From Hospital, With Love

Mental note: visiting at meal time is never a good idea if you have 5 Kids

The problem with suffering occasional bouts of Man Flu is that when you are truly ill everyone just gives you a hard time and brushes you off as having yet another dose of this imaginary illness you have become so famous for. 

It's also hard to take someone serious when they continue to be able to go to work, attend Soccer games, roam around Agfest for the day and then entertain the group of Chinese that flew in specifically to talk to us about our farm development. How sick can you really be when you are seen driving visitors around the State sightseeing by day and dining on Abalone and Crayfish by night? 

It appears you can be very ill indeed. 

The Chinese left and I finally convinced Daniel to go to the Doctor on Monday morning "for goodness sakes, and stop being such a martyr!" Unfortunately, the Doctor did not detect the massive abscess in his throat and sent him off with some antibiotics for Tonsilitis and a note to come back in 3 days time. Within an hour of being home and collapsing into bed he could barely talk and then when he was struggling to breath he rang the Doctor but was told by the nurse on the phone that the "antibiotics would take a couple of days to kick in, sit tight, you sound fine". Unhappy with that response and at how quickly he was deteriorating, he rushed himself to the Hospital where he was immediately diagnosed with Quinsy - the swelling from the infection and abscess in his throat affecting his speech and breathing. He was hooked up to an IV with a cocktail of steroids and antibiotics for 5 whole days. Yes, five whole days in Hospital! For someone who can't sit still at the best of times and has never been this ill or hospitalised in the 15 years we have been together this was not the best news. 

My poor love.

To say this household of 7 does not function well unless there are two adults on board is an understatement.  It's a massive team effort around here. I've done my fair share of solo parenting from time to time when Daniel is away for work but normally there is a bit of notice to prepare both mentally and logistically. I had but 5 minutes notice this time around and holding the fort and keeping myself and everything together for the sake of the Kids, who were really upset, was all rather draining. There were also 2 trips per day to the Hospital which meant the household is currently in a state of Dire Straits yet again. C'est la vie!

On Friday when he was released, I was so thoroughly exhausted I almost wanted to take his spot on that bed and say "Tag, you're it!". I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have complained one bit about all the hospital interruptions like having fresh sheets put on my bed every single day. "They came in and changed them again!", he said. Gosh, how dare they! Nor would I have complained about 5 meals being cooked by someone else and brought to my bedside 5 times a day. "I was just about to doze off and they came in again with more food!", he says. The Rudeness! When he started complaining about being bored out of his brains, how lonely he was, despite having access to books and TV all day long, I offered to bring him the pile of Bills to sort through. Instead, he got busy on his laptop and sent me updates of who had died from Quinsy, this medi-evil sounding condition that none of us had heard of until last week - George Washington apparently....... and possibly one of  the Popes. 

All jokes aside, it was a rough old week but there was also so much love to be found as often happens when the chips are down. I'm grateful for all the well wishes sent from family, friends and messages of support sent through the interwebs. Every time I saw the Kids surrounding his hospital bed I cried.

In the midst of it all, our gorgeous Blue-Eyed Boy turned 8. Unfortunately he didn't get his wish for his Daddy to be home for his birthday but he happily cancelled any party plans so he could blow his candle out in Hospital where we could all be together. What a champ.

Tiramisu from the bakery on the way to the Hospital will do just fine for a Birthday cake this year.

And needless to say, the best present I could hope to receive for Mother's Day yesterday was to have Daniel home from Hospital. He's still recovering but at least he is home. Last week really shook us up and I don't think we'll ever take our good health for granted again. And as for my gang of 5 right here, I couldn't be more proud to be their Mum and this week took that to a whole new level. They have been absolute troopers!

I hope those of you who celebrated Mother's Day yesterday had a wonderful day.

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Finally, a big thank you to you for continuing to pop into my little space here and leaving the kindest comments, especially while I've been a little absent in Blogland of late. I should be back to normal blogging mode shortly :-)