays so my studies wouldn't be disrupted. I guess I'll sleep on it further. If my tonsillitis reoccurs next month or anytime before April, I'll make that trip to the doctor's.