Copyright 2013. Robin Warren. All Rights Reserved.
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You would think that after two days of being confined to the bedroom and bed, that I would have nothing to write about, wouldn’t you? However, as a woman and a mother and a caregiver to my family, I’ve discovered something alarming. I am not a good patient. I know! It shocked me too.
Robin L ynn Warren
From the Author:
Day Three and Nothing to Report
I am not a good patient.
We care for our families. Not the other way around. Personally, I have the irrational desire to be doing something every moment of every day. It takes an act of congress for my family to get me to sit down and watch a movie with them (at home—either that or they load me into the car and take me to the theater where I can’t do a thing but be entertained—a cruel ploy indeed). Movie time at home is a good time to be folding laundry. In fact, it is also a good time to get up and move a load from the washer to the dryer or wrap up food that needs to go in the refrigerator. It is also a good time to get up and grab my cell phone in case someone is trying to get hold of me or to pull out my laptop and jot down some notes on a book I’m writing or on my next blog. And so on and so forth. My family tends to lose patience with me. Since I saw a roll of duct tape on the TV tray we use as an end table the last time we watched a movie, I decided to stay put. (Guess what? It was actually a good movie, and I saw all of it!)
So, here I am, sitting in bed, writing to you. I’m not like the rich women in Downton Abby who can’t even dress themselves and have maids to wait on them hand and foot. They have a bell cord next to their beds to pull. This rings a bell downstairs, letting their servants know they are awake and need to be burped before they can get out of bed.
Sigh! No bell cord.
Though I do not have a bell cord next to my bed, I do have the next best thing: a cell phone. Thank goodness for cell phones. Before that, what did we have? Bull horns? No! We had to get up ourselves and do what we needed. Now, I am ashamed to say, I actually texted my daughter in her room across the house that I needed her to bring me a napkin which Mark neglected to give me when he brought me something to eat. HOW LAZY IS THAT????? (I believe that was the actual statement Mark used when she walked by him to comply with my request.) When she came in, she was grinning. “I know, I know!” I said. Teasing someone who feels crummy can sometimes have dire consequences. The truth is, my family has always taken good care of me, and I rarely have anything to complain about. (That doesn’t mean I don’t complain, though. After all, I am human.)
So here I am with my laptop, my cell phone, my books, my remotes, my Scentsy warmer cranked up, and a cup of coffee. Oh, and don’t forget, the box of tissues and the cough drops, cough syrup, and cold medicine as well as the desire to turn off the sun for a few hours’ relief from this pounding headache. Living the life of Riley, right?
So, you say, what in the world does this blog have to do with me? Well, it has everything to do with you. If I were to lay odds, you are not a good patient either. Why is that? Caregivers have a tendency to feel indestructible. We are strong, and nothing can stop us. When someone gets sick, we are the go to person who cooks the meals, cleans the house, saves the world; and still has time to spoon-feed the sick loved one, take her to the doctor, and fluff her pillows (well that may be stretching it a little bit).
WE DON’T GET SICK!!!! What a blow! What a shock! How can this be? An infinitesimal bug has us at its mercy, a bug that someone has so graciously shared with us. Guess what? You ain’t going anywhere. As hard as it seems, there are times when our bodies need to heal. If that time lands your little behind in bed, then so be it.
God has given us miraculous bodies.
God has given us the most miraculous bodies, and we are the worst at paying attention to them when they are saying “Please slow down.” They tell us things that, quite often, we ignore. Then when we land in the doctor’s office, we have the nerve to be surprised. Ladies, it is time that we sit down and take a good look at ourselves. Because of our lifestyles today, we don’t know how to be sick anymore, and ignoring illness is dangerous. It could land us in the hospital or worse.
The sad truth is (are you ready for this?) we are not indestructible. Gasp! Choke! Sneeze! What do you mean? I have friends all around me that go and go and go and go and go and—I think you get what I’m talking about. Then when I call them, they’re broken and still trying to go! Over the years, I think I’ve come to the understanding that I simply can’t do that anymore. This behavior must be the disease of the young stemming from college days when you partied all night and still made it to class on time the next morning. Kids suck the life out of you, committees turn your brain to mush, and appointments make you hide in the closet looking for a matched pair of shoes. The next thing you know, your immune system takes a holiday, and you find yourself, like me, stuck in bed texting your children and your husband between naps to make sure this and that gets done. Put the phone down and relax (as best you can) and do what the doctor or your body tells you to do. What’s the worst that could happen? You might get well sooner than later. What a concept!
In the meantime, I’m putting away my laptop and going to take a much-needed nap. Swift healing to you! God bless and keep you all.