Apropos this rotten cold, a poll.

[commodorified]

I've been hearing about this whole 'tonsil removal and ice cream' thing basically forever. And it puzzles me greatly.

Admittedly, I had my tonsils removed when I was 18, and had had serious trouble with them for years, so it was a fairly complicated removal, but it took me slightly more than a week to successfully consume 2 litres of water within a 24-hour period and thus win my release from hospital and my ever-present IV, yclept Henry. (Not, sadly, "Henry IV": I would totally do that now, but this was then.)

Cold water, as well as even the most forgiving solids, took ... rather longer. There's a reason nobody tells you to put ice directly on fresh stitches, let me tell you what.

Had anyone attempted to feed me ice cream directly after the surgery they would have been exceedingly fortunate to escape having suffered no more than a paint-strippingly old-fashioned look (and only because my throat was too swollen to allow me to talk and I was too loaded on Demerol to throw a punch, at that.)

Therefore:

Poll #17145 In this poll, "ice cream" can also mean frozen yoghurt, sorbet, rice dream, etc.

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 93

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I had my tonsils taken out!

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I was a child, and there was ice cream, and it was good.
12 (12.9%)

I was a child, and there was ice cream, and it was awful.
1 (1.1%)

I was a child, and there was no ice cream
6 (6.5%)

I was an adult, and there was ice cream, and it was good.
2 (2.2%)

I was an adult, and there was ice cream, and it was awful.
0 (0.0%)

I was an adult, and there was no ice cream.
3 (3.2%)

I retain both my tonsils and an uncontrollable desire to tick boxes.
69 (74.2%)

(Optional but interesting) My tonsils were removed in (year):

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Comments

[mme_hardy]

People used to routinely lie to children for their own good. See also "the dog's gone to a farm in the country".

[commodorified]

Oh, I know, my parents did it too. Still appalling though.

ETA: Mind, I'd discovered for myself by the age of five that ice cream on infected tonsils was acutely painful, so even had I had them out much younger I doubt they'd have tried that particular line on me. "You'll never have tonsillitis again" would have done nicely as a motivator, and in fact did. It was the doctors who wouldn't go for it.

[mme_hardy]

I completely agree.

[commodorified]

I mean, I knew you did. I find a certain theraputic value in saying it, is all.

[krait]

"You'll never have tonsillitis again" would have done nicely as a motivator

This was me! It was a scary concept, but 'the end of your endless rounds of strep throat' was a pretty good reason to go along with it.

I do remember having a general sense that ice cream (in the more specific definition) was going to feature in my recovery - via stories and shows; not sure if it was directly promised to me -- where that happened. And I was quite miffed when it turned out I wasn't allowed ice cream, only sherbet/popsicles! (Apparently milk + open thorat wounds = higher risk of infection? So no frozen milk-based things were allowed.)

[commodorified]

I was caught in the backlash of the 'all tonsils must go' era: the doctors kept swearing that if I had one more bout of tonsillitis (usually followed by bronchitis) then out they would come, and then we'd move. So before I went off to college I arranged it myself. Had I known just how bad it was going to be I moght have bottled out, but I'm glad I didn't.