Belated Mother's Day

We're home!  Mark came home early Saturday morning.  I had no idea hospitals could move that fast!  We were on our way out before 9:00.  This whole last week has been Employee Appreciation Week at the hospital.  We've seen a little bit of that (bingo in the cafeteria at lunch, free ice cream handed out of employees, etc which has largely been fun to witness) but as I was going to get the car I ran across a live band and a large group of people all in red shirts waiting at what appeared to be a starting line - in the way of my exit from the parking garage...  There was another way out, which I took, but I think I beat the runners by just a few seconds.  We made a change to the door I was planning on picking Mark up at, and all was well - if a little adventurous for a few minutes there.

Mark is excited to be home.  He has been wanting to come home for many days now.  I'm pretty sure that being home, with a variety of activities for him to do to help with recovery and relearning, as well as being near the kids, will all be good for him.  And let's not forget finally being able to sleep through the night without having his blood pressure and oxygen taken and a neuro check every 4 hours.  He has been doing really well.

Yesterday we all went church, even Mark.  He had been hoping to be able to do all of church - even going so far as to read the lessons for the day - but in the end he decided the first hour was all he could handle and I brought him home to rest.  Once at home and fairly well rested, he decided he wanted to be helpful to me.  He started out by trying to pull a huge roaster out of the oven full of stroganoff to stir it.  (My mom had made a HUGE batch for us for dinner with lots left over to freeze for later - she's awesome like that)  I had already stirred it just a few minutes before, the pan weighed more than he was supposed to be lifting, he was bending over to lift (also a no-no with his head), and it was burning hot!  I might have freaked out a little...  Poor Mark.  He was just trying to be helpful and ended up with a hysterical wife. :)  I was fine once he gave up trying to pull it out - but there was a tense moment or two in there.  His response time is still a little bit slower than I'm used to - which didn't really help the situation.  Don't worry - everything turned out fine.

I was exhausted, so I decided to go take a nap in bed.  Mark also came to rest, but he was more awake and restless than I was.  I woke up to find him no longer in bed (I was told to keep an eye on him in case he fell, but he gets around well enough that I certified him to do pretty much what he wants as long as he stays on one floor - stairs still require a spotter, but I think even that will end soon - he really is getting better quickly!).  Turns out he had the foresight to think of making the rice for dinner.  I was surprised and touched that he thought of it, knew what to do without asking, and followed through all on his own.  All very good signs in my book!  Of course, since it was the first time he'd done that on his own, I was nervous as to how well he had done (amount of rice, water to rice ratio, etc).  I tried to ask him how much rice he had made - it was in a rice cooker and I didn't want to open it to check and potentially mess up the cooking process.  "A couple of cups.  2-3.  I didn't measure, I just put in a big lump."  His answer was less than reassuring.  Since there was little to be done about it now - and if it wasn't cooked all the way I could just add more water and keep going - I just left it alone.  I'm trying to encourage independence, not make sure dinner goes off smoothly.  I made a choice and went with it.  Everyone who was coming to dinner would understand if we had to wait a few more minutes to eat.

Opening the rice cooker was a slightly nervous moment for me.  I was hoping it turned out well (it's a rice cooker - other than not enough water, its hard to mess up) and there was enough rice.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was rather a lot of rice and it all seemed to have cooked well!  Put a check next to 'cooking rice' on the list of things Mark can do on his own!  (I love that that list keeps growing all the time!)  The rest of dinner went well.  The only real hiccup was finding out that Mom's flight got canceled for mechanical problems.  She had been planning on flying out in the evening, but once the flight got canceled, the next flight she could get on was the next morning.  Her first plan was to spend the night in the airport.  Not happening.  Cindy gave her an ultimatum: "Rent a car and come down here yourself, or I'm driving up - you have until I'm done eating to call and tell me you're on your way or I'm leaving to come get you."  Mom came back to spend one last evening here.  We played Pinochle...

This morning was also a good one.  I woke up around 4:00 to Mark falling out of bed - not quite sure what happened, but I think he was trying to get out and misjudged where the bed ended.  He was on his knees and had a hand or two on the floor.  Thankfully for my sanity, he sat there for a minute or two before getting up.  Once up, he was sturdy on his feet again, so I tried not to worry too much about it.  After a restroom trip, he came back to bed and we watched Castle - neither of us was quite sleep enough to go back to sleep at that point - a mini-scare will do that to you.  A while later, my eyes would not stay open, so I tried to go back to sleep.  Mark was hungry, so he went to the kitchen to find food.  I heard him clanging around in there (the pots and pans were clanging, not actually him), but I was too tired to do much more than rest.  It wasn't too long before Mark came back to the room with two plates of food.  He had made us french toast!  French toast is one of my favorite breakfasts.  He is definitely improving!

There was only one small problem with the food - it didn't taste quite right.  I asked him what he put on it, thinking he had tried to experiment with nutmeg or something, but he insisted it was just eggs, milk and cinnamon.  Finally, convinced that the flavor was decidedly not cinnamon, I went out to see what spice was left on the counter - he's still not super good at cleaning up, an advantage this morning, but he's getting better at that part too.  I found cumin on the counter.  The cinnamon and cumin are in two totally different looking and shaped containers, but the spices themselves are somewhat similar in color, and they have several of the same letters.  I showed the cumin to him and we both laughed.  He was grateful that I enjoyed the food even though he used the wrong spice, and I was grateful that he thought of me and was able to make breakfast.  Basically, it was a good morning, even if I could only eat one of the two pieces of french toast he made for me :)

So, that's been our weekend so far.  Just hanging out at home, Mark improving, trying to get back into the swing of things, you know, life.  I will say that while it is much better for Mark to be home, it is also much more tiring for me.  In the hospital I just got to sit around and talk and occasionally help Mark do stuff.  Now that we're home, I get pulled in many more directions.  I'm overly grateful that Aunt Cindy is willing to stay and help with most of it!  But even with the help, I find myself far more tired than I remember being before - and I was rather tired before with 4 little kids and being pregnant!  Naps for some strange and unknown reason are much harder to take.  The time is easy to find, people here make sure of that, but the sleeping part of naps is harder.  Even being tired, life is still good!