Recovery

I am not going to lie, the past 4 days have been torture for me and are easily the worst I have felt...ever. Maybe the one day I got the stomach flu when I was brand new pregnant with Olivia and barfed even more during a 24 hour period than I normally do with morning sickness--maybe that compares to what I felt this week. But honestly, I have been miserable. The flu of 2011 (for lack of a better name) hit me hard. I am just so not used to feeling so awful non-stop and not knowing how to fix it. It is so hard to be a mom and feel so ill. Even the simple tasks of getting Bentley from school or fixing the girls some lunch have been so hard. Plus, I have zero voice so my kids don't hear anything I say (except Olivia--she kind of loves the calmness of the whispers I share with her :) I have been in tears way too many times the past few days over my throat hurting so bad, my hubby heading out to work, feeling sorry for myself, and wondering if I am ever going to feel even a little bit better (BTW--have you ever cried when you have no voice? It is quite a pathetic sound.)

And now, enough of my sob story. Especially because I went to bed at 6:45 pm last night with Nyquil, woke up a few times to hack up half my lungs and the drowsily fell back into a sleep coma, and then by 12:30 am woke-up feeling so much better already. My throat had finally calmed down and wasn't hurting as much and my body felt so happy to have had some solid sleep. I laid in bed thinking about how grateful I felt to feel improvement. Then a whole list of things came to mind reminding me how blessed I am.

1) Joseph. He has been taking such good care of all of us the past week making dinners, doing laundry, getting baths and homework and haircuts (for the boys) done, and running a hundred errands (often times to Walgreens--they love us there this week). He is so patient and loving and helpful--even staying home from work yesterday morning so he could attend Bentley's little reader's theater at school because I was sure I couldn't make it. He is the real deal and I will always encourage my daughters to marry a man just like him.
2) My dad. He called in a last minute prescription for me while he was doing surgery yesterday. His assistants saw my text and he had them call me from the OR and get everything figured out for me right away.
3) NyQuil. I hardly ever take that stuff because the sleep agents in it mess with my head, but it certainly numbed everything in my mouth and throat and allowed me some much needed rest last night.
4) Our neighbor Russ. He came over last night to help Joseph give me a Priesthood blessing. I love that he would come at a moment's notice and aid our family like that. I am also so grateful that if Russ hadn't been home, there are at least a dozen other good, good men in our neighborhood who we could call to come over. That is a such a good feeling.
5) Facebook. I needed help with my sore throat and got some great advice right away. I honestly tried most of the ideas and they each worked for a little bit, 10 or 15 mins at most. But any relief was good news at that point.
6) Baby Brigham. Just before falling back to sleep around 1:00 am last night, I got the happiest text--my big sis had just delivered her 5th babe!! I was elated and it made my heart feel so happy. Whenever I woke up again in the night to cough or grab a refreshing spray of Chloraseptic I thought of Cec and her new one and just felt so much love for the both of them. It makes me smile now to think about them. I'm sad I am not well enough to run over to the hospital and hug the pair of them right now, but luckily she only lives 8 miles away.

Today is already shaping up to be 10 times better than any other this week and I am thrilled to be feeling better.