Friday, April 8, 2016

Broken - Part 2

So, as I mentioned in my last post, this not-walking thing has proven to be unusually difficult for me.  Not physically, mind you, but mentally and emotionally.

After the initial shock of the pain and figuring out what to do subsided, I was scared and sad.  As welcome as a break should be, I found myself breaking down - multiple times - with my sweet, patient husband as I realized how helpless I would be for the weeks to come and considering what that meant for him, my students, etc., etc.  I sobbed and sobbed saying, "These things don't happen to me." and "I can't believe I broke my foot." and "Why will it take so long to heal?"

After coming home with my lovely boot and taking a dose of pain meds, I proceeded to make a to-do list of all the things I could (and needed to) do while sitting down...in the living room...for days on end.  While it has been really great to have (forced) time to get these things done and feels good to be able to check them off, it has not been awesome to not be around people - esp. ones I care about and am used to seeing on a weekly basis.  I'm realizing more and more how much social interactions fill my bucket and how empty it gets when those are limited.  I'm continuing to remember to find fulfillment and worth in the Lord.  He freely fills my bucket to overflowing no matter what my physical state or circumstances.

I've said this a couple times this week, and I'll "say" it again: I feel like God literally broke me to break me of some other things in life.

My broken foot has broken me of:
  • the insistence on doing everything myself - This is a big one.  Since I'm home more than Bryant during the day, I try really hard to do all the housework (laundry, cleaning, cooking) while he's not here in order to maximize our time together when he is.  He's always willing to help, I just never take him up on it.  Not so for this week, though.  He has insisted on doing EVERYthing - down to packing my lunches (something I usually do for him).  He has been the best helper and is the reason my recovery is going so well.  I really can't thank him enough for taking such good care of me.  Give him a big pat on the back and a "Good work!" next time you see him!
  • the necessity to fulfill every obligation and attend every event, all the time - Hear me out on this one: We are involved in a variety of weekly activities, both separately and as a couple.  Each one makes our lives fuller in its own way, and we have varying degrees of responsibilities in each.  We are committed people in that we don't skip these various activities "just because," and make sure to prioritize our time accordingly.  That said, there are times when we need to step back and take a breather, and a couple broken bones was a good reminder of that and excuse to do so.
  • the habit of getting up 52 time to go to the bathroom after getting in bed - I'm guessing this one will come back, but one can hope...
  • the "push through" mindset - If you've known me for long at all, you know I rarely take a sick day.  If I'm not feeling well, I sometimes don't even tell my husband, much less others I encounter on a day-to-day basis.  To be honest, my first thought when I fell and heard the bones snap was, "I'll give it a while and see how I feel later.  It can't be that bad."  That was before I tried to walk on it.  Ha.  This has taught me that it's ok to be "down."  It's ok to need help (and to ask for it!).  It's ok to take time for myself - sometimes it's very necessary, in fact.

I feel kinda weird getting so introspective over a couple tiny cracks in my metatarsals, but I really think it happened for a reason - I've learned some valuable lessons, and I wanted to share them.  Because...what else was I to do after I'd crossed everything off my "to-do?"  ☺

Thank you for your well wishes, cards, calls, and visits.  Thanks to those of you who have brought food, modified plans to come help (instead of our original plans to go do other things), and to those who have been understanding of and flexible with our absences.  And, again, thank you to my sweet, capable husband for forcing me to keep my foot up for many days.

Thanks to Charlie for being so attentive.
Thank you to my mom for reminding me to take advantage of this device, to my husband for initiating the trip to the grocery store, and for the teenage boy working at HyVee who took my picture on his phone when we didn't have ours on us.

And thanks for reading.  Would love to hear your experiences/thoughts/questions!  ☺

Recoveringly,
Kensy

P.S. As may of you have probably seen on Facebook, we listed our house for sale this week.  (That's the "big projects around the house" I mentioned in the previous post.  Lots of packing, moving to storage, and cleaning done in preparation of this.  In fact, I broke my foot less than 10 minutes after our realtor left after taking pictures for the listing.)  Such a bittersweet feeling to think about saying good-bye to our precious starter home - our first home together - but also exciting to think about finding a new, bigger space together (Bryant owned our current home before I moved in, so this is a "first" for us).  
No, this is not a pregnancy announcement.

Favorites of the day:
The Great British Baking Show
a crafting "win" I'm excited to share soon
The fact that we got our Chipotle meal for FREE, thanks to coupons.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Broken - Part 1

Hi.  Gonna jump right in, here (figuratively, of course...).

I had a "first" on Friday: I broke my foot.  Not only was this the first time I'd broken my foot, but it was also the first time I'd broken a bone.  Ever.  Guess I broke my record (pun intended).

Yes, it was April Fool's Day.  No, this was not a joke.

It was a complete accident, and I knew right away something was wrong.  In fact, I heard the snap - I just didn't want to acknowledge it for what it was.

My knight in shining armor rushed home to take me to get an x-ray and diagnosis.  Thankfully, we got right in and all went as it should, given the situation.  After inspecting the x-ray pictures, I believe my doctor's words were, "Well, you broke it."  Yay.  The third and fourth metatarsals in my left foot are fractured.  They're not out of place, so that's good.  As far as we know, no surgery or anything will be necessary.

So, she sent me home with a prescription for pain pills, instructions to stay off it as much as possible, and this:

As inconvenient/annoying/frustrating as it is, this really couldn't have happened at a better time.  I had just completed my pressing obligations for the day when it happened.  We'd just come off a week of lots of big projects around the house.  I'd been busy with Pampered Chef parties and nannying, in addition to the rest of our activities, but have a less-full couple of weeks coming up.  We don't have any travel plans for a few weeks.  We don't have children.  We don't have a huge house with stairs, etc. to navigate.  If I had to break a bone, now would've been the preferred time, anyway.

That being said, if you know me at all, you know how difficult being fairly helpless and un-useful is for me.  I'll be writing more about this in a future post.  For now, though, I just want to praise my amazing husband for being such a good and capable caretaker.  Apparently, we're supposed to be practicing the "in sickness and in health" stuff, lately - he had gum surgery a couple weeks ago, so I'd just completed my "turn" at playing nurse.

So, here's to a couple days of completing all my "able to be done while sitting down" tasks and a few weeks of wearing a new kind of footwear.  ☺

Fracturedly,
Kensy


Favorites of the day:
Netflix
live online streaming for church services
fresh flowers