My Week

 Rick, who never reads me, read me on the last post. 

"Hey did you tell them about the time I knew Megan was having the baby that day? Did you tell them about...?

No, and no because I would be writing posts about you for days. 

"And there is something wrong with you writing about me?"

"Oh my God this is going to your head. I liked it better when you didn't read me."

Okay, I will share the one about Megan.

I thought I wrote about it but couldn't find it so if I did - here it is again.

We were heading to Cleveland and Columbus. We were driving.

We were going to spend 2 days with our friends Megan and Jared first.

Now Megan was to have a baby in 2.5 weeks. We kept telling them we wouldn't be staying at their house, we would get a hotel. They were adamant about us staying. I felt it was too much because she was pregnant.  They persisted. We gave in.

I brought a breakfast casserole, party food, appetizers, dips, and a meal for the evening. Of course plenty of alcohol for us 3. I did not want to make her cook for us being pregnant. But we couldn't wait to see them.

We arrived and Megan was at her kitchen island making something for her young daughter. Rick took one look at her and said, "Megan you're having the baby today." She laughed and said, "No I better not, I'm not due for a few weeks."

20 minutes later she walked into the bathroom came out and said, "My water broke"

Off to the hospital she goes. We stayed with her daughter overnight as her husband took her to the hospital. We played with her adorable daughter. She got a new sister that evening after we 3 went to bed. 

When Jared came home he said to Rick that he had heard you predicted this. How did you know? Rick said, "Just a feeling I got"

So there ya go.

Because the baby was born and Jared was going to take his daughter to the hospital to visit mom and new sister we packed up and headed to Columbus to see Rick's daughter.

Wild 24 hrs that was for sure. 

So there ya go Ricky - I told them. Now go back to not reading me.

Thursday night we were chatting about being kids and our childhood. 

He thinks I was a rich kid. Hardly. But we had more than him.

I told him how my mom hated us running in and out for something to drink. You know before the days of bringing bottled water everywhere. 

The slamming of the screen door and the running in and out drove her crazy. 

My dad came home with a water fountain.  Not the sink just the spigot I guess you'd call it. He installed it in the backyard against our house by the back door. This was so we could get a drink and not go in and out of the house all day long in the summertime. Oh but then all the neighborhood kids would all come. There would be a line sometimes for kids to get water. Over time it was a good size puddle under that fountain & the grass had died but to my parents apparently, that was better than us running all day long in the summer for a drink. 

I had a neighborhood kid tell me we must be rich to have your own drinking fountain.  But I don't think my father paid for it. I think as a plumber it was from a job site. Fell off the truck as he'd say. We were not poor but we were not rich either. 

We also had air conditioning when no one else did. Again, because my father did plumbing, heating, and air conditioning. I imagine that fell off the truck too and installation was done by him so that was a cost he didn't have to fork out. But heaven forbid we use it. He'd always say to open the back door and the front door for cross-ventilation.  Whatever Dad. But come August it was warm and then he'd turn it on. But in my hometown, it never got really hot. Humid, but not really hot like down here.  Down here is hell. One can live without air here but I sure as hell wouldn't want to.

Rick's family was poor. He was adopted and they only had 1 child because that was all they could afford. His father worked in the mines and then was a custodian at the local hospital. His mom took in laundry and cleaned other people's homes. So to him, I was a rich kid. He'd tease me that he used a fan and we had air conditioning. But it was my father's job I'd say. 

He'd just shake his head. 

I suppose I was in comparison. 

____________

I had to go to the doctor this past Thursday. A day off from running Rick somewhere and I had to go out anyway. I had been having a lot of hip pain. I was having trouble sleeping on my side or anyway actually from this pain.

Sitting, walking. It all bothered me.  

This orthopedic doctor was very nice. Friendly, warm, and funny. 

But he wasn't my Tall, Tan, and Gorgeous Orthopedic Surgeon like up north. Oh well. 

His brother lives in Northern VA so we discussed that. 

He asked me if I liked it here and I said, "I miss NoVa"  

He laughed and said, "Enough said" 

Good because I don't like to tell locals I dislike it here.  

It will grow on me like a fungus.

I had X-rays and he put them up and said, "Oh you've had some surgeries on your back."  

"yep 3 and I think that is how I went from 5'2" to 5'1"  

He told me that was definitely the case.

Then he said the phrase I absolutely despise, "Your hips look great for a woman of your age"

He couldn't just say, "Your hips look good?"

Then he looks at my chart and says, "How old are you?"

I tell him.  Again, he says, "Well your hips look great for your age"

Argh. But no hip replacement in my future I guess. But boy that phrase.

It's like when someone says, "You look good for your age"

That is not a compliment. Just stop at, Hey you look good.  That's enough.

It was bursitis in my hip. So I just got a cortisone shot in my hip.  

I'm feeling better but every once in a while I still have a twinge. 

He said to leave him a message on my chart portal if it doesn't do the trick after a week.  Hopefully, it will.

_____________

Tuesday I picked Rick up from the hospital.

After I got him home and settled in, we discussed the things they told us and that were on his discharge papers. He has a small pea-sized bump/hematoma where the catheter went into his groin. His thigh is black blue and purple and it is tender as you can expect. But by Friday that pea had grown to the size of an egg. They said if it got bigger to let them know immediately. 

We messaged them through the portal. They called immediately and said can you be here by 3pm (it was 2:30p) I was not dressed. I threw on a bra and sweatshirt and grabbed a baseball cap. I had been washing the floor and I did not do my hair because I thought it was a day off. 

We got in the car and I drove like I was in NASCAR. We made it there at 2:46. He got right in and was examined. They did not like this. They tried to get him a CT Scan but there were no appointments available here at the hospital. So they tried several neighboring cities. Friday, after 4 and no appointments to be had. So he was sent home to watch the size of this. 

If bigger go to the ER, they told us. In the meantime, we go back and get a CT Scan Monday morning. Yippee.

This poor man has been through the wringer. His body is stressed. 

He is stressed. I am stressed but this isn't about me. I am scared and I worry 24/7.  I don't sleep. I was up today at 3 a.m. and I think about all these things. I wish I could turn it off.  

I just want my Big Guy back in one piece again.