Fair warning, this isn’t going to be a post like others on this blog. To be honest, this is more like venting than informative, but maybe you can find some insight, tips, or even just sympathy through it. Do you ever have one of those weeks where it just seems like you’re hit with one thing after another? And when you finally think you’re out of it, you get knocked down just one more time?
That was this week for me. It’s been a tough week, but it’s also been a great one.
It started with my husband getting a horrible, kind of very scary ear infection. This man is superman and very rarely admits to pain, ailments, or weakness. It may be because he doesn’t have many, but it’s more likely because he’s mentally very strong. So when he said something was going on Sunday night, I knew to pay attention. And we were right – he went to a walk-in clinic Monday which confirmed our diagnosis of an ear infection. It sounds mild, but man, these things can be scary! He was put on a course of intense antibiotics which we started right away.
If you’ve followed me at all, you know I’m a fan of “alternative,” more natural medicines. There is, however, a time and place for modern medicine, and we were definitely at one of those times. We gave him a daily probiotic to counter the negative effects of the antibiotics (those things don’t discriminate between good and bad bacteria – they kill all), and we continued his normal battery of vitamins to keep his body in fighting condition. We used some tea tree oil and frankincense diluted in olive oil to rub around his ear which helped with some of the pain and swelling. When he could stand it, we did a hot compress.
We barely slept Sunday night because he was in so much pain. Our son was also up every couple of hours crying which I thought was probably just bad dreams. On Monday, I realized it probably wasn’t bad dreams….he was actually teething like crazy. Of course his last four teeth decided this is the week to start their journey into his mouth! What great timing! So we barely slept Monday night, too, because of my husband’s pain and my son’s teething.
Thankfully, my parents were able to play with our son all Tuesday which allowed me to fully focus on caring for my husband. A man that’s never down was bedridden for the better part of this week. And after a few sleepless nights and being a 24/7 nurse, a day on the couch sounded nice. So Tuesday, my husband and I stayed mainly on the couch, I made some chicken noodle soup, and he got some much needed rest.
As much pain as he was in and as exhausted as I was taking care of him, our son, and growing our next one, that whole day, we kept looking at each other saying how much we were enjoying the downtime. We get so little of it between his triathlon training, our son going 1000 miles a minute, and just life in general. Being forced to slow down and relax for a day was not only nice but we realized it was needed. This week, my husband and I also “celebrated” (read: acknowledged) two anniversaries of ours – our “I love you”-versary and our face-to-face meeting anniversary. Five years. And we got to celebrate together, lazy, sick, and happy.
He turned a corner Wednesday, and everything was looking up. He was maybe at 30%, but that was a significant improvement. Our son, however, was grumpy, drooly, snotty, and irritable. We attributed it all to normal teething, especially knowing he was popping molars which tend to be the most rough. Little did we know, a storm was brewing….
Thursday evening, I realized I had a scratchy throat. I attributed it to the fact that Thursday morning, I went a little cleaning crazy and probably kicked up a bunch of dust. I woke up Friday with the same sore throat but ignored it because I felt fine otherwise. By Friday night, I was down for the count, sore all over, a mild fever, sneezing, and coughing. It was just a cold, but it came in strong and moved fast. I was definitely hit hardest, but my son was clearly doing more than teething, and my poor husband got a little bit of it, too. And my kind parents who watched our son Tuesday? Yeah, them, too. We all started taking ColdCalm, high doses of vitamin D, C, and zinc, and drinking tons of water and tea. I did my best not to take much medicine, but I needed a little to help me through which ColdCalm did.
To top it all off, my son nailed the coup de grâce of the week this morning. In the most toddler moments of toddler moments, while I was chopping up some sweet potatoes for a breakfast hash, he managed to find a blue sharpie and redesign our family room wall, the top of his great-grandfather’s table, and the inside of a little bowl he plays with. While I was still in a little bit of shock and scrubbed like crazy with a Magic Eraser, my husband being the amazing man he is just shrugged and said, “not that big of a deal” and continued on like nothing happened. Thank goodness for that man….he keeps me sane.
So in the past week, we’ve all been sick, the dishes have piled up, the house is more or less a disaster (even more so now), and our son who doesn’t watch TV has watched more in the past week than he’s ever seen collectively in his life (don’t worry – we also read a lot and played a few card games). Did it suck? Yes. Would I do it again? Without wishing ill on my family, yes.
How often are we forced to stop? How often do we have a reason to be still and we listen to that reason? How often do we sit with our family and just be? How often do we have the opportunity to care for those around us in sickness? How often do we look at our spouse when we’re at our lowest and say, “this sucks, but I really love doing it with you”?
Needless to say, I didn’t have the time or energy to put together one of my regular posts. But my goal with this post holds true to my blog’s purpose – sharing what I learn and experience in hopes of helping someone else navigate a similar experience.