Dave made it home on Friday. Hurray! It's hard to put to words how it feels to have him home. It's great and it's a little frustrating - for him and for me. For starters, when we were leaving the hospital, he asked for a wheelchair. After I gave him the disapproving eye (you know, the one that speaks volumes without you saying a single thing), he agreed to walk to the car. My mantra for him (which I'm sure he's probably sick of hearing me say and which sounds really cliche) is that he needs to be an active participant in his healing. He needs to get out of bed and get back to living his life. In fact, the line that keeps running through my head is from one of my favorite movies, Shawshank Redemption, when Andy says you have to get busy living or get busy dying. Well, I'm ready for Dave to get busy living because I'm sure as hell not going to let him take this lying down. Every time I see him lying in bed during the day I feel like a little piece of him feeling defeated. Well, I am here to kick his butt into shape.
I know he is truly glad to be back home. I also know it's more work than being in the hospital. In the hospital all he had to do was push his nurse call button and they'd bring whatever he needed. If he got out of bed a few times each day and walked a lap or two around the ward, it felt like an accomplishment. At home, I have much higher expectations. Not that I think he should be running a marathon, but I definitely stay on his case to keep him out of bed more than he's in bed.
The medical stuff seems mostly routine. He's mainly off the pain meds now. He still has a couple pills that get crushed up and put in his J-tube. He's on one antibiotic that I give him twice a day through his IV line. He still gets night feedings (back in the not-so-long-ago days of nursing babies during the night I sure never thought I'd be giving my husband night feedings). Anyway, that stuff all seems totally doable, and I think our biggest challenge is going to be finding the motivation to get up, get busy, and get living. My strategy is to be as pesky and annoying as possible so he'll want to get out of the house as often as possible. Kidding, of course.
So, that's it. We're doing fine. Every day there's some struggle and some accomplishment. (Wow, I really have to go to bed. For some reason, while writing that last sentence a Donny & Marie song just popped into my head. Scary.)
8 comments:
We are soooo happy Dave is home! You sound like you are ready to light a fire under his butt... which probably will be the best thing for him. You go girl! (please and thank you) hahahaaa. I'm sure your days ahead will be challenging but it's got to feel good to have the worst of it behind you and every day things will be better. My thoughts are with you at all times. We can't wait to see you ~ April 15th. Only 3 weeks away! I won't expect to see Dave running to greet us at the door but I will be excited to see him answer it! Hugs and kisses to you both and the kids!
Cindy
Shannon, you TOTALLY have the right attitude!! Keep him moving, keep him eating, get him back into his life!! I'm glad to see you're not going to let him defeat himself -a large part is adjusting the mindset... making an overt effort to recover, rather than waiting for time to do it all. It may be harder right now than he's used to, but he can do more than he realizes (and must!). The more strength/weight he recovers now, the better he'll do with the up coming chemo (and no more delays!)... You're in the final stretch - keep the momentum going...
Your quote reminded me of a quote I once read when my dad was going through this - "Awake, arise, or forever be fallen" ~ Milton
My dad gave up - Dave has got too much going for him for that, tell him to get off his (sore) butt!! (Please, and thank you) (and I say that with love, and a twinkle in my eye, of course!!) :)
Hang in there, girlfriend - if anyone can get him moving you can!!
Love - jorm
Shannon, keep reminding him of the time you took a hit in soccer, were on the ground, and his first words to you were, "you're still going to play, aren't you?"
I'm so glad he's home!
Now, on to the healing!
Shannon and Dave:
Ihave written this several times tonight...and erased them all. I cannot really portray how your posts here affected me...and perhaps now is not the time. I am glad Dave is home. By all means, he needs to get up, move around and rejoin life. But returning from hell is not easy, give him time. It is so good that you are all there to bring him back to "life." All will be well now.
Paul.
Shannon,
You are funny !!! Well no slippin for my big brother huh? Good good. How blessed is he to have someone love him enough to kick him in the butt & accept nothing less than the best he can do !!! = ) Hope he's takin it ok. And if there's one thing that'll get you out of bed....its 3 kids !!! Who I bet are soooo happy to have their Daddy back home. & it's definitely time for bed and a break when Donnie & Marie pop of outta nowhere = ) Love all of you & I'll call to see when is a good time for me to come. YEAH HOME SWEET HOME !!!!
yahoooo!!!
I'm looking forward to seeing you soon. Shanny, i'll give you some relief from your butt-kicking job. And Davey, i'll still work in as many foot rubs as you want.
Love you so much.
Michele
Raise a glass to the McGeoy family, home together once again where they all should be. Shannon, if you really want to give Dave a kick I am more than happy to bring the PTA budget over and he can work on it as I am totally missing his input and ideas.
We are already starting to think about soccer this summer and I know Matt is not at all excited about the idea of running practices without you Dave, so keep on kicking (pun intended)!
Thank you for sharing the progress - the good, the bad, the ugly and the fun (I never could figure why they leave fun out?). You're in our prayers.
Shelly, et al.
So Cryss. said that it was great to see you (Shannon) and she was serious about the offer to take on any task at a moments notice. She remembers vividly how this goes, and how much stength it takes to do even the most simple tasks, Don't hesitate. Dave it sounds like yer doing all you can, keep up the fight and know we are 'still' in your corner pulling for you. We hope you all feel our thoughts and prayers. Take care!!
Jeff & Cryss.
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