Hi Jennifer
Minnie is right about the trachie, sounds worse than it is, without her input I would have freaked out, but I woke to the main thought, YEP I can breath no problem, make up a wipe board to take with you, paper runs out to quick. They will control your pain and the swelling will soon go down, my brothers twin boys 12 years old came the day after the op, they did good..for them the real stuff was better than their imagination. Make sure she understands you cannot talk for a few days, tell her it doesn't hurt, it doesn't, but it's a bummer if you want to shout s##t and you cannot speak, my husband is blind and doesn't do notes...
Sunshine... love and hugs
Helen