My parent should have known I was destined to get a geography degree because of my love for the PBS mid-90s geography quiz show, Carmen San Diego…and the theme song…so catchy.
As you might have guessed, life has been a little crazier than normal at the Haberberger Homestead. On the Monday of Labor Day (after having spent a delightful anniversary weekend in our old stomping grounds in Columbia), I was sitting down to (belatedly) post my Thankful for Thursday post (as several of you had pointed out, I was late in only my second week of intentional gratitude).
The phone rang and it was Nick…a transcript of our call.
Me: Hello, dear!
Nick: I am on my way home, I had a bad crash on my bike, I’ll be there in 40 minutes, you need to take me to the hospital.
Me: Okay, I’ll see you then.
Call ends.
I immediately freak out that I didn’t ask for ANY details. However, I made good use of that 40 minutes – packing bags for us both (since Nick was both conscious and coherent, I assumed he was not mortally wounded, but in my head, I was already planning for a hospital stay), collecting phone chargers, preparing my car for what was sure to be a bloody and battered Nick (which really just amounted to putting a towel on the passenger side seat.)
A Good Samaritan (a fellow mountain bike rider, as it turns out) pulled up shortly after and deposited my husband and off we went to the emergency room. After many painful hours at the hospital, it was determined that he had separated his shoulder and we were sent home with a prescription for Percoset and a sling. He was home from work that week and his mom came to stay with us for a few days to help out (thank you!!!), but he has since made fairly rapid process. I like to say that he’s gone from being one-armed to 1.5 armed. He improved enough to host a gathering of some of my work friends for what we dubbed Meatapalooza.
Were I not lazy, I would post pictures of his excellent BBQing, but I am. (If you're really curious, there's some on both of our Facebook pages).
Oh, and we also are postponing our IVF cycle by a few weeks. I had a small anxiety attack when Nick first hurt himself and assumed I would be what I'm affectionately referring to as a 'single mother' to Nick (believe me, I understand that what I experienced is in no way close to what single parents go through...however, I think it's a fairly apt description of the worst of the days when he could do nothing but mope and sigh.) for 6-8 weeks. Stressful, no? So, I asked the clinic if we could postpone it a bit so as not to add another layer of complexity and they said of course. Actually, a more apt description of the series of events would be to say that I left several increasingly teary messages on the nurse's voicemail and eventually wore them down. Yeah!
So, the combination of normal life stress + IVF stress + Nick nearly killing himself on his bike stress has resulted in two events.
#1 - At a recent doctor visit, I had a high blood pressure reading for the first time EVER. I'm always secretly delighted when I have my blood pressure taken because it's ALWAYS good and I am a compliment whore...even if it's just for good blood pressure. But this time...it was higher than normal...not HIGH-high, but still...not good. When the nurse said "Oh, dear - this is a little higher than your last couple of readings...is there anything particular going on?" OH HONEY...WHERE DO I START?
#2 - For the last several days, I've had a stress headache that Will Not Go Away. I was nearly in tears on the way home from work today I was so uncomfortable (Side note...I feel like all the talk about tears would lead you all to believe that I am now and have forever been just a big blubbering mess all the time. The truth is I almost never cry. I AM MADE OF STEEL, Y'ALL. Well, I almost never cried before - now it's like a leaky faucet.) I decided to make an emergency call to the massage therapist for an appointment (I know...wah! My life is so hard! I have to get a massage!) and luckily they were able to squeeze me in tonight. So, the massage therapist starts working on my shoulders and exclaims "HELLO!" Not sure if we were just greeting each other again, I responded with a tentative "Hi?" She then tells me that I have the tensest shoulders she's ever worked on and spent the next 45 minutes basically beating the crap out of me, but in the best way possible. I have to admit, in an incredibly sick way, I was thrilled to be WINNING at STRESS. If you're going to do something, do it all the way is my motto...even life-endangering stress.
All this by way of saying, I think I need to take a little better care of myself and manage my stress better. Which, frankly, I don't FEEL that stressed, but it's also possible that I've been stressedIVF success is your mindset/stress level, so I best be getting myself under control.
Hmmm....that wasn't so bad! I've been putting off posting for lack of knowing what to say, but as it turns out, I HAVE A LOT TO SAY. Until next time...me and my hunched shoulders bid you adieu!
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