Life As We Know It

First of all, what the ?????

Angie, my future bff who I've never met, signed my blog. Hi Ang! You'll have to have me come visit sometime....I would absolutely love to meet you and Todd. There-I said it. You never know :)

What a fun surprise. Not sure how it happened, but I guess I don't really need to. It sure made my day when my day wasn't going so hot. I read that comment at 6:30 a.m. and got the kids ready and off to school. As I drove to the hospital by myself, I started to cry, realizing that someone that I really admire and have looked up to for months was praying FOR ME. It heightened all of my senses to God as I drove. I saw a hurting, lonely face on the woman waiting to cross the street and I prayed for her. I prayed for the people who rode the elevator with me. I prayed for Brian's nurses as they came and checked on him.

I also laughed to think that Angie and Pete Wilson must get a kick out of "freaking people out" by encouraging them on their blogs. Pretty funny.

Ok, back to reality.

Things I've learned through this process:

* I'm not a nurturing person by nature. Not very compassionate, not the classic nurturing mother, and now look at the role I've been handed to play! Nurse, "single" mom, cuddler, etc. It has not been easy, but very humbling and eye-opening.

* I have always been the one to bring meals, drive extra carpool, help babysit, etc. It's been humbling to be on the receiving end. I'm finding that people have a "need" to help as much as I have a need to receive. People have said "thanks for taking us up on the meal-we're happy to do it"

* I realize that telling someone "call if you need anything" won't result in anything. I've thrown that phrase out more times than I can count, and now that I'm receiving it, I can't bring myself to call. In the future, I'll be more specific with my offers. I find that they are the ones I'm currently taking people up on :)

* I'm thankful Brian works for his dad.

* I'm thankful I don't work.

* I'm amazed how quickly things can change.

* We have amazing friends. They've driven carpool, moved furniture, watched our kids for hours, sat bedside with Brian, brought meals, prayed with us, sat with me, run errands, lent us things, sent flowers, sent edible arrangements (choc covered strawberries), brought movies, bought movies, watched movies, brought Starbucks, brought "fun" hot chocolate (Brian and I have different definitions of that :) , checked in on us, sent endless texts asking what they can do to help, given PT advice, provided comic relief, and the list goes on.

* We have amazing family. They've prayed for us, been willing to have all of us at their home if needed, picked up kids, babysat kids, spoken to doctors, sat in the hopsital, checked on us, called, all with health issues of their own going on this week (can you say painful ankle pin that wiggled loose??)

* I realize that this is a great time of year to have this happen. Almost everything we're involved in at church is on a month-long break. State Farm tends to be a little bit quieter. The kids only have 4 more days of school. We traveled at Thanksgiving, so nothing was planned for Christmas. We didn't even have any Christmas parties planned yet! We're really not missing out on anything...

* I'm amazed how many people have gone through something like this. Not only has it been helpful to hear that recoveries are possible, but the sympathy has been amazing. The thing that freaks us out on the other hand, is how many people have gone through something like this. And most are in their 30's...so obviously something happens in your 20's that really hurts you later! I suppose we think we're invincible and can lift anything and do anything and our bodies disagree. Bulging and herniated disks before 35? A bit of a wake up call to exercise!

How Brian is doing:

* He moves slow as molasses and with his trusty walker at all times.

* He's able to do stairs if he really takes it slow

* He made it upstairs to take a bath today which he said really felt good

* He can't sit in a chair for more than 5 minutes

* He loops our main floor a couple of times with his walker and needs to go lay down

* He's still on all the meds they sent him home with

* He's trying to eat a lot of fruit and fiber foods :) No luck yet. If we don't see progress, there will
be some major concerns soon

* He sleeps a lot because none of it is overly restful

* He realized that when he thought he couldn't take any more pain, he was given more pain.

* He's learning a lot about his own strength of character and trying to keep a positive attitude through it all.

* The movement he's been able to do indicates that the cortisone shot is doing some good and the inflammation is going down. The inflammation is what was pushing the nerve, so the pain should decrease more and more. His body is very very sore from the tension and muscle spasms he had.

* We don't know how long recovery will take, or if it will be 100% complete. Some we've talked to are still in daily (but manageable) pain. One gal thought a year wouldn't be unheard of to get well. Greg and Steve have a bet going whether or not this time next year Brian will be 30 lbs lighter and really svelt.

If you're still reading, congratulations! It's easier to write this than to text : )

Thanks for your prayers-we are so grateful for each of you

I'm very proud of Brian and wish so much I could take this all away.