I love my kids. I love hanging with them. I love watching them interact. If you have kids you know exactly what I mean. You'll also relate to how much I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I get to go to work. Work is the new vacation. There's a few hours where all I have to do is work. Phew. That will be easy.
It isn't that taking care of the kids is hard, it's just constant. Unfortunately I'm more of a sprinter than a marathon runner. For example, my idea of a good time is let's play Playmobil for an hour, then let's sleep for three! I don't know about your kids, but mine don't speak that language. They think, let's play Playmobil for an hour, then let's play Lego, cars, build a fort, draw, play Play-Doh, take the couches apart, leave everything as it is, then go outside and roll in the dirt. There's so much to do, and so little time! I don't remember play being this much work when I was a kid.
Now that Melisa is on "vacation" I can see how much of her I'm not. There are so many pieces of our day's puzzle that she's responsible for finding and placing. I have an entirely new appreciation for her. I remember the day of her surgery. When I finally got to see her she was still groggy. Yet somehow, in the few minutes we had together, she wanted to make sure Mom and Charlie went to Skyler's open house at school and reminded me about Seth's open house the next day, and don't forget the library books, and sign the daily planner, etc., etc., etc. I don't remember that stuff five minutes after I've looked at the calendar. She's barely lucid, and more on top of it than me. She's amazing. But you already knew that.
So, an update. Melisa is doing fantastic. The pain is still there, but she's down to one Percocet every five hours instead of two every three to four hours. I can tell she's feeling physically a lot better because now she's concerned more with emotional things. Those are harder to overcome because you can't just take a Tylenol to fix it. I've been using a steady dose of love and hugs, and that seems to diminish the pain but doesn't take it away completely. It's probably a time thing and keeping her otherwise occupied. We had some great laughs with John and Shelly last night. Thanks for hanging with us, guys. And thanks for dinner! It was so much fun and we were laughing so hard, but I think Mel paid for it at midnight when she needed two Percocet again. She said it was worth it.
There are a few physical aspects that we're concerned about and going to call the doctor on tomorrow. If you're worried about Too Much Information, skip ahead . . . With the drainage tubes removed the fluid is building up inside. Her right side seems to be doing great, but the left looks more swollen than it should. I saw it and said, "Alright!" Mel disagreed, "No. It's not alright." There was also some weird looking scarring that we think needs to be checked. I'll keep you posted.
Before leaving, I want to say a quick thank you again to everyone. Every day we're surprised with gifts of food, company, cards, calls, emails, child care, etc. On Thursday, Linda brought us a delicious dinner. The roasted chicken was one of the best we've ever had! Thank you, Linda for taking the time to come see us and feed us.
On Friday Ame came with a ginormous pizza and then some. Luckily I've met Ame, or I'd think she was fictitious. I don't know how many times she's come bearing gifts, but I haven't seen her once. Mel assures me it was her. She's like a thief in the night, except she leaves stuff and it's during the day. Thank you, Ame. You've been amazing. Thank you for taking great care of us and coordinating meals for us from so many incredible people. We appreciate you!
Yesterday morning Mel's mom left. She's been such a tremendous help. I'll probably miss her the most because I have to do all the stuff she's been doing! Around lunch time I was wandering around in a daze like a bird that had just made unexpected contact with a window. I knew I should be preparing lunch, but couldn't decide where to start. My peripheral vision was becoming fuzzy. Fortunately for the occupants of our house, the doorbell rang and in walked Minu (my Dad's wife). She brought us a "snack" which instantly got renamed "lunch". See. I CAN make lunch. Anyway, we had a great visit with Minu, and she offered to bring lunch again today. We didn't want to be rude, so we said, "Please?" Thank you, Minu. You always cook for us, and we always love it!
This afternoon Mel got to spend some quality time with Arin and friends. She is so happy to just be doing some normal, fun things. Thanks for taking care of her, Arin. She loves spending time with you and it keeps her mind off things that are otherwise depressing.
Well that's the current news in a pumpkin shell. I'll try to use a nutshell next time.
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p.s. Sorry Ame. I totally butchered your name without realizing it. I fixed it, now that it's too late. :)
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