10 days ago, I began a slow journey back to normalcy.

I had considered getting my tonsils out for quite some time. By this time, I had become a self-proclaimed queen of tonsillitis—getting sick, very sick. My long reign has consisted of skipping costume parties on Halloween and, occasionally, my 9 am's, frequent visits to my university's clinic, excruciating sinus pain on airplanes, a visit to a pink hospital in Hawaii, and many instances where finals week sucks a lot more than it usually does. (Keep in mind this was all in the same year on multiple instances.) On June 28th 2016, I, Sarahanne N. Yeo, have come to give up my throne. Sorry George R.R. Martin.

Needless to say, it's been a rough week. I'm 20 years old, and as crazy at it is to admit, I guess that makes me an adult. The first thing that my dear friend Jennifer from my job at the Floral Shop told me was that the division between how a kid recovers from T&A and how an adult recovers is like night and day, and I kind of believe her. Whenever I talk to people who had their T&A when they were a child, I ask them how it was and they usually come up with something like:

"All I can remember is having a lot of ice cream. It was great!"

And when I ask a person who had it in their adulthood...

"If I were to measure my worst pain during on a scale of 0-10 - I think the scale oscillated between 11 and 12."

Yes. It's been a load of suffering, and that's why I'm here today—for you. My former tonsillitis royalty. My people! You're in control now. Here are a couple tips and surprises I had along my journey to normalcy:

Tip #1 Designate a Nurse

If you take away anything at all from this article, it should be this—you need a nurse! This can be anyone from a roommate, best friend, significant other, grandma, aunt or parent/guardian. I am not sure if I would have survived without the help of my momma throughout this thing. She's done everything from making me soup, to watching Grey's Anatomy with me when I was lonely, to running to Sonic for emergency slushies, to listening to me complain about my life, locate medicine, make me take said medicine, chill a couple ice packs, wake up with me at 3 am and pat me to sleep while I writhe in pain—the list does not end. Basically, all of these tips have been little hacks that we've come up with along the way. This ride could have been a lot rockier than it had been, but hasn't because of all she's done. I'm still so grateful and I don't think I'll ever stop because I honestly don't think I could have survived otherwise.

Tip #2 Designate a Favorite Cup

This is especially important if your nurse is also your mom! Not only will she stop having to locate a new cup—she also won't have to do as many dishes this way. It's also nice to just have this cup be a symbol of thirst-quenching and refuge for your sad throat. The following is an image of my $3 cup I bought with my mom, courtesy of Target online:

Tip #3 Always drink when you wake up

Behold! One of the greatest pieces of advice that I got from my sweet nurse upon waking up after my operation. Staying hydrated is key during this journey—and this is just a good tip because it always reminded me about taking sips of water. Take these frequently. Swallowing hurts, so drinking low-key feels like a sad combination of relief and betrayal. Don't let this hinder you, because not drinking = light headedness and a sad throat. I figured this one out on my own.

Tip #4 SONIC ICE

If you don't prefer taking sips out of a favorite cup when it comes to hydration. I highly suggest Sonic ice. It's pellet-sized and easy to dissolve in the back of your throat.

Tip #5 SONIC SLUSHIES

Okay so, Sonic may or may not have had all my money by the end of these two weeks, but this was incredibly genius. Slushies go down so easily and the coldness is very fresh and relieving against the scabs. If you don't want to give all your money like I did, here's an awesome recipe for the classic strawberry slushie. This is my personal favorite, but they even have recipes out there for the fancy Kevin Durant slushes. Believe me, Sonic isn't paying me to say these great things, but they sure have been a tonsillectomy patient's best friend.

Tip #5 Stay away from very acidic drinks/foods

Surprise #1: LEMONADE HURTS. Dude. I love lemonade, but my throat and wounds back there were just not ready for the very tart and acidic flavors. I haven't tried anything really spicy yet, but I'm sure that it probably goes the same way and that kind of makes me sad too. What you're going to have to remember is that you have a very new wound at the back of your throat, so this really limits how much you can take back there. This is going to sound sad, but bland flavors might be your best friend. Following is an inquiry from my dear friend Satchel:

When Ice Soup wasn't an option here are the following foods that have been my favorite:

Oatmeal

Puddings

Ice cream (BUT Surprise #2: Ice cream actually wasn't the very best for me as a tonsillectomy patient. Doctors actually do advice against taking dairy products during recovery.)

