I am drowning.
People remark how strong I am, but I know the secret truth.
I am not. I am like a rear view mirror. Objects in mirror may appear closer.
Objects in stress may appear stronger.
I cried as I walked through a market picking up some microwavable rice for Dom's discharge and life with a hotel microwave. The store, World Market, sells both food and housewares. I had $10 to spend in rewards, so I decided to pop over and use it or lose it. Everywhere I looked were signs of summer. Grilling supplies, outdoor umbrellas, chairs and pillows. It hit me hard that this is the second summer we will spend in the hospital, or in the infusion center. Dreaming of summer and cookouts and balmy nights got me through last year. I'm not sure I have it in me to dream anymore.
I'm salty right now.
Really salty.
Worn out.
I'm an empathic introvert. People don't think I'm an introvert because I make eye contact and smile and say hello and am able to engage in conversation. I'm able (most of the time) to meet people where they are. It doesn't mean it's easy. It just means I highly value being met where I am. I value kindness. I value people.
It's a mixed bag here. On the one hand, I enjoy the community of nurses. Seeing familiar faces is comforting. The energy is always different, every day, depending on who is working. It's fascinating to me how much I reflect back that energy. It's interesting watching how people work together. There are nurses I really enjoy on a personal level.
On the other hand, a parade of faces peer into our room at all hours. I try and look straight ahead when walking the halls. Try. But those windows are just begging to be peered through. And I realize that, having the personality I have, I take it all in. All of it. There's no down time. None. If I need to use the restroom, it often entails meeting someone in the hall. Sometimes it includes a knock on the door. Want coffee before talking to anyone? Not a chance.
It's not just the nurses who color our day. It's the aides as well. While we love everyone; we have our preferences. There's one woman who just can't not be in here. She looks at us through her glasses and scrunches up her nose and asks me if I'm sure I don't want her help too much. Dom and I laugh that she just must really want to bathe him....and I playact how she'll approach him to do this. I know. I can't be nice 100% of the time. I'm sharing this because I'm mean and spiteful and she crept into our room in the middle of the night and moved my hospital supplies by the sink, throwing things and taking things away that I have left there with intention.
I want to share funny stories, but they would be too crass perhaps. Too off color. You'd have to be as far deep in the rabbit hole as I am to even find them humorous, because an outsider would probably just be freaked out. Or scold me for one reason or another. The last thing in the world I need right now is someone policing my feelings. But that's what we seem to be wired to do. We feel the need to make everything okay, it feels better to feel like we've contributed by offering up another way to look at things. But trust me now. A person knee deep in this kind of situation has had the time to look in all the different directions. Some days I look in the right direction. Some days, I don't.
I find humor in so many places. I need all the humor I can find. But, to retell would mean throwing a nurse under the bus, or even Dominic. I guess I'm okay throwing a night aide under the bus.
I sensor myself on the blog a lot, and think maybe I need to write some private posts just to myself. I would probably swear. A lot.
I wish I felt more free to share, but again, my personality is to protect everyone. So, I won't tell you what I took a picture of last night. I'll just leave it at that.
I waffle in this in between land of wanting people to know just how very desperate this situation is, and not wanting people to know. Every time I think someone close to me has grasped what is going on, I may say basically the same thing in a slightly different way and then they're shocked. It doesn't irritate me, it reminds me that I have a unique view of what's going on, and it's my curse and my gift.
And speaking of that unique view.....I have written about this before....the name I was given...Cassandra. In Greek mythology, Cassandra told the people what would happen, but they wouldn't listen. I don't feel like you, dear blog reader are the people. Sometimes, I feel like the doctor is the people. From the start of this gvhd journey, I feel like I've expressed concerns, and it's taken too long to have them addressed. All along, I've tried to be a strong advocate, but sometimes, hindsight is 20/20. I've begged for help time and again because sometimes old information becomes new information and I need to start over and get the nurses on board with pain management. The nurses tell me I have to get him to walk, and I nag him to walk and the nurses come in and see him and tell him it's okay if he doesn't feel like he can walk. And I gnash my teeth and gouge my eyes out because this is not sustainable....
And so I eat chocolate. And some times, I'm really salty.
You didn't think I was perfect did you?
As one of the housekeeper's just said when I shared my opinion of a hard truth; thank you for keeping it real.
Cassandra in front of the burning city of Troy at the peak of her insanity.
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| By Evelyn De Morgan - Flickr, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65892 | 4 |
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I love you
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