I am sick!!!!
I am usually a pretty healthy girl, but last Thursday I started feeling kind of puny. My throat was kind of achy, my nose was kind of snotty, and my head needed to be removed. It has gradually gotten worse. Yesterday we went on a field trip to hear the Midland & Odessa symphony. It was great, but standing outside in the cold for thirty minutes waiting for our bus in a sea of bus chaos was not. I had zero voice by my second class and felt horrible. I came home as soon as school was out and tried to rest. This is not easy for me. I am not a good napper. I always feel like I need to maintain my supervisory role in the household. I did not sleep well. About four this morning I decided that I was not going to school. That in and of itself is painful. Preparing for a substitute when you feel well is a chore, imagine when you feel badly. I got it done, and John got up and helped me. He took my stuff to school for me, and my teacher team helped with the rest. As usual, I do not have a substitute, a tradition in Midland. So I am sure that is going great, but I will try not to worry about it. Am I going to go to the doctor? NO!! Because if I do then I will sit in the waiting room for three hours, wait for medicines at the pharmacy for a couple more, and by then it will be time to go back to school to infect all the others. My day of rest that I prepared so long for at four this morning will have been a total waste. I choose to rest in my home. Hopefully, it will work. I do have to say that as the supervisor of my household, the other members of my home are required to go to the doctor. This rule does not apply to me.
On another note, the week after Thanksgiving John spent some time in his doctor's office, the emergency room, and an overnight stay in the hospital. That Tuesday night he started vomiting violently, if I do say so myself. Just some background info. John has juvenile diabetes, Addison's disease, low thyroid, anemia, and a few other items. So if he gets sick at all, we need to be concerned. I called in to his doctor and got him in as soon as they opened Wednesday morning. They know to make room for him. I went on to school because remember preparing and getting a sub is torture. The doctor's office called the school and needed me immediately. So I left my kiddos in the hands of about five helpful adults. John's blood pressure was 58/40. The nurses thought that the blood pressure monitor was broken b/c they had never seen one so low. John was very dehydrated. When you get dehydrated your blood pressure drops. When you have Addison's disease your blood pressure is low anyway, so together this equals "not good." They kept him several hours on iv fluids until his blood pressure returned to normal. They checked for several other things while we were there, I'll spare you the details, but decided it was probably the infamous stomach bug that had been going around. Then they sent us home, and we were to check his blood pressure every 15 minutes. John rested at home, while I checked his blood pressure every 15 minutes. There is not alot of time between to get much done, by the way. Anyway, about the time some nice people brought Noble home from school, John's pressure was dropping fast. I called the doctor's office, and they said that if it dropped below 90 to take him immediately to the emergency room. It did, so all three of us went to the ER. Our home teachers came and gave John a blessing (thank you), and I began preparing for a substitute, Ugh!
He is doing much better, but it did take eight iv bags to allow his body to maintain its blood pressure. It also took several steroids to make up for what the adrenal glands don't produce (Addison's disease) and a couple of days of rest. I have also been given direct instructions as the supervisor of my home that John is to be taken immediately to the ER if he is vomiting. His body is just not able to maintain itself in an adrenal crisis. We are once again lucky to still have him. His patriarchal blessing does promise that "he has been blessed with a strong physical body, one capable of carrying the burdens that are placed thereon." Which continues to be a faith builder for me because there are many burdens for him to endure. I often marvel at him because I do not think that I would be able to bear them. Apparently, even though Addison's disease is rare, it is as equal in importance in receiving medical care as walking into the ER with chest pains. I have been instructed to demand that he be seen immediately, even becoming a nuisance. After all "the squeaky well gets the grease," and I am not this type of personality, but I will do it for "Juan in a million."
So Christmas - - - - - - it's almost here, and I need to have some Christmas spirit. This has become a hard time of year for me, and I really want to overcome that. We have been struggling through three years of John working two jobs, and I think that is part of it. I have experienced the loss of three pregnancies at this time of year, and I know that that is part of it. I have spent alot of time feeling sorry for myself because I have to work, that I don't have the number of children that I have hoped for, and that I don't get to spend several days a week with friends or family. So as I reflect on years gone by, I really want 2009 to be a great year. I know that there will be struggles because there always are!! I hope to take Noble on some sort of real family vacation. I hope to be able to appreciate more that I have Noble and to give him the attention that he deserves. I hope that John can quit working his second job. I hope that I will like to go to the grocery store and cook for my family. We'll see about that one! I hope to continue my excitement about our new home. I hope to build better friendships because I know that they are vital to the enjoyment that I seek out of life. I hope to make some time for myself. I hope to go on regular dates with my husband for the first time in a lot of years. I hope to do a better job in my church callings, visiting teaching, testimony sharing, and temple attendance. I especially hope for good fortune and health for my family and friends. I hope that this is the year that all of us have dreams come true.
