Recoup and Recover

(I'm not posting about our school plans just yet.  I've got a huge post almost ready, but I need a little more time before I share it here.)

It's almost a week since Galadriel's tonsilectomy, adenoidectomy, and ear tubes were put in.   A sincere thankyou to anyone who said a prayer!  Honestly, I was FAR more nervous than Galadriel ever was!

Galadriel will turn 9 at the end of next month, so she's still 8.  She sucked my thumb (yes, I wrote that correctly--those who know me will make me blush as they recall this oddity from her youth) until she was three.  She had an allergic reaction right before Bilbo was born that left her in hives from head to toe.  Miraculously, she has never had a reaction since (we did avoid pineapple for a few years)!  By the time Bilbo was three months old, they weighed the same weight: 20 pounds.  (Galadriel is only 21 months older than Bilbo).  She was a petite little flyweight.  I cannot tell you how I fretted over her health!

But she never was unhealthy.  And she grew strong (and sassy)!  She became my little gymnast.  She learned to be a little less sassy and a little more sweet.  A lot more sweet, actually...not that she doesn't have her moments.;)

One year ago she started snoring very loudly and we wondered about her adenoids.  We met with the ear, nose, throat doctor who asked about other symptoms and told us to observe for things like sleep apnea (which we never detected).  Then last winter poor Galadriel got a double ear infection, double perforated eardrums.

When we took her in for her one year follow up, the decision was clear and unanimous: it all had to go!  Plus ear tubes.  Her hearing was compromised due to fluid that couldn't drain.

I think she was so excited to hear, and so tempted by the promise of unlimited popsicles, that she wasn't afraid.  It was hard for me to wait during the surgery.  To wait for the doctor to come and tell me it was over and that it had all gone smoothly.  I think it took 30 minutes--it was fast. 

 It has been a long, hard week of up and down recovery.  Some days have been nothing but movies and popsicles.  An afternoon outside playing gently with friends might leave her worn out and hurting.  But day by day she is healing.  I can't tell you how happy I am when she is feeling better and starts smiling and making her silly jokes again.

 On Monday Arwen left for camp for a week!  My guess (and hope!) is that she's having a wonderful time.

I, however, am ready to go pick her up (she'd kill me:))!  I'm hopelessly attached to my children.

All in all, it's been quite the week.  I'll be very happy to finish out this summer with Arwen back home and Galadriel back to playing.  So, those thoughts about the upcoming school year...are just not that inspiring to me right now.   Soon, though. Soon.:)