Separated at Birth

I’m back to work. Back to knowing what day it is without looking at a calendar. Back to getting up early and getting out the door on time (or as close to it as possible). Back to feeling busy. (So busy I’ve had a hard time finding time to write.) And back to dealing with the challenges of normal life.

I guess that means my recovery from pelvis reconstruction surgery is going well. Soon the diastasis symphysis pubis I experienced during childbirth in January will be only a memory.

On Saturday, we had planned that my mom, the Little Guy and I would head to the University’s football game. (My husband works in the pressbox.) Unfortunately, his first game will have to be in another few weeks. He got a fever. A real, serious 104 degrees Fahrenheit internal body temperature fever. We ended up in the emergency room rather than under the lights on campus.

And as soon as we learned the Little Guy doesn’t have the flu, RSV or pneumonia all I could think of was how sick I am of hospitals. Because of my wheelchair it took a lot longer to get ready to go to the ER than it would have if I could use my legs. A neighbor had to help my mom get the chair into the car. Mom put the Little Guy in the car then came back to get me over the threshold and down the curb so I could get myself into the car.

All while my mind was racing and my son was miserable.

We did our best to make up for it on Sunday by having an adventure. My husband and I used to go on adventures almost every weekend, right up until I was about to have the Little Guy we would get in the car and go – to a county museum, a small town with lots of antique stores, a new place to hike. We had some adventures before surgery, too. But they took a lot out of us. On Earth Day we all went to the zoo in Emporia. It’s small, so it was easy for me to walk without getting terribly worn out.

On Sunday we went to Manhattan to see the new Flint Hills Discovery Center. I learned a lot and couldn’t wait for the Little Guy to be big enough to understand it. He did like the film – we sat him on the floor and he felt “snow” fall on him and dissolve, watched fog and smoke swirl around him and batted at it with his hands.

He even seemed well enough for dinner. His first time eating food from a restaurant in a restaurant highchair. We went to a Mongolian Grill and fed him mushed bits of tofu cooked with Teriyaki sauce from chopsticks. He really enjoyed that!

It was a memorable adventure and a good chance for my husband and I to talk through some important things that await us – about the house in Omaha and getting our apartment unpacked.

The Little Guy fussed like crazy on the way home but wasn’t running a fever anymore. My husband took him to his pediatrician’s office today for a follow up and his internal temperature was 98 degrees. He was fussy at school, too, and didn’t eat much. But when we got him home he made up for it with 12 ounces of formula and a bowl of applesauce. Hopefully he’s on the mend.

Like his Mommy.

I had to take a pain pill at lunchtime today. There is something about sitting in the chair all day that is really hard on my body. By this afternoon that spot at my right SI joint felt all crunched up and my tailbone was sore. Mostly it is a stiffness that I’m just not used to yet. I can’t wait to stand up and stretch. Or put my leg up on the hood of the car and stretch forward. It feels like all I need to go to make my back feel better is stretch. I tried leaning all the way forward in my chair, with my chest on my knees. But it doesn’t really work. I’m still sitting down.

I just need to get used to this. It will pass.

I finished my paper and nearly all of the reading for tomorrow’s class. I’ll finish the rest of the reading while I’m eating my lunch.

I can juggle this. I know I can. And we can juggle all of the big stuff happening. We have love, support, and in spite of recent appearances, I think we even have our health. It is not life if there is not a challenge.