The rest of our household is in their respective beds, soundly asleep. I just moved the last load of laundry into the dryer and should be joining them but sleepiness eludes me.
Jon has developed an allergic reaction to…something. He had been waking up with hive-like spots for about a month. Then a couple of weeks ago he woke up with one eye swollen almost shut and a top lip that looked as if he’d just climbed out of a MMA ring. The doctor gave him a prescription of steroids and sent him on his way. He continued to get the hives although not nearly as severe looking, and he mentioned his throat often felt like something was stuck in it. So OF COURSE for the past 13-14 nights, every time he STOPS snoring I jerk awake. I roll over, straining to hear a quiet breath; I squint through the darkness to see if I can see his chest move. Finally he’ll make a noise and I’ll doze off until he gets quiet again.
Then Tuesday he wakes up covered in angry red, swollen welts. He itched, he ached, he was miserable. The doctor said “Hm. We should probably try something else this time.” So they took blood and gave him a steroid shot and sent him home with a prescription for an antihistamine. He was okay yesterday. Today? The welts look worse than ever. He aches. He itches. He’s miserable. He went to bed at 9:00. (He never goes to bed before 10:00.) This was after spending a couple of hours laying down earlier. (Something else he never does.)
Right before he went in the room he casually mentioned that earlier he’d taken one of the prescription strength pain pills left over from when I had my infected lymph node. He hoped it would help with the itching. It didn’t. So he’d just taken some Nyquil. And his allergy meds.
This has taken me half an hour to type because every time I can’t hear him snore, I tiptoe/run into the room and hover until I see and/or hear proof he’s still breathing.
Have you ever heard an elderly person comment that they used to complain about their spouse’s snoring until they were gone? And now they can’t sleep? Yeah I totally get that now.
