Today I was in the family kitchen heating up my lunch. I noticed the bright pink labels used to label food hanging on the refrigerator door had been written on. When you leave something in the fridge, you are supposed to put your name and date on a label and stick it on your food. Well someone had written in all caps "DO NOT EAT MY YOGURT IT IS MARKED AS MINE AND SHOULD NOT BE EATEN BY ANYONE BUT ME." Or something to that effect. What I loved about the sign was how raw and real it was, knowing how, particularly at the hospital where you can feel oh so crazy about oh so many things. And then I thought of how typically when you have a crazy moment, you can walk away and leave it behind. BUT if you hang a sign on the fridge for all to see, you are going to re-witness your crazy moment every single time you are in the kitchen. This afternoon, physical therapy and occupational therapy stopped by to help Ellie move around a bit and gain some of her strength back. They asked what we would like them to work on while Ellie is in the hospital. We had Ellie sitting on the sofa for about 3 hours this afternoon because apparently if you stay laying down too long you can develop pnemonia (who knew?) Before that, a wound care specialist stopped by to check and see how Ellie's wounds from surgery were healing (from the clamp that holds her head steady during surgery.)
Ben spent the morning at Tyler's Place (sibling care at the hospital). When I picked Ben up, Jennifer the child life worker, told me how impressed she was with Ben, his creativity, his attention span, and his ability to help clean up. Again, I have to reiterate that anyone who praises my children I am pretty much in love with. Then today was the day for his playdate with Izzy. The day he has been anticipating all week long. He had so much fun going to Bounce U (a play place with all those big blow up thingys) and then for ice cream. When he got home Thom thought maybe Izzy & Leslie had given Ben coffee because he was so so super excited about his day that he could not sit still. Thom was going to try the magic of videos to restore calm to his (I think more Thom than Ben) world.
So this afternoon, I just had this moment, where it felt totally peaceful as if everything were taken care of. No worries. Knowing that anything that needed to be addressed will be addressed even with Ellie. It was wonderful and expansive and I wanted to live there for awhile.
How bad would that person feel if they started eating a yogurt they realized was not THE ONE THAT THEY HAD MARKED IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS? Certainly hope that doesn't happen as it might make them cranky, NOT crappy at all! Love that Ben had a fabulous bouncy fun playdate with Izzy...seems appropriate given her name for some reason. I think you should respond to all hospital personnel questions with a question, so if OT asks what you would like them to work on with Ellie you might respond, "What would YOU like to work on with Ellie?". Love you, love the expansion, stay there...you deserve it my sweet sister!
ReplyDeleteThere was actually a Parks & Rec episode recently where the boss said when ever he was under investigation he liked to keep himself on the defensive by answering every question presented to him with a question. It was too funny. There is a lot of pressure when a doctor asks if we have any questions b/c it feels like you should have a question for crying out loud. They came all the way to your room, they may not be back for awhile, so suddenly any question you might have had escapes you.
ReplyDeleteI would get a couple of questions prepared for any doctor in any specialty that may happen upon your room. Samples you ask? "What is your sign?" is always a good get to you know you opener. "Anything good in the cafeteria today?" "What route did you take to get here today?" I think there are some good solid fallbacks you can always go to! Hope this helps!
ReplyDeleteLove you
Susan