Doing My Tonsil Dance

T minus 22 days until we depart with a very unloved part of my son–his tonsils.  While tonsil removal has been on the decline in the last two decades, I will say with certainty–He needs them out!  Every cold, every illness goes straight to his throat.  Just yesterday he awoke with a cold and two of the most swollen tonsils you’ve ever seen.  I thought about taking a picture of them to share with you, but then changed my mind.  I spared you!!  Just imagine a throat full of tonsils so enlarged there is hardly any opening to breathe.  They are “kissing” and then some.  And his surgery date could not come sooner.

We were given the challenge by our ENT earlier in June: one more throat infection during the summer months and the doc would schedule him for surgery.  Was it wrong that I sat there hoping and praying for such an infection?  I thought to myself, “My poor guy has been sick so much, surely he’ll get another infection in the next three months…”  And thankfully he did.  Two more, in fact.

The unfortunate part about infection #5 was that it fell during our family vacation in Ohio.  The urgent care doc took one look at my son’s tonsils and immediately reported, “I hope you have a relationship with an ENT.”  That we do.  No sooner had our van pulled into the garage from the trip home, than I was on the phone with the ENT nurse making the appointment for the long-awaited surgery.

As many of the Builders can attest, having a chronically sick child is no picnic.  In March he had three different cases of strep, each with ten days of antibiotics, two days off, and then a return of strep symptoms.  His teacher began to notice a change in his awareness and performance.  He was in antibiotic la la land.  By case #3, he had finally kicked it, but still took a couple of weeks before his body returned to normal after the drugs.  Throughout all of this, his sleep has been poor which then affects his ability to cope in the day to day.  His voice changes regularly as his tonsils shrink and swell with whatever pathogen has infected his body.  To say we’re ready for this surgery is an understatement!

So bring on the popsicles…  Bring on the ice cream…  Ciao Tonsils!!

To top it off, we just learned our ENT is a fellow Tiger, class of ’85!  Hip, Hip!