Abigail's Upcoming Surgery

Abigail is going to have a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. She has been having problems with her tonsils for over half a year. About every six weeks, she gets a sore throat and inflamed tonsils that make her gag and throw up while eating (as if the sore throat, fever, etc., weren't annoying enough symptoms). Finally, our family doctor referred her to an otolaryngologist (always a popular answer, I'm sure, at cocktail parties to "So, what do you do for a living?") who said, "Out they must come!"

Her surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, August 31 . . . the day before school starts! So she'll have to miss the first few days of school--Thursday and Friday, at least; we have Monday (Labor Day) off, so we'll see if she's ready to return by Tuesday. One plus is that her teacher is Mrs. Barrett, who was also Suzanna's teacher last year! So she knows Abigail already, and Abigail is familiar with her, too, and likes her.

Another plus is that Abigail is pretty fearless. She wasn't the least bit skittish about seeing the doctor, answering his questions, or learning about the surgery. She listened attentively and patiently to all the personnel in the various offices we visited as they explained the surgery, the side effects, the healing time, and other details. The only thing that got a reaction out of her was the mention of a tonsillectomy patient's diet: ice cream, popsicles, pudding, etc. She can tolerate the week or more of painful throat if she can eat ice cream daily throughout that same period. Hey, what can I say? She's my daughter.

It will be an out-patient procedure after which she will be in Mommy's care, doing only quiet, passive activities (doctor's orders). Yeah, right. Susan predicts that Abigail will skip out of the hospital and sing all the way home after surgery. It will be sad to see Abigail "out of commission" for a while until her throat heals up. But it will be good for her to feel better thereafter. And, as Susan pointed out, Abigail was so jealous when first Suzanna then Hillary had to get stitches last spring that it's about time she finally get some medical attention that her sisters don't!