Tuesday 12 March 2013

Now that's Love!


I haven’t been around much for various reasons. One, I was horribly ill for six weeks and it has taken a good month for me to get to the point where I had enough strength to do simple things like stand at the sink and wash dishes or open a TV dinner and throw it in the microwave. I have never, ever been that sick in my entire life, period.

However, there’s more to this story. The last seven months have been hell. I’ve been dealing with changes in my husband that both frightened and baffled me. He swore it was just him being tired and needing a vacation and that he just couldn’t seem to get enough rest. I won’t get into the details, but things ranged from him being unusually argumentative and beyond grouchy to problems such as falling off the kitchen chair or not remembering important discussions. By January, he became ill around the same time I did.

He swore he had the flu or some sort of virus, but he kept working. Then Wee Man came down with Type A flu and gave it to me. I crashed like a ton of bricks and suffered through ten days of the stuff. Once I started recovering, I had about six days of feeling better, went out with my oldest dau one afternoon to have my hair cut, and the next day was struck down by a 104 temperature and the glands in my head and neck swelling up so badly I couldn’t function.

The hubby hovered over me while I had the flu. Again, he took care of me during the second round of sickness. He worried and fretted. He’d place cold cloths on my head as I burned with fever. I teased him he was going to wear a groove in the floor from his favorite kitchen chair to our bed.

Finally, after a week of major antibiotics (2,000 mil of Amoxicillin a day!), I started recovering, but after four days of meds, I woke up with an ear ache and a fever again and went back to the doctor. This time he gave me super antibiotics, and now I’m getting back to normal (whatever that is, lol).

While I was ill, the house turned into a demilitarized zone. It irked me that no one would do laundry, run the vacuum, or clean up the kitchen. Why couldn’t someone step up? Why did I have to look at that mess and be the one who inevitably cleaned it up once I got back on my feet?

Whenever I managed to get up and go get something to drink, I would stare at the kitchen counter covered in food and grease splatters, empty food boxes no one would throw away, empty bags, containers, cans, and dirty forks, spoons, knives, and other utensils…

The hubby had done the dishes while I was so sick, which is shocking because he hates dishes and will do them only when it’s a dire necessity.

“Babe, why is it you can wash the dishes but won’t clean up the counter and stove top?”

“Hey, I managed to wash the dishes. I’ll get to the other stuff eventually.”

He never did. One entire morning I wiped, scrubbed, chiseled, and cleaned the counters and stove.

But as I started feeling better, I noticed he was feeling—and looking—worse. His slurred speech late in the day grew worse, an eyelid drooped, and I noticed him stumbling around and dropping things. Worried silly, I finally convinced him to go to the doctor.

The next day he called me from the doctor’s office and said he was on his way to the hospital. I got to the ER to find out he’d had a minor stroke about six months ago and that it was so deep in the core of his brain it had taken that long for the effects of the stroke to surface i.e. the exhaustion, flu-like symptoms, stumbling, slurred speech, loss of dexterity in one hand, etc.

But my husband is a stubborn cuss, and I call him that on a regular basis. As a result of his pigheadedness, we argue a lot, but I’m stubborn too and will stand toe-to-toe with him when we do argue. In turn, he calls me Iron Ass because I won’t back down and make him walk the straight and narrow, LOL.

But a thought occurred to me…he was suffering through the effects of a stroke and took care of me. Me! How many men would do that? How many men, so sick they could barely stand let alone keep working every day, would tend to their spouse like that?

Now that’s love! That’s the type of man I want in the romance novels we write and read! He’s not a big, muscled Viking. He’s not the rich prince who falls for the peasant woman or the sheikh who rides across the dunes to sweep the maiden up onto his horse.

No, my husband is my hero. My soul mate. My friend. My companion. And he’s my entire world. I thank God for him every day, sometimes several times a day.

Then I felt bad for grouching at him about the counters and stove top, the house and its mess. He was lucky just to do what he was able, and I had snarled about the housework. I told him how I felt, and he just smiled and said, “You would’ve done the same for me, honey. We love each other.”

