Parker's Promise

Parker is now 4 days out of surgery. He is still a little sore, but doing better. He is still on some pain medicine, but mostly off the morphine now. He was able to go to most of his therapies today. Mainly I peppered the therapists with questions and wrote down tons of ideas and suggestions of what we can do with him in the transition time from inpatient to out patient. He is still a little sensitive and sleepy for full therapy.

I have been really sick with a bad sore throat all week which has really put a damper on things. Mainly I am so afraid of him catching it. Or the kids or my husband or in-laws or nurses... I so appreciate that his doctor did not send me home. He told me to wash my hands constantly and wear a mask which I have. I wanted nothing more than to snuggle with my baby after his surgery. They ended up swabbing us both for strep (I finally went home thursday for a doctor appt) and they were both negative. So far he is thankfully not sick. Later in the week my in-laws came to stay with him and my husband so I went home for a couple of days. I had to be creative, though, since talking hurt my throat, plus even whispering made me cough and that KILLED my throat. My kids were so sweet and were so kind and considerate. They became much better listeners since I could only whisper or mime. At first they were ignoring me, but when they saw how bad it hurt when I had to keep asking them, they were so thoughtful and sweet. :) There is some silver lining, right?

This morning they let me sleep in and they worked together and made pancakes, eggs, chocolate milk and cheese crisps. Complete with a secret ingredient! It was delicious!

I was trying to figure it the purpose of getting so sick this week of all weeks when I so wanted to be taking care of Parker after surgery and getting everything in order for him to come home. I feel like this whole experience has been to teach me that sometimes I need to rely on others, which is so hard for me. Yet it is so important that we rely on the Lord and others sometimes. Sure it is important to be self sufficient, but sometimes we have the opportunity to serve, and sometimes we have to allow ourselves be served. With that, I am soooooooo grateful for all those that have done so much to serve and think of our family, no matter how big or small. Thank you.

And I had enough voice today to go on a date with my hubby to Red Lobster for his birthday. We went during Parker's nap at lunchtime today. We both needed that so badly today. We can do this.