Why I haven't been blogging

For the last month, things have been rough. In every area of life, things have been difficult. Much of what happened was beyond my control, in general was not caused by me, which made it even more frustrating. Whenever I would compose a post, it sounded really whiny and like a big woe's me pity party. And if I can't stand to hear myself think it, who's going to want to read it? And why would I put other people through that? So, I just didn't write. I don't know that life has gotten easier or better, but I think I've gained some perspective. There is one thing that's happened that I have to tell you about. It's sort of painful and funny. Well, probably more painful that funny. Anyways, last Tuesday morning Bry-D called. His voice was shaky, and it sounded like he was holding his breath. He wanted me to know he had gotten hurt and was going to Med Check, the place his boss had told him to go to, since it was a work site injury. When he tried to tell me what had happened, I didn't have it quite right, but it was close. I thought he had fallen through a hole, his entire body going down, and landing on a beam or something-on his crotch-but that wasn't quite the case. He called later, he had a "laceration" and was being sent to the ER for stitches. Now, from the time he and I hung up the first time until he called to say he was headed to the ER, I had been in and out of consciousness. I don't mean I kept fainting, I mean it was like the lights were on and sometimes someone was home, sometimes not. While I was concious, I called a few people, found someone to take the kids, and was able to meet him at the ER. I got there about five minutes after he had gotten into a room. I'm not going to give any more details. He ended up with 7 stitches, and the story of how he actually got hurt is this-

He was working(for those of you who don't know, Bry-D is a phone man)in an older warehouse, and had gone in and out of well-lit room a couple of times(the rest of the building was really dim)there was a metal cover on the floor of this well-lit room. When he was leaving the well-lit room, he was taking a step with his left foot, stepped on the cover, it flipped up, his left leg went into the hole, and his right leg stayed at ground level. To put it simply, he did the splits into a hole. The lid was in there somewhere, and that's what cut him and why he has stitches. He pulled most of the muscles in his groin. Yeah, ouch!

For the first 2-3 days, he couldn't walk, get dressed on his own, and finding a comfortable position of any type was impossible. He told me the other day, he understands why they call those "core muscles" you can't do anything without them. He's not into being drugged, so he's just been taking the maximum allowable amount of OTC painkillers. For my part, in the beginning, I was just thankful it hadn't been worse. What if he had stepped in that spot with his right foot? Or fallen backwards? Yes, I feel very blessed that it wasn't any worse, because it certainly could have been.
Now, I realise just how much I depend on him. He can't lift, well, anything, he still can't really walk, let alone move fast, so I'm on my own. It's like he's here but not. And in the mornings and evenings, when I'm used to have him around, are so hard. We normally divide and conquer, but now it's all on me, and I have to say, it's some hard work. I always admired single parents, but I have a newfound respect for them, and the fact that their children have clean clothes is amazing. He'll be getting up soon, so I'm going to get off here. The two comfortable places in the house-the bed and his computer chair. He has, for the most part, had a good additude, though I know he's frustrated that he can't hold Lex, or get his own glass of tea. I think he had always thought that having someone wait on him hand and foot would be fun, not frustrating. Hm, be careful what you wish for!

An ER visit recap- Lex had a staple removed from his knee

Yesterday was very busy, and very productive. My sister, The Quilter, came over with her kids, and while they ran amuck, she helped me work on adjusting a pattern. We were all done, and had the kids cleaning up, when Lex started crying, seemingly in pain, out of the blue. He stopped as soon as I picked him up, so I thought he must just want to be held. Once he started trying to help me with cutting out the last re-sized pattern, The Quilter took him and put him in the exersaucer. After a few minutes, he started crying again, kind of like he was in pain, but not horribly. I decided he must need to poo. He hadn't gone in a day and a half so I thought it must just be painful. I sat him on the potty and when I adjusted his legs, I felt something sticking out of his knee. I hollered at the The Quilter, and we inspected it, then gave it a gentle tug. It wasn't going to come out easily. We both thought it was probably a broken straight pin, I thought one with a flat metal end, which was why it wouldn't come out. I don't use those pins because I live in constant fear of this type of situation, however, I had made a tablecloth for someone last week, and the fabric came with some of those pins already in it. After discussing options, I called a friend that's a pediatric nurse. I was pretty sure we were headed for the ER, but I just needed verification. She said GO, and so The Quilter loaded up her kids and began her 45 minute drive home, while Eliz and I got ready to take Lex to the hospital. I showed Eliz Lex's knee, and told her we had to go to the doctor, and I wanted her to quickly pack a bag with some toys and books. It was so sweet, when she showed me what she had packed-it was all stuff for Lex! I explained that I meant for her, and once she had repacked, we were on our way. The people at the front desk were giving me a funny look as I came in, Lex was all bundled up, hat on, blanket wrapped around him, except his left leg was naked. I set him on the counter and said,

"He has a straight pin in his knee."

They all did that hiss of sympathetic pain. Then since Lex was smiling and flirting, they began remarking how good he was being. They had me sign one piece of paper and then had us sit down. Within ten minutes they had us in a room, within a half hour they had ordered the x-ray. The whole time Eliz and Lex were so good. Lex had only cried when you really pulled on the pin, otherwise he was content and happy, which is his normal state of being. Then a woman came in to finish check in and registration; I had thought it was odd that I only signed one sheet of paper! Next we went to x-ray. He was a champ, and Eliz was so great. She had to sit off to the side where she couldn't see very well, but she just sat quietly and asked if she could get up when she saw Lex and I coming around the corner. The x-ray showed that the metal thing was just in the soft tissue, and nowhere near his joints, Praise Jesus, however, it did have some sort of tip on the end. We went back to the room, and the doctor was in real quick to pull out the offensive thing. When she first tried, he screamed and squirmed enough that she decided to numb it. I told her I had been thinking she was going to have to do at least a small incision. She really wanted to avoid that, so she gave him a shot to numb it-not very much, and then she pulled it out. I was holding him the entire time, and worrying that I was going to bruise him I was holding him so tight. Once she pulled it out, we saw that it was not, in fact, a straight pin. The part that had held it in was folded over. It took me awhile to think what it looked like-then it came to me, a broken staple. They gave us a script for an antibiotic, and sent us on our way. The whole thing took 2 hours, maybe 3. We ate dinner, and Lex crawled around as if nothing had happened. After the kids were in bed I was walking barefoot through where Lex had been when he first started crying, and I felt something scrape the bottom of my foot. I searched the carpet, Bry-D helped, then I found a broken embroidery needle. The eye of it was broken off. That was what had stuck him in the knee. What's odd about it is the needle is no where near my sewing desk, and I haven't had my embroidery needles out in about a month. Ugh. I get the shivers just thinking about it. Anyways, I am now even more determined to replace our carpet with hardwood. Or laminate, whatever. Since my Dad does home remodeling I asked him to keep a lookout for some nicely priced laminate. Well, I'm still stressed from it all, and the little guy has woken from his nap, so I'll talk at you later.