hospital hijinks

On Monday, my wonderful mother-in-law, Marg, flew all the way across the country from Perth to come and stay with us for a couple weeks and help look after our family during this rough patch. She could not get here fast enough (work commitments prevented her from coming earlier) and our entire family is just so immeasurably grateful to have her here with us. A little relief for my amazing support team here in town too, I think! The kids adore her and are thrilled to have a new playmate, I am so relieved they are being taken care of so well and Mark is super relieved to have some back up support, especially in the form of his loving Mum. Yep, we are all very grateful and very happy to have her here!

So in she flew on late Monday afternoon. She took one look at me all curled up in bed with her ex-nurse eyes and (kindly and gently of course) told me I needed to get to the hospital - STAT! (Ok, she didn't really say 'stat' but it fits with the medical tone of the day!). I was not only still so sick/nauseus/vomiting but the lethargy seemed to just be compounding. To the point where I could barely lift my head from the pillows. It felt like magnets were under the bed, pulling my body down into the mattress and I just Could Not Move. I was home all day alone, knowing as my stomach painfully flipped and cramped that I had to eat something but I just could not get out of bed. I'd have arguments in my head - Just go to the Kitchen!! I don't want to! Just go! I can't!!! Frankly, quite ridiculous, if I do say so myself.

So when Marg told me I needed to get some medical attention, Mark peeled me out the bed and off we went to Emergency - hoping for a nice quiet accident-free night there so we weren't waiting for hours! No such luck - the waiting room was absolutely packed and I almost went right home again, I could barely face it. However once we got through the slow moving line and I was assessed, we were actually admitted within about 30 minutes which I was soooo grateful for. They gave me an IV bag full of fluid for my dehydrated little carcass, and some anti-nausea medication in there too which I had previously held off from taking but was too weak to protest it just for that one time. Mark sat there with me ever so patiently as I felt life literally drip back into me again - amazing thing to suddenly feel some glimmer of energy, life and somewhat-ok-ness! Mark said he could tell I was feeling better when I made a face in response to some "funny" comment he made - he said he had missed my faces!! Dear boy!

Glamourous IV shot!

Anyway, exhausted yet feeling so grateful for the new energy and the brief reprieve from the nausea, we crawled back home around midnight. The next day I was back to feeling sick once again but without the intense lethargy - so grateful for the relief! Now I am able to get some sweet rest knowing the household is in the capable loving hands of my dear mother-in-law - so grateful for family in such a time as this!