I'm afraid of my tonsillectomy this coming summer?!

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i'll explain everything in detail but here's a very short version to your questions:
1. yes you'll feel some pain
either with a face mask or IV
the IV is always placed BEFORE you even go into the OR
2. you'll only feel like you were sleeping for a couple minutes.
3. NO it will be put in after you are asleep and taken out before you wake up.

i'm 24 and i've had 9 surgeries including a tonsillectomy so i pretty much know the drill.
let me tell you about what happens from the time you walk in to the time you leave.

first you'll probably be told not to eat or drink anything effective at midnight the night before surgery.

you'll go to the hospital and go to the admission desk. they'll put some info into the computer and put a wrist band on.
then you go up to what ever floor they tell you to and the nurse will put you in a room, ask you a bunch of questions, take your blood pressure and temp, and maybe ask for a urine sample. then they'll give you a gown and tell you to hang out on the bed until they come get you. you'll then be wheeled on a cart down to the preoperative area. they may ask your parents to go to the waiting room or they may let them come to the preoperative area with you.
down in pre-op they will ask you a bunch of the same questions that you were already asked just so they can be sure everything was written correctly. they'll take your BP again (they will put a cuff on that does it automatically every few minutes and this will stay on for the entire surgery and while you are in the recovery room), take your temp again, and also put a pulse ox monitor on your finger. it just measures how much oxygen you have in your body so they can regulate it(this will also stay on during surgery and in the recovery room) it doesn't hurt or anything. and they'll start an IV in the back of your hand or in the bend of your arm. the dr doing the surgery will usually appear to ask if you have any last minute questions and run through exactly what he is doing again. then if you are extremely nervous they may give you something in the IV to calm you down. it will most likely give you a burning sensation in your arm for a minute but it goes away quickly. it may make you feel tired, looopy, or just chilled out depending on what drug they used.
then they will wheel you into the operating room and help you scoot over onto the operating table. they'll then put an oxygen mask on your face and heart monitor patches on your chest. then they will either give you the anesthesia through the mask or through the IV. if its through the mask you will just breath it in. it smells like nail polish remover. you may feel like you can't breath cuz the smell is sooo strong but with in a minute you are out like a light. if its given through the IV you will have a burning sensation in your arm for a frew seconds and then you may start to feel dizzy or sick but before you can even tell someone you don't feel good you are out like a light.

when you wake up you may feel like you just closed your eyes and then opened them again. you may not even realize for a second that the surgery even started let alone it being done already.
you'll almost certainly feel really tired. you may also experience uncontrolable shaking, being emotional and crying cuz you don't know whats going on, feeling dizzy and possibly fainting, and/or feeling sick and possibly throwing up. these are all common side effects after anesthesia.

you will start out in the recovery room where there are nurses and other patients coming out of anesthesia. they will monitor you and bug you every few minutes to make sure you are alright. they don't really expect you to full wake up in this room. once you are stable you will be wheeled back up to the room you started in when you got there and that is where your parents can see you again. at this point a nurse will come in and really start to try to get you to wake up. they'll try to get you to have a popsicle. they also try to get you to go use the bathroom.
they usually try to get you up and out as quickly as they can so they can make more room for other patients.
if you don't feel like you can get up and go then don't let them rush you. its best to go at your own pace this will lessen the chance of you getting extremely sick or dizzy.

one little thing that i always try to let people know is if you get the least bit chilly ask for a blanket. they have a "warming oven" so when they give you a blanket it is nice and warm. if you are still cold ask for another one and another until you feel comfortable cuz when you get cold you get more shaky and in my opinion then get more nervious.
oh and if you are prone to cold feet wear a pair of regular socks and then also a pair of those soft fuzzy socks and it will keep your feet toasty.

hey if you play football dude, stop being a weenie... ya you may feel a needle jab but you shouldnt bleed out or anything. ive never had a tonsilectomy, and im sure you will be fine... oh and if you are a hypochondriac, hey, just realize that you should be fine, its only a tiny surgery. good luck

me

when i got mine, they gave me a little drop of something under my tounge to relax me and make me not nervous. i was SO happy and couldnt stop laughing and i didnt care about anything. i was like WHATEVER!! and then would laugh so hard

then, they put you on the wheelie bed and bring you into the room. They put the gas mask on you and tell you to breathe deep and count backwards from 100. i was out cold before i got to 97. 98 was the last number i remember saying.

THen, it seemed like two seconds later, i woke up in the recovery room and i was thirsty and my mom was there. No tubes, but i did have an IV in my arm. They dont ever let you wake up with a tube in.

Then i went home, took a pain pill and slept for 18 hours. then i woke up and ate soft food and i was fine.

PS- that 1 in 15000 people, usually has a preexisting blood disorder that they know about already. its not a perfectly healthy person.