Electives

Last Friday, Katherine had her tonsils removed.

She hasn't slept well in years. Seriously, it's been years. There are many reasons for her poor sleep, some of it is habit related, some is other stuff related, but one of the things we noticed especially forcefully while sharing a room during our Chicago trip was the state of her snoring. Not heavy breathing, snoring that kept the rest of us awake. Ian used to snore almost like that (before he lost 20 pounds... and counting) but it was disturbing coming from a 15yo. So we had it checked out. Her lungs are fine. Her nose is fine. Her tonsils were enlarged. Not horribly so, but enough. And there's something about her "narrow chin" collapsing back while sleeping that interfered with her breathing. Sleep apnea. After some second opinions, we opted to have her tonsils removed.

Way back in Chennai, Katherine had tonsillitis. It faded but I'm not certain it ever went fully away. That's just me guessing though. Fact is, since Chennai things haven't been easy for her in the sleep department. So while it may seem extreme, the fact that her tonsils were a physical issue and "easily" dealt with meant that it was worth doing, if for no other reason than to eliminate it as a cause.

The surgery went without a hitch.

And now is the hard part. After a few hours in recovery we came home. The surgeon had said she'll be out of school for 2 weeks. Not cool for a high school sophomore but we're working to keep on top of it and in the back of our heads we're thinking "a week, tops."

The truth is we're taking one day at a time. She did well the first day. Then the anaesthetic wore off and things deteriorated. Her Roxicet ran out (on Sunday, of course) and she felt worse. Meds refilled Monday, she felt better. Then last night we forgot to fill the humidifier and we turned the central heat on. Dry air, anyone? She was miserable all night. At 4:30 she did something she hasn't done since she was... what, 7? She crawled in with mom. I understand how much she hurts and there's so little I can really do for her. I also know that her sleep troubles aren't going to disappear for a while but our hope is after this step things will improve.

In the mean time, she rests. She drinks. She takes her pain meds every four hours and her antibiotic twice a day. And I keep reminding her that she will get better. Things will be OK. She just has to be patient.