Kim
Hello, you seem to have quite different circumstances then the usual person facing the decision to have a tonsilectomy. First, let me say I do not know anything about stones but if you have read all the post in this thread several people have spoken about them so maybe you can email them directly. Most people move on from this site quickly after their ordeal is over. The time out of work is normally a good two weeks but since you work at home you could probably shorten that time since you can wear jammies and work at your own pace. The problem you have though is that you need your voice for the phone! Although most people need two weeks to return to work it seems to me my voice sounded like hell for about four weeks. It did not hurt to talk after two weeks but I just sounded bad so if you can talk to the people and say hey sorry about my voice but I had my tonsils out then I would say you could go to work in 10 to 14 days. If you have to sound impressive on the phone and cannot explain away your voice then you have about a three to four week problem. Now about your mother. The reasons you need someone with you is that you are totally out of it after being put under for surgery for about 24 hours and for some people even longer. You are quite young so you should not be out of it too long. You then feel like hell for several days and have no energy to feed yourself and quite frankly you will be depressed if you are alone in your misery. You also need someone to run errands for you. I think you would want your mom for about two or three days and then after that just make sure you have a few good friends that will pop in once or twice a day to help you out with going to the store and picking up after your new doggie. Whenever I am sick my doggies take care of me. They lay beside me very quitely and protectively so maybe yours will behave a little better. While you can't raise your voice to get your dogs attention you can make a noise maker. I forget what the dog books say to use but you get a tin can and put rice in it or something like that. You can also get a clicker from a pet store to get his/her attention. I hope that I have helped and I wish I knew about the stones. Good luck to you. If you decide to have the surgery you will be fine. Have plenty of over-the-counter liquid tylenol on hand. It has a nice thick texture which sticks to the back of your throat and numbs it almost instantly and whatever you do... NO ICE CREAM!!!!! Sincerely, Kim