You'll talk funny for a while.

Just eat icecream and you'll be OK.

I was born without tonsils.

I've never had my tonsils out, but I did have two sets of wisdom teeth out. And I'm allergic to opiate painkillers. Poor me.

I had my tonsils out almost four years ago. I wrote about it at the time (see link below), so that should give you an idea what the operation and recovery was like.

When I was in hospital all the nurses were used to little kids getting their tonsils out so they were being all bright and happy whereas I was 24 and being like "bring me the drugs". Apparently little kids recover really quickly, like the morning after they'll be bouncing on their beds, whereas older people need a couple of weeks to recover.

It wasn't all that painful, and I certainly wouldn't describe it was extreme pain. After the operation they gave me pethadine, which is a narcotic (yay!). I could still feel a kind of soreness in my throat, but it didn't hurt much. I also got some Panadol up my bum (!) which worked pretty well.

I only vomited blood once, but it was dark so I didn't see what colour it was. I think it's the sort of thing that only happens in the hours after the operation, so don't think you'll be puking up blood every day. There's a little bit of bleeding for the first few days, like you'll wake up and there'll be a bit of bloody dribble on your pillow, but nothing major.

The recovery took about 10 days for me. I had to take Panadeine several times a day and would wake up and have to force down some Panadeine to make my throat stop hurting. Eating is hard. Ice cream made my throat hurt really badly, I think it was more sensitive to cold. Mashed potato, however, was really good.

I spend most of the recovery time sitting on the couch watching TV. I could talk, but not a lot. (Enough to say "Mum, can you make me some mashed potato. Then after about 10 days my throat suddenly stopped hurting. I could eat more, I felt more energetic.

Anyway, its not as scary as it seems and if your tonsils were anything like mine, you'll feel so much better in the months after getting them out that any pain and discomfort will be worth it.

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All done.:D

I'm pretty exhausted but am keeping up with the painkillers so am not too sore. It wasn't as bad as I thought: Only thrown up once as yet and spat blood the day of the operation and that was it. No major complications-my heart had a bit of a pysco when they started to put me to sleep (173 beats!) but it's fine.

If anyone ever gets their tonsils out: Chew gum, it's great and clears the blood clots sitting in the back of your throat. Also ice-packs feel so good.

I was on the morphine list but didn't need it. I had the suppositories which actually worked really well, but now i'm on plain paracetamol and codeine.

Apparently the next couple of days are going to be the worst but hopefully all should be well.