Just snip snip

This morning I took Suzanne to the hospital for scheduled elective surgery on her foot. So she will be on crutches for a few weeks, and today I am pampering her. This reminds me of an experience I had with elective surgery.

A few years ago I was sitting in Sunday School class when a man near me was dozing off. I teased him after class saying he might have snored out loud and embarrassed himself. He laughed and said that was no problem, as he had a simple operation (uvulectomy) that took care of any snoring problem. I asked more about it and he said it was a simple procedure, just snip snip, and a sore throat for a couple of weeks.

Wow, I wanted to pursue this! As I've aged I've become more self-conscious about my snoring. I had some medical savings account money to use or lose so about Dec. 30 I went to the doctor and had it done. I told Suzanne it was her Christmas present.

For starters, the doctor gave me a prescription for pain killers, and I thought I was manly enough not to need that. I could handle a little sore throat for a week or so. I was wrong. That night or the next day I picked up the pills. It was so painful to eat for two weeks or more I lost a bunch of weight. I used this over the counter sore throat spray to temporarily deaden the pain so I could get some food down, or when the pain just got too bad. (I ate lots of brown rice during this period, so whenever I eat brown rice I associate it with this time period.)

About two weeks or so later I was sill in great discomfort and getting discouraged. I asked the same man about it and he said "yeah, the pain was awful for a few weeks, and now my snoring is coming back." What!!?? I wanted to strangle him.

Well, eventually it healed, and the snoring is improved, though not eliminated. One side effect is that food and drink can more easily slip down my throat and gag me if I'm not careful. Was it worth it? I don't know. Perhaps. I should let Suzanne answer that. The snoring never bothered me. :-)