8 Days...

Eight days that have felt more like 2 weeks. Ugh. Two recovery events have happened in the past two days, maybe three. First, yesterday I had the, "What if this is my new normal?" thought and conversation, with myself in my head. "What if it's not going to get any better than this?" "What if I traded waking up 3+ nights a weeks to twice or triple that?" "What if my healing is not typical and a, b, c, or d end up happening?" Thankfully, two things happened shortly after that unproductive though process (like this past week has been so productive otherwise).
The next recovery event was realizing that I am now able to drink liquids using consecutive swallows, instead of pausing while gasping for breath in between each sip. Phew, an obvious improvement, I am getting back to "normal." The third event, so yes there were three, was realizing that it's only been 8 days. I was looking forward to sitting around and doing nothing while my sister took care of my kids, and my husband took care of me until my mom arrived to take care of us all. The plan was to rest up, enjoy this time off. It's not really time off if I can't do things I like to do during my "time off", like read, catch up on tv shows, hang out, sleep, and eat.
Eat, I can't wait for when I can do that again. First of all, eating all the ice cream you want? Not okay, at least not in the first 5 days. Lovely, bubble burst by receptionist, nurses, doctors, etc... Losing weight? True, though I won't say how much at this point because the plan is to gain it back, as soon as I can eat real food. I'm looking forward to graduating from placing slippery food stuffs in my mouth so that it can slide down my throat and provide me, I'm not sure what, hydration? Once I can eat food that needs to be chewed and swallowed, it may take me the rest of the summer to get through the list of all the food I will be reintroducing to my tonsil free lifestyle.
For now, I will try to remember that it has only been 8 days, and not the two weeks it's felt like. I will be patient and hope that the time to enjoy my "time off" activities is near. I will do my best not to think about all the great food I'm missing out on, even with the holiday and barbecues. And I will look forward to full recovery which I"m hoping will gain me more full nights of sleep and less sickness during the year. Now, I think it's time for another bowl of sherbet!