For better or WORSE!

It's been quite a couple of weeks for Ben and I.

It started off last Wednesday when Ben got a horribly bad flu-like viral infection. (I was out of town for the week, visiting my parents, so I missed all the "fun".) Ben spent all day being incredibly sick. He was okay Thursday, but by Thursday night was sick again. Friday morning he woke up, called the doctor, and they told him to go the Emergency room. It turned out he was dehydrated. He spent a good portion of the day (while his wife was 700 miles away stressing out) getting two liters of fluid pumped into his body via I.V.

He was able to get released that afternoon into the care of his mom, who looked after him until I came home late Saturday night, after a 13-hour drive from Washington.

It took a few more days, but by Monday or Tuesday of this week, he was finally feeling like himself again. (Whew!)

Then it was my turn....yeah for me.

Wednesday morning I had gotten up and ready for my day and as I was putting on my pants, my back went out on me.

Flashback: Almost two years ago, the day after a Halloween party at a friend's house, I was taking streamers down in their garage. The chair I was on slipped and I fell directly onto my right knee...oh and did I mention I was in the garage and the floor was a kind of dance floor on top of concrete?! After incredible pain and minimal swelling, I was able to get up and "gimp" about my day.

About five hours later...still at the same friend's house...I went to sit on the couch, but all of the sudden couldn't move. 9-1-1 call, firemen, paramedics, ambulance ride, emergency room, morphine, bed pan, and exrays of my entire spine later - I found out that my back muscles had spasmed...as a result of my fall. Thankfully nothing was broken...oh, and I also found out there was no osteoporosis in my spine - (cuz that's what I was REALLY worried about) - but I was still in intense pain. It took several vicoden, about ten days of valium (muscle relaxers), an entire huge bottle of advil and six weeks worth of physical therapy (in which my back was iced and "zapped") before I was able to straighten out my back.

Flashforward: So that's basically what happened....muscle spasm - numero dos!

I have had days where my back has hurt or been stiff, if I wore the wrong shoes or lifted something wrong, but usually after a day and some advil it improved. Oh no...not this time. I have literally been housebound since Wednesday...FOUR DAYS! Now, I'll admit I am a home-body, but not that much!

So...several pain pills, sleepless nights, and pillows later, it has improved about as much as Chucky Cheese pizza over the years. But, Ben has done everything he can to take care of me....pain pills, back creams, hot pads. He just keeps going to the store to try to find something that will ease my pain.

I guess it is during times like these that you realize, even when the pain isn't getting better, that love truly is about being there for one another, for better or worse!