Man Down ~ My husband's back went out this week

H:i, my friends.
Well, this was one hell of a week. My husband has back problems. And I mean his back will go out just like that. And it did. This happened on Sunday morning. He was putting on his shoes. He told me later that it felt tight. Not always a big warning sign. But his back (actually it's his hip) went out. He couldn't stand or sit comfortably. He could lay down. It was pretty obvious he would not be going to work for a few days.

On Monday morning, I found him holding himself up on a chair. When I asked if I could help, he told me not to touch him. I went to the bathroom, listening to him groaning and grunting in pain. He described to me much later that he'd somehow gotten on his hands and knees, and crawled into the living room onto the mat he had there. At the point when I found him standing, he said he knew what it was like for someone who may be suddenly paralized, at the moment before that. He was pretty certain that if he did not do what he did, that possibly he might have damaged his spine to the point where he might have been crippled, that's how bad it was.

He did everything he was supposed to do for healing (he's had this for years). Ice/heat/ice, ending with ice to the lower back. One day, he said he did nothing but walk around the house for hours. He took naps, trying to relax, in order to heal. One day he had to repeatedly put small pillows under his right hip in order to put it (gently) back into place. This takes up to 10-15 minutes.

As a result, it cause me lots of stress. I had to do a lot of things he usually does. Plus, I was the only one going in to work.

But finally, he was back to work today. He's healed his back again. He told me this was the worse he's ever had. That's a little scary.

It's hard for us to be apart--we work at the same job. We commiserate throughout the day (driving buses for a college). It's hard to break up a team like ours, we each think about the other when we're apart. I worry about him, he worries about me.

Well, this all wasn't conducive to my getting a whole lot done this week too, so I've been not around as much as usual. I would come home stressed out, I had to make meals (Dennis cooks about 80% of the time), and had to make sure he had the chair he needed in whatever room we were in (a lawn chair). I had to plug in the heating pad and so forth. I didn't mind this, as I say, it was all part of getting him back to normal. I would do anything for the man I love. Wouldn't we all? But it was a tough week. But now it's over and things are back to normal for now.

Hopefully, I'll have more to report in the coming weeks. My third book is in line for publication in January 2013. Have a good weekend everyone. I've got a house to clean--sheesh!