| Only barely related but I have a personal story about this! I had my tonsils removed at eleven years old. I didn't know why then, and I still don't now. I suffer quite a bit now from allergies (I'm not sure how related to this it is, and I guess I've no way of knowing really). I remember being really scared, and the surgeon playfully telling me that I'd be fine, I'd be asleep through the whole thing and would wake up back on the ward (with ice cream!) and barely even know it was over. I was told that I should count to ten while they issue the anaesthetic. I was unconcious by seven. The next thing I remember is waking up really disorientated, in a different room, and could only see blurred grey shapes. I've never been in such pain before or since. I shut my eyes and bit down hard into the white hospital pillow while screaming. An unfamiliar voice shouted angrily at me that I wasn't supposed to be awake yet. I opened my eyes as the pillow felt wet only to realise that it had turned completely red. It felt like someone had cut my throat out. My mother (having been advised that I'd be asleep for hours) had gone to get a coffee and was completely unaware that any of this had happened. For reasons that were never explained, the nurse wouldn't take me out of the room and my mum wasn't informed until a couple of hours later when I was wheeled back out onto the ward. I had to stay in hospital for another two days as a result of what went wrong (haven't a clue to this day what that was exactly), and was bloody terrified. Anyway, long story short is that when the bleeding eventually stopped I finally got some ice cream. It was warm, it tasted bad, and it was entirely not worth it. In summary, surgery could well be correct for you and/or your child if a competent professional has analysed and considered your case and health outcomes, but I don't recommend that anyone allow themselves or their children to be mutilated without any explanation at all in exchange for sweet treats. |
I had my adenoids removed, twice actually, but my first surgery was quite memorable.
Post-soviet Estonia, 90's. I was nine, my nose was pretty much constantly blocked or snotty. The Doc said I had my adenoids enlarged, and advised my mom to agree to an operation. And so, couple months later, I remember sitting in the Doc's reception room, while nurse was slowly screwing long (half the size of knitting) needles with local anesthesia really deep into both of my nostrils. I had no clue about lobotomy back then, he-he, however this part alone was enough to injure my childhood psyche. And I didn't yet image what kind of fun will come next.
Two hours later they came for me. I was taken to the operating room, in the middle of which stood a red faux-leather (torture) chair. My hands were strapped to the armrests. I was kindly told to sit still and open my mouth. Long story short, I was operated with huge weird scissors inserted deep into my throat, cutting off pieces of my flesh, while I was in full consciousness that whole time.
Couple years later, I was repeated this operation in a regional hospital of Kyiv, this time under general anesthesia (I echo OP's counting up to 7 max). The chief surgeon said that my first operation was an act of inhumanity.
Twenty years later, I don't blame anyone. Nowadays we have much better NHS (better than in Ukraine so far). I understand that this was a confluence of unfortunate circumstances—it happens and it could be much worse. Today, thanks to science, I know this episode a) should have never happened, and b) will affect my future life. I was already wondering why I got allergic symptoms several years ago. Let's hope that scientific and technology progress will catch up and fix all the mistakes that we had to go through :-).