Symptom Free Thursday

It’s the first day this week I woke up symptom free.

Of course, I woke up to the dog barking and growling at something at 0330, so I laid in bed tossing, turning and thinking about what we saw in the cemetery on our walk the night before. So after another 30 minutes of not sleeping, I got out of bed then went into the office to type some more on the blog, but ended up cleaning out more of my cloud.

Rich woke up at his normal time and I let the dog out while he did his morning “chores”. After he left for work, I went back to bed for another two hours. When I woke the second time, I was still symptom free, so I went and checked on what the kids were doing. They were both up and getting ready to leave; I’m faster at getting ready than they are, so I decided to go ahead and go to town to get the dog and cat food, and stop by association to pick up our curriculum.

Once I had the supplies we needed, I went back home where Son helped unload the pickup. We all loaded up and stopped at the gas station to pickup breakfast. I bought drinks for us all at the station and we went over to the west side of town so I could show Sister the example of how not to block driveways. After that, we dropped Sister off at work and headed to Son’s appointment. I worked in the library on a post about Family of Origin, and when his appointment was over, we headed home. I worked on cleaning the house and getting ready for supper until Son was done taking the leaf out of the old table. Once that was done, I worked on checking in the curriculum and calculating Sister’s GPA from her Sophomore year.

Around that time, Rich got home from work so I ran to town to pick Sis up from work. Once we got home, I began cleaning up from last night and cooking supper. As soon as I had supper in the oven, Rich and I sat at the table to talk. We ate a bite when the meal was baked (or mostly baked), and then we took the dog on a walk. The family on the corner under the water tower have a big coon hound that was running and barking while we went around the corner. Our dog did not like it and barked back. Their dog knocked down their little child, and the dad stopped mowing then told the dog to quit barking. When he realized the dog knocked the boy down, he kicked at the dog. Man I hate to see things like that. I understand as a parent we want to protect our children, but at the same time, part of that protection includes mitigation. Parents who have large dogs ought to know that large dogs will knock little kids down. So either the kids need to understand that and stay away from the dog or the dog needs to be kept in a separate area from the kids. Either way – the dad was staring at us walking our dog while his dog barked at ours. It happened in what seemed to be slow motion. I don’t know when he realized the kiddo was knocked over, and I don’t know whether he went to the kiddo or not. He was there and the kiddo was his responsibility. I don’t know… it’s tough but we walked on. There was a pick-up game at the ball field; that seemed to be the kids who were juniors and seniors from an old traveling team that used to play there during the summer. None were in uniform, and the parents were all casually watching. Perhaps it was a practice, again, I don’t know but I’m glad the field was being used.

We walked on to the cemetery – nothing weird happening there tonight – and then on around a block further toward home. We would have walked farther, but I needed to use the bathroom. That seems to be happening a lot more lately – now that I’m becoming more aware of my body, I am experiencing a lot more bodily functions than I have before. Once I had taken care of the bathroom, I cleaned up from supper and Rich showered. Then it was my turn for the shower and working on this blog.

It’s been a good day, albeit a busy one. I felt like I had accomplished nothing, but stayed busy throughout the day. I know there is much more to do and now I’m ready for bed. So thankful I am able to post this tonight and now go to bed on schedule.

Things I am currently working on: being patient, giving myself grace, not freaking out when I lose something, organizing my files better and getting things done. I am currently setting up my discharge instructions into small files that I can print and share so that I can keep myself accountable. It will also help my family know how they can help support me.

That’s the one thing I would do differently if I could – I’d ask about having Rich come to discharge day so he could understand what I need and how to help me stay focused and locked in on my own care. Of course, if Rich is the one who is looking out for my best interest, if Rich is the one making sure I am locked in to self care, then it’s not self care… right?

So that’s that. One day of five (so far) that I’ve been symptom free.