The holidays and why they rocked this year

I have had more fun this holiday season then in any year I can remember.  I pondered this from time to time.  Was it because my kids are the perfect ages for really getting into it?  They are, and that was the reason for many joyful moments, but that wasn't it.  Was it because I was super organized with all of my holiday to-do lists done and everything spaced out perfectly this year?  I think I really planned well, but nope, that wasn't the reason.

The reason was simple.  I haven't been sick.  For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving and Christmas have been a time of year that I have had to "get through" instead of enjoy.  Because I have ALWAYS been stuffed up and coughing my lungs out with bronchitis.  I was usually taking strong antibiotics that messed up my stomach and meant I couldn't drink any alcohol.  And I had such little energy because of all of this that I'm not really sure how I have been getting it done year after year.  Pure adrenaline and a stubborn sensibility, I guess.  Last year between September and January I had three sinus infections, bronchitis and the flu.  

I switched to my current doctor, a ENT sinus specialist, last Spring.  After a couple of visits and an MRI, she determined I might be a candidate for balloon surgery.  She said the little ducts that are supposed to be draining under my eyes were not working right.  Of course I have wondered why countless doctors have not figured this out before.  She also wanted to clean out the areas just over each eyebrow and the bigger cavities under my eyes.  I have to say that the process itself was very, very unpleasant.  She had a team of four, and it felt like they all had prongs going up my sinuses even though I was numbed out.  The numbing stuff was the problem.  Your entire throat numbs out when it runs back down, and I couldn't swallow and felt like I was choking the whole time.  It was only supposed to take 20 minutes, but took around 45 because I kept having problems.  In fact it took so long that the numbing spray was starting to wear off once she got to the last cavity, but I just took the pain because I didn't want to have that choking sensation again.  Once I got back home I still had trouble with the choking sensation, but after an hour I finally felt like I might live.  Afterwards I was telling people to not even consider this surgery without being put totally under.  And I wondered why I put myself through something so horrible.  For two weeks when it got to be late in the day, every step I took I could feel in my head and jaw.

But then the side effects all wore off.  It was Halloween time, and still no sinus infection.  Thanksgiving quickly was approaching, and I kept waiting for the symptoms to start:  headache, scratchy throat, stuffed up head.  I had slight headaches and sore throats from time to time, but nothing lasted more than a day.  I started to feel downright giddy that it seemed I would make the whole holiday season without any trouble.  And I have.  I just recently have been having some worse symptoms, which I am not surprised by since I have not been getting enough sleep for the last three weeks.  My resistance is down, and I was a little lazy about doing my sinus rinse twice a day.  But now that Christmas is over I have time to get back on track and hope to fend off a full-blown infection of any kind.

One or both boys, and sometimes Jav, are also normally sick by now.  We have somehow dodged that bullet this year.  In a normal year, by the end of December we have probably visited a doctor at least 6 times (between all of us) and picked up at least 8 rounds of medicine.  I took Gabriel for his checkup in October.  That's all, other than my follow up with my ENT.  

I really can't be happier about the kids being healthier.  And I can't put into words what it's meant to find such a good doctor for me, to have her finally figure out and fix what's been wrong, and to have my quality of life back.