What Happened To May?

I’ve been busy. I’ve been in a lot of pain, but I’ve been healing.

What happened? My appendix burst on Monday, April 25th at 2:40 am. Luckily, I was in the ER when it happened. Since then … well … life has been topsy-turvy for the last month with little more going on than mending and finding ways to make it through the day without having those excruciatingly agonizing pains shooting through my midsection as I try to carry on like nothing really happened, as if I’m as invincible as ever.

It hasn’t been easy. Adrianne has, by default, been asked to perform the duties of a single parent. Not only has she been working full-time but when she finally gets home after putting in a 14 hour day she is tasked with taking care of both kids and spelling me for a little R and R– not that she has the extra time, energy, or wherewith all, mind you!

The doctor said I should be back to normal in four to six weeks. Normal? Normal for whom? The days of waking to the sound of an alarm clock, putting in an eight-hour workday at the “office,” and going to bed early to catch up on some much needed rest ended a long time ago. (Actually, I haven’t worked an eight-hour workday in well over a decade.)

So how long do I have before I’m back to normal? Good question. I’ve hazard to guess I have another four weeks before I can return to my normal routines with the kids: taking them in the double stroller for walks, hiking in the woods with one in a backpack, etc.; and with Adrianne: going for runs, exercising, and clowning around with the kids at the park, in the water or on the sands at the beach.

I tried to perform one half-dozen alternative push-ups last night, with miserable success. While I completed the short set with relative ease, the knee buckling pain streaking from my right side oblique to my rib cage– damn those internal stitches!– reminded me that if I overdo it too soon I’ll find myself having a hernia operation before the end of summer. Frankly, I’ve had my fill of hospitals for life and do not plan on returning anytime soon.

Woe is me, right? Wrong. My operation and time away from family has, oddly enough, brought us closer together than we have been in a long time. We’ve been blessed with good fortune these last several weeks; and most importantly, we’ve recognized that we’ve been blessed. (I’ll write more about this in the next couple of weeks.)

As for now, I’m mending and anxious to get into the full swing of summer. We have had the fortune of most excellent weather these last five weeks and we’ve found a couple of new places to take the kids, including a beach about 20 minutes down the road! So overall, things are well and forever looking better.