The children are having a particularly wild night. Listening from my perch in my attic bedroom, it sounds like I need to be down there. The babysitter is there, and she knows them pretty well at this point, but for whatever reason, she doesn't have the situation under control. I made the challot, and gave her the directions and dough to make the pizza for tonight's (Thanksgiving in Israel...) dinner. It sounded quiet during the actual dinner time (pizza has the ability to quiet a whole room of children when it is placed in front of them), but now is the after-dinner burst of energy that is often hard to harness in. There is still responsibilities the children have to follow through with before they get into jammies... helping clean up after dinner, setting up their back-packs with tomorrow's school subjects, bathing, and playing quietly like perfect children.
It is hard for me to rest when things are a bit out-of-hand down there. (Actually, it seems to have gotten a bit quieter now). In general, I have been able to join in the evening "festivities" (using the term *very* loosely), but this evening I am so wiped out. I went to the physiotherapy clinic and did hard, owee stuff to my thigh joint. I told my physiotherapist that I haven't been keeping up with the exercises from last week because they just left me in too much pain. So, she gave me other ways to exercise the same muscles and joint, and some of it seems like I'll be able to keep it up every day. I really have to be committed to it, otherwise just going there 2X/week won't get me the progress I need to properly rehabilitate the joint after PVNS.
My next appointment with Prof. Meller is Dec. 8th. I had postponed it by a week when I thought I'd go on the writer's retreat, and then decided to keep it so I could have another week of physiotherapy to improve mobility in the joint before he checks.
And, thinking about Dec. 8th... Robert goes away next week! He is leaving Wednesday the 2nd, and returning the 16th, also a Wednesday, two weeks later. We are trying to make plans for the period he is gone, and it is stressing me out! I live very one-day-at-a-time these days, and planning ahead like this gets my stress levels up so high. But we have to do it. He'll be gone the week of Chanukah, when the kids have off all week. There is no way I can take them all on a day trip myself. It is even questionable at this point if I could go on a trip with them together with another family. I haven't done anything -all day- for three months now. Not without the wheelchair and Robert, anyway. And I still need to rest. And eat properly, or I crash really easily.
You know, I saw Dorit yesterday for lymphatic draining and reflexology. I hadn't seen her in over a month, since before the appendectomy. It was a {{really nice}} hour and a quarter. She commented on how skinny my legs are, and told me that the weight I lost was largely muscle mass. I can feel that, too. I do have to work up my strength and stamina, but at the same time be careful not to be in a situation that I can't take a break.
They say that we don't get anything that we can't handle. So, I can handle this. I just try to remain positive, and it'll go fine.
...Right?
I'm so glad your physio therapist could give you some exercises that will be easier to do. I think that is very important for you right now. I'm sure you will do well with Robert gone. Can you plan a couple things that aren't full days but just a few hours?
ReplyDeleteHave you thought about giving your kids a vacation at their cousins?
ReplyDeleteIs that an option?
When I was hospitalized with post-op infections (11 years ago), my kids were really little (4 and 2) and they spent all of Pesach with my sister in law in Gush Katif.
They barely knew her, because we only saw each other a few times a year, but we did not have a choice. We needed someone who could care for them for as long as necessary.
A good friend might also be willing to watch one kid for a week, or several days.
It can be fun.