When asked many years ago by my younger sister who just had her first child what advice I would give her, I didn't even hesitate saying, "Be flexible and be able to bend like a tree in the wind, or you could break." I don't even know where that came from, besides off my lips, at the time. Now, I would add or put first, "Pray!" I'm sure she's done both, as do most mothers.
So, at this Christmastime many years later, I'm still trying to bend in the wind and not break, during circumstances that are out of our control. It has been a season of grace, preparing the heart and spirit for the meaning of the season, beginning with Advent season (December 2nd). It has been a season of preperations, shopping, planning, baking and organizing, among so many other daily tasks.
Always in the back of our minds, we keepers of the home prepare mentally for those unexpected events that can blindside us. We prepare for the worst but hope for the best - as they say in the military. This past week I am glad I've had "bootcamp" training - aka - years of experience, because I had to pull it all out of the bag and "be flexible" as did the rest of the family.
It began during the night a week ago when the Husband was feeling poorly after dinner and by midnight was uncontrollably ill. This happens often as he suffers from several illnesses and is a three-time heart patient. We have learned to manage the pain as best we can, but that night, after three hours of this, I knew we were not dealing with the ordinary. He was as pale as a ghost, severely dehydrated, and trying to pass out on me as I continued to help him to the restroom. I begged him to let me call 911, but he didn't want me to. Finally, when he couldn't even swollow ice chips, I knew I didn't have a choice but to get him to an IV. He agreed, so at 3am I called 911, an un-nerving experience in itself.
They arrived in a very short amount of time and I felt immediate relief. (Do these ambulances have wings?) The EMT's were professional, courteous and competent. I followed the ambulance to the local ER and felt a peace that everything was going to be OK. After tests, it was determined that he had a kidney stone the size of an adult's thumb nail that had just passed from the kidney into the tube (leading to the bladder). The stone was too big to go any further, so it was decided that we had to see a urologist immediately, with the holiday only a few days away. Luckly, we got in to see one before noon and by afternoon, back at the hospital, a stint was put in to keep the stone from doing any more damage trying to move through the tube.
An appointment for a lithotripsy procedure was scheduled for two days after Christmas, since there was no way to get in before that. This procedure breaks up the stone so that it can pass, not without pain, but without further damage.
This all happened Thursday night and Friday the 21st. With the immediate problem behind us and 36 hours of no sleep, we slept well that night and began to get back into the business of preparing for Christmas and company coming. By the next night, I was hit with a 24 hour knock-you-off-your-feet illness like I have never had before. I knew it was something that I ate, in my frinzy of trying to do too much and not eating the right thing. In this case, a tv dinner that I knew better than to eat because I don't tolorate them well, or at all.
During all this, the Husband had to take over household and farm chores while trying to keep a straight face in the face of his own personal pain. He did well. The company we were expecting was none other than our oldest daughter and her family. On their way here from out of town, they ended up staying in a motel several nights so as not to inconvenience us in our misery. With two children ages 1 and 3, this was a sacrifice in itself when I know they were looking forward to being here for Christmas a few days early. They made the most of their little adventure, I've been told, but even that can be exhausting for young traveling parents, who's Jeep was loaded and unloaded numerous times on a 5 day trip! It's called "being flexible" and they did it with a smile!
So, Christmas has come and gone, but here on Irish Acres, we survived it, made beautiful memories, and enjoyed our daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren.
My heart is sad at missing Christmas Mass, maybe for the first time in my lifetime. It felt like something big was missing, but the Nativity was in my heart and the good Lord told me to just "be flexible" there's always next year.
In the meantime, I know we are blessed when so many others
have had it much worse this Christmas season.
Our hearts and prayers are truly with them in their struggles.
May the New Year bring peace, comfort and healing to us all!
~ Gwen of IRISH ACRES
