On the Road to Recovery

Ted is going back to work tomorrow! He's really looking forward to it, too. He's been off for FOUR weeks due to this terrible bout of bronchitis. Although he's not 100% quite yet, he's feeling much better. It's been a long haul for him.

As bad as this has been on him, something very good came out of all of this. He has QUIT SMOKING!!

I'm so proud of him! At the beginning of this he could barely take a breath, let alone inhale a cigarette. After a couple of days of going outside and valiantly trying to have a smoke (like what's up with that??) he realized that it just wasn't possible. Therefore, it will be four weeks tomorrow since he last had a cigarette. He said he still gets an occasional urge, but so far it's nothing he can't handle.

We both feel that this is a message from his dad, who died of lung cancer (he had smoked for 60 years) almost 4 years ago. As if THAT is not enough, the little store where Ted would stop every morning for a cup of coffee and a pack of cigarettes, just closed.

He and I both believe in signs, and we think that these things happening are just a step short of being hit in the head with a 2" x 4"!

As far as I'm concerned, all the trips to the chiropractor really helped last week. Unfortunately, a slide in the snow on Friday messed things up again.

It's amazing to think that a week ago yesterday I first met Dr. Bill when I took Ted for an emergency treatment. I had my first appointment with him on Tuesday, then went again on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

On Friday I told Dr. Bill that the last time I met a man and saw him 4 more times that week, I married him! He got a kick out of that.

Each day I felt a little better, but a lot of my movements were still difficult to make. There is still quite a bit that I can't do. After we left Dr. Bill's on Friday, we went to my school so I could get my lesson plans done for this upcoming week. Because of several 2-hour delays due to weather last week, some of my plans would just carry over, but I still had to get some things copied and ready to go. After an hour or so there, we were leaving.

It's rather important to note that on Friday we had heavy snowfall for several hours. In fact, a couple of schools in the area even decided to dismiss early. The roads were pretty nasty, but sometimes you just have to go out and get things done. And we did. Going to Dr. Bill's was a top priority and going to school so I could do my plans was another high priority. Other than those two things, everything else could wait until the weather improved.

So as Ted and I carefully maneuvered through the falling snow and the accumulating snow already on the ground, to get to the car (and knowing full well that my middle name is NOT Grace!), it was with great relief that we had almost made it to the car. HOWEVER, being only about three feet away from the vehicle, I slipped on the snow and twisted my back and hip. Fortunately I caught my balance and didn't fall down, but I sure did a number on my back and hip. As Ted helped me into the car I was trying to quickly assess any possible damage I did to myself. I was sore and in some pain, but was really hoping that it was the kind of discomfort that I could shake off and it would disappear in a short period of time.

It's now almost 48 hours later, and that's not the case. I'm not as bad as I was at the beginning of last week, but I'm worse than what I was when I left Dr. Bill's Friday morning. I'm going to try to get in to see him tomorrow.

Ah yes...the fun continues!

At least Ted is doing much better....we're really thankful for that!

When it Rains, it POURS!

Around noon on Saturday I had to take Ted to the chiropractor for an emergency appointment. He was in absolute misery. Ted asked me to go in with him. His chiropractor is just WONDERFUL! He's often told Ted that if he has a problem on the weekend, to just call him at home, so that's what he did. The dr told Ted that he would meet us at the office.

This was the first time I'd ever been in a chiropractor's office, so I was rather interested in what was going on. The doctor explained each and every thing to me and it was really quite amazing. The table stood straight up, then Ted leaned against it with his feet on a metal plate. The doctor then pressed a button and made the table go to the horizontal position. Watching the doctor use his different tools on Ted's back was really something. Heck, even Ted doesn't get to see it because he's face down on the table!

The doctor even used one of the instruments on my hand so I could see how it felt...68 pounds of pressure per square inch! I learned a lot from that visit and of course commented to the doctor about how I'd never had to visit a chiropractor's office. He said that some people get through life without that visit.

By the time Ted and I left, he was feeling MUCH better!

That night we were watching the movie "Twister" for the umpteenth time and I felt a little uncomfortableness on the right side of my lower back. Within an hour, I was in pain. And it was not fun.

I must have twisted something without realizing it and it has been causing me incredible discomfort and pain since then. By last night Ted was telling me that I really needed to go see Dr. Bill, his chiropractor. I told him I was worried. I admitted to him that the whole idea of that table moving really freaked me out, and there was NO WAY I could handle the movement from vertical to horizontal. Fortunately Ted understood my fear, and said that he would talk to Dr. Bill about it at his appointment today. Then he told me that I wasn't going to be able to go to school today. I told him that I had to go to school because we had a snow day on Friday and my lesson plans weren't finished. He understood, but still wanted me to think about not going in.

And then...he started coughing...and coughing...and coughing...and throwing up from the coughing, over and over again. It's just like the bronchitis was hitting him again. He spent the night on the couch and wandering around, because he couldn't sleep. Of course he was also coughing and throwing up from the coughing.

By this morning, he'd had no sleep at all and I'd had very little. He was in bad shape and I was not doing well either. He said that he was going to move his chiro appt to the afternoon and I was going to go to work. Although I'd been up since 5, I was not able to be ready to leave until a few minutes after 7, because I was moving in s u p e r s l 0 w motion due to the pain. I had a really rough time getting into the car. We have an SUV and I just really struggled getting my leg up high enough to get inside. Eventually it worked. Thank goodness I had a cane with me because it really helped.

I got to work a few minutes late and, as usual on a Monday, it was crazy. The principal was putting on her coat as she rushed down the hall. (Later I found out why...a teacher had to call 9-1-1 for her mom and would not be in today, but needed her bag. The principal was getting it out of her room and taking it to her as the teacher and her mom live across the street from the school.)

I told the secretary that I was only there to do my plans. Fortunately as a reading intervention teacher, they can get along without me if they have to. We're so short on subs that there have been times when they haven't gotten one for me, along with the other reading teachers. HOWEVER, I needed to be ready just in case. When my principal came back and stopped in the room, I told her that I was leaving after my plans were done and she said that she would put the sub who was coming in for the other teacher in my place and just split up the second grade class among the other two second grades. This is definitely an advantage to having such small second grade classes! They each only have 16 students, and 6 were absent in the missing teacher's class today!

Anyway, I got my plans done just as the sub came in. I explained things to her, then left. On my way past the office, my principal said that she was planning on me taking tomorrow off too. It was awful trying to walk down the hall and get into the car again. I've been in a lot of pain since I got home too.

When Ted went to see Dr. Bill this afternoon he told him about my fear of the table and he said that he could treat me without going up on the table. As soon as I heard that I called and made an appointment for tomorrow.

In the meantime, Ted is still coughing like crazy and losing his voice...AGAIN.

Ted's back is bad, mine is bad, and he is getting sick again.

What next??