As like many people I have suffered with tonsillitis for years. 29 to be exact. It’s been a long battle with the doctors and I’ve had to fight to get referred to the ENT specialists.
Over the years I’ve had some nasty bouts of tonsillitis which have resulted with me being hospitalised, sick on the hour every hour for 3 days straight and left with my heavily scared tonsils which I not so lovingly have nicknamed my Grand Canyon. I also suffer with a reoccurring ulcer on my tonsils.
As a child I was simply told my tonsillitis wasn’t bad enough. Even though I have a long family history of all my closest relatives having had their tonsils removed. Our family GP would simply prescribe me with penicillin each time and hope for the best. It usually took 2-3 rounds of antibiotics to kick each flare up, which seems like a huge waste of resources when looking back. Then unfortunately at 17 I had a bad allergic reaction to penicillin and was no longer allowed to have it. This is when my journey really took on a whole new turn.
Being allergic to penicillin and suffering with acute tonsillitis makes life very difficult. It took about 8-9 years for the doctors to find a mix of antibiotics which would work. During which I was suffering from tonsillitis a minimum of 10 times a year. They finally decided upon giving me 2 lots of antibiotics at once which equated to 2500mg a day. Needless to say I was an absolute space cadet when I was on these. Yet the doctors continually told me I was not a candidate for tonsillectomy and put it down to the fact that I clearly ‘didn’t take good enough care of my throat.’ I mean come on!
I was also struggling a lot with work. As a former teacher and current children’s charity worker I am exposed to all sorts of germs and have to project my voice on a daily basis. Having acute tonsillitis has resulted in a fair few sick days as you can imagine. Employers have always started off as understanding but then completely turned on me after a while. Tonsillitis is often seen as a young persons illness and i don’t think you can understand how debilitating it is unless you suffer with it.
Despite the battle and despite the set backs I preserved and finally just before my 30th birthday I got a doctor to see sense! I don’t know if he understood or was just sick of seeing me but either way he agreed to refer me to the specialists. He made it clear the the specialist was unlikely to offer me surgery but said he had little left to do for me than offer a referral. Despite his lack of enthusiasm I was absolutely elated!
I waited about 2 months for my initial appointment and spent this time preparing my best sales pitch to get the surgery.
Please mr specialist I’m in pain every month, I work with children and have to use my voice, it is affecting my job….on and on my planned speech went.
Well I didn’t need it. The specialist wasn’t exactly friendly but he did ask me lots of questions to build up a picture of the problem. He took a look down my throat and within 5 minutes he offered me surgery. I could of cried there and then.
The funniest thing was that he kept telling me that it was completely my choice and I didn’t have to go for surgery. Little did he know, I would have gone under the knife that day!
I then had to wait another couple of months for my pre surgery assessment. I wasn’t really sure what this would entail but I went along with my speech prepared again, you know just in case! Well before I’d even had a chance to have my pre assessment they had offered me a date for surgery the following week.
I was terrified but I confirmed the appointment straight away.
After 29 years I was finally getting the surgery!
misskjle 