FRUIT CUPS

Broth soups with egg noodles

Scrambled eggs with cheese

Angel hair slightly overcooked with alfredo

Those were a couple of my favorites. Like I mentioned in my last article, 25 Shiba Inu Pictures To Brighten Your Week, it was unbelievably heartbreaking for me not to be able to eat pizza. What can I say—it gets worse, then it gets better.

Tip #6 Ice Packs and Cold Wet Towels

Surprise #3: I had weird fevers and aching that I could feel through my neck. Cold things were awesome. That's partially the reason why Sonic was so awesome.

But yes, weird fevers were best treated with a cold wet towel to the forehead. As for the weird aching in my throat what really relieved it was icepacks to my neck. I have the nice blue refreezable ice packs, but I'm sure you could also find cool neck pieces on amazon. NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT - my diver's shammy or chamois (basically a glorified shamwow) that soaks up water easily and cools down might have been a really good thing to use.

Without anything too fancy, any way that you can get cool should work just fine!

Tip #7 Scabs falling off - don't freak out!

Okay, so everyone's worst nightmare after getting their tonsils taken out is perhaps the scabs falling off and losing lots of blood. Don't worry! Both of these happened to me and I'm still here to tell my tale.

This happened to me at approximately 4 in the morning. My mouth started to fill up with liquid. I eventually opened my mouth and well.

That elevator scene from the shining? Basically what happened.

Sorry.

It was horrific. Something out of the God of Thunder part of a KISS concert. But here's what you can do.

You gargle with cold water. Cold cold. This is what will stop up and cool down your bleeding. Eventually my bleeding slowed down. - If it does not, call your doctor/head to the ER ASAP. This can usually be accounted in taking blood thinners (ibuprofen, asprins - they're noot good when you're trying to clot the two spaces where your tonsils might have been). There's nothing really that you might have done that usually causes this. Try not to panic. Make some weird Gene Simmons impressions on the way.

Tip #7 Be OCD about the pain schedule

Mine went something from pain meds (hydrocodone) at 5 am, 11 am, 5 pm and 11 pm antibiotics usually at the 11's. Prednisone was first very strong and slowly weened down. Keep yourself accountable for your scheduling. Believe me. It sucks when you miss it.

Do not be afraid to ask for more pain medicine if you absolutely need it. There's no reason to suffer.

Tip #8 Keep a flashlight in the bathroom

Or you can go and use your smartphone flashlight if you've got it. It's nice to see WTF's going on in the back of your throat.

Tip #9 Treat yo self

This really correlates with just about everything I've been saying throughout the article. Do everything you can to help this experience become better. If that's sleeping all day and regaining your strength? Good. If that's watching a full season of Grey's Anatomy while chewing ice? Good. If that's buying new pajamas to feel comfortable in before your operation? Good. Just so you know I did all of these.

Let yourself rest, this is your time. I honestly suggest taking at least 1 week off of work and obligations. 2 if you can. It's very important that you take care of you during this time. SO

Tip #10 Never forget that it gets better

Pain levels may fluctuate, you may not be able to eat pizza, your throat feels like hell - but this all goes away. My last tip is be optimistic. Easier said than done, right?

Honey, we are no longer tonsillitis kings and queens. This is the last stretch of tonsil pain that you might feel in forever and that's really important to remember. You've done so much to get to this point. Remember all the clinic visits and the antibiotics that never did much for your viral sicknesses? Take this time to learn, watch copious amounts of Netflix, try all the slushies at sonic and heal. Our kingdom of recovery is calling.

Take the crown, my friends. The fighting is over now. You have won.

Cheers to us, Recovery Royalty.