Hubby, Matthew, with our daughter Ivory.
He’s right.

But now as I write this, I’m happy to report that he went to his first physical therapy session yesterday and after evaluating him, he was told to go home and not come back. The Stubborn Cuss (☺) has been so determined not to let what he was suffering get the best of him that he’s recovered the effects quicker than the therapy personnel had ever seen. By the end of this summer, if not sooner (said his therapist, laughing once she found out what I call my husband) he should be totally recovered and his brain will have re-routed various functions so he will be completely normal again.

It was a wake-up call for my husband. It was also a blessing in disguise because it has given him a new perspective on life and family.

As for blessings, I am very blessed to have this man in my life as my mate. Love you, baby…always.

18 comments:

Liz said...

A truly lovely, love story. You are blessed with such a man and I am very happy to hear that you are all on the mend. cheers
Liz

Jessica E. Subject said...

Wow, that truly is love. Not all men would do that. Glad you're on the mend and that he was diagnosed and is getting treatment. Take care of yourselves! :)

Faith Bicknell said...

TY, ladies! We gave each other a thorough scare but we're both doing sooo much better now. :-)

Cassie Exline said...

What a beautiful tribute to his love for you. He would be the perfect guy to pattern your heroes after. Glad both of you are doing much better.

Marci Baun said...

Wonderful news, Faith! And yes that is love. You have a good man, but you don't need me to tell you that. :)

Faith Bicknell said...

Cassie, I've actually based a coupla characters on my hubby. <3

Well, Marci, it helps to have good friends praying and working their powerful mojo for us, too. :-D

Shiela Stewart said...

That truly is the greatest love story ever. I'm so glad you're both getting better.

Paul McDermott said...

Faith,
When you meet The One, you KNOW.
An hour, a day, a week: time is meaningless,you just KNOW.
It happens for blokes, too.
Days short of our 25th Anniversary, she told me she was homesick and walked out of my life.
But if she every rings my doorbell and says "Help" I know my reply would be "Welcome Home."

Krista said...

How unbelievably sweet that story was !!! You are one lucky girl !

Glad you are both doing so much better now !

Karenna Colcroft said...

What a scary situation! I'm glad you're feeling better and that your hubby got medical attention. And I'm glad you and he have each other.

Faith Bicknell said...

TY Shiela, Krista and Karenna!

Oh, Paul, that's sad and sweet at the same time.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Men are amazing aren't they? And they don't really get enough credit cause they don't whine or complain. Yeah, we ladies have it rough too. But we don't always suffer silently ....

unless there's wine!

Wishing you both well!

Unknown said...

No fair, making me tear up. Yer gonna ruin my bad ass rep *wink

Laci said...

You got yourself one helluva guy! Keep him around as long as you can, and thank you for sharing your story with us. This story may save someone or help them get to a doctor when they otherwise might not go. Bless you both!

Janice Seagraves said...

Wow, that is a love story. You're very lucky to have him, Faith.

I'm so glad he's getting better. Strokes aren't something to mess around with. My grandfather nearly died from a stroke and never was the same again. But I'm glad your husband is young enough and stubborn enough to recover so quickly.

Janice~

Bernadette said...

Damn.I'm glad you're feeling better and that your husband is getting treatment for his stroke. It is a blessing that you have each other, and forge through the tough times together. And I agree with you. A hero comes from within, not from without.

E. Ayers said...

You are so lucky. As soon as you started talking about his problem, I knew he'd had a cerebral event. My husband had no warning. It hit like a bolt of lightning and he was gone. So give yours an extra hug and don't fuss too much at him. (At least he found the dishwasher.) Go fuss at your daughter who is old enough to really help!

Now, sneak off for a weekend of sniffing the roses with your man. You both deserve some wonderful alone time!

Faith Bicknell said...

Thanks to you all who have visited and commented. I'm very thankful that things are finally getting back to normal.