Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Gram's Wisdom

Don't you know it is a mother who gives sound advice.

I called my mom (soccer gram as you know her) to let her know that I could have an MRI done by Wednesday to check out this left side localized headache pain. I was to call Dr. Needles office this morning if the odd pain was still occuring. At 6 pm last night I took two tylenol to see if it would help. After about an hour it helped in keeping it away. Went to bed at 9 pm.

Mom gave her advice . . . "I think you are over doing it." In my defense I said that I needed to run a household and what was I to do? I need to feed them dinner. She suggested that I take time to lay down while Stuart takes his nap. I said that naptime is the only time I have in making dinner. She then suggested I consider making dinner while the older two are doing their homework. That suggestion would be great except for a toddler who tries to escape to the outside world lately to play ball. I also don't want to use videos for a babysitter. He doesn't want to sit that long anyway. Cole needs help with his homework still as well. So I need to sit with him to listen to him read and help as needed with math or spelling.

I confessed to her (with hesitation telling you) that I have felt overwhelmed lately with all the responsibilities of the home especially meals. It is hard to plan a healthy diet restricting pork, most red meat and soy (due to Cole). I have started to keep a list of what we are going to eat. The list has helped in the past two days. I never have felt overwhelmed by the daily tasks of life in the home. I guess it could be my lack of concentration or something. Everyone has been so gracious in preparing meals for our family in the past several months. I should be able to and surely more than capable of planning meals. Pray for restful sleep at night.

I did take my moms advice today and rested while Stuart was resting and fell asleep. Dinner of chicken potpie will be prepared later. I will blog after resting is my motto for now. The older boys will have to keep little Stuart occupied playing in the basement. I only had 2 localized pains today. Not enough to merit a call for an MRI in my opinion. Dave stated that I really am the only one that can determine the pain urgency. He did notice that the pain is right on the border of the radiation hairloss area. It all could be from radiation. Oh the lovely side effects of radiation. Isn't this great?

7 comments:

Mary Lou said...

Do you have some "special toys" that Stuart could play with only when you are preparing dinner? Something that would keep him in one place. I know he's 2 and a boy so that is difficult. Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

Kate,

Take heart, I am REGULARLY overwhelmed by the laundry/cooking/grocery shopping/bill paying/etc etc. of daily life. If it took a craniotomy for you to feel overwhelmed, you are way more a woman than I am!!

I am praying about the left-sided pain. Is there something I can do to relieve your daily responsibilities? Call me if so.

Erika

Anonymous said...

Kate,
Is your special diet too difficult for some of us to help you with making dinners again?? Praying for your pain and frustration.
April C.

Anonymous said...

Kate,

You don't know me (I believe the connection is my in-laws know your mom), but I have been following your blog for quite awhile, and commented a long time ago. Anyway, I was on bedrest for 6.5 months because of a complicated pregnancy, and we received lots of meals from our family, friends, and church. I had our baby a few months ago, she's doing well, but I understand how much a family can miss those meals, when life is so busy. My point in saying all this is, if you'd like maybe one meal a week or something helpful like that, please feel free to say so! I can actually cook now (I couldn't get off the couch when you were receiving meals earlier), so I'd love to meet you and bring a meal.

Amy Darr

Anonymous said...

Kate,
Although, I do not have the same type of cancer, I am in the 2 second month of what continues to be a roller coaster ride for breast cancer. I do understand the daily adjustments- just getting through the day issues- laundry, meals, playing, homework (I have 3- 5th, 4th and preschool), yardwork, carpools, doctor's visits...seems like a whirlwind that we don't ever really wake up from. BUT the good news is we have a second chance to be better @ life...slowing down is not a bad thing. Heck, in some cultures, the stores actually close for a few hours a day!!! Listen to your body, stop denying it, that is the work of the enemy, meant to get you caught back up and spinning. You are not a bad Mom, daughter, wife, friend- period! Cut yourself some slack- the kids would rather have you than anything.

Hope I haven't layed it on too thick, but I just sense the frustration and disappointment that life may never be "how it was" and I can empathize with you...I grieve the same things.

In Him,
C

Anonymous said...

I've been following your blog from the beginning and keeping you in prayer. You are such an inspiration and the Lord is using you in so many ways. Not that you have a ton of free time, but check out Flylady.net just don't get overwhelmed at her site. :) Her motto is that you can accomplish just about anything in 15 minutes. It helped me, I thought I'd pass it along. Pace yourself and keep pressing on. We're all cheering.

Anonymous said...

Why NOT have the MRI? If something is there, they'll find it sooner than you regularly scheduled scan. If something is NOT there, you can relax about it and continue taking Tylenol when you need it. A mom that has three kids and NO brain tumor would be overwhelmed some days. Give yourself a break, dear! You have all of our OK's to feel "under it."