Sweet and Sour

Jeff has been playing basketball in the JEMS Church League with Lighthouse.  Often they run short of players as they play Sunday nights, sometimes at 10pm.  When that occurs, Jeff recruits his brothers to play.  Often that means Jared.  So this past Sunday, Gayle and I took him down to the gym for a 9pm game.

It was mixed emotions as we watched Jeff run up and down the court, sometimes driving to the basket, going for a loose ball, etc.  Gayle constantly worried about his back, questioning if he is walking OK,  whether he should be doing those moves, etc.   I on the other hand was bent over with my hands on my mouth biting my tongue.  We were soon relieved of our tension when Jeff sprained his ankle late in the first half.  It was more of a relief to see him laying on the ground with his foot propped up on a chair than watching him play.  We could then relax and concentrate on yelling at Jared who ended up spraining his ankle in the last seconds of the game.

Sweet: We actually got to see Jeff play basketball, something he loves to do. He has made wonderful progress from that day after his back surgery.

Sour: It is almost like anticipating a train wreck, worried that he might some how re injure his back. That worried feeling never leaves your stomach.

This mixture of emotions never ends as a parent.

This Monday marks Jeff and Tiff's first year wedding anniversary.  As usual, Jeff will not tell anyone what he has planned, not even Tiff.

9 Lives

In the show Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray's wife Debra often refers to him with contempt when he goofs up with one word.  Idiot.  It is a proven theory that husbands are often idiots, especially when it comes to our health.

Last weekend, from across the room, both my wife and daughter in law noticed that my right leg was swollen and red.   After some badgering and an admission on my part that their reasoning was valid (it's kind of hard to argue when it's swollen to where my sock and shoe were restricting the bloated ankle and calf, the heat emanating from the tender, sensitive red area and the fact that it was indeed painful to walk on).  Ok, I admit that when Jeff agreed with them, was when I gave in.  Gayle was soon driving me to Urgent Care on a late Sunday afternoon to have it evaluated.

Even when the doctor was drawing an outline map of the infected area and commenting that if it spreads beyond those lines that I was to immediately go to ER; it didn't hit me how serious the condition was until Gayle blurted "Do people die from this?".  The Doc looked surprised by her question and answered yes.   Uh oh.......

After a days rest, I decided it was ok to go to work.  Dr. orders were to rest, and elevate my leg.  Now after being restricted for months after bypass surgery, this did not sit well with me.  I figured, I would sit in my cube and work the phone and computer.  After two meetings (I did prop my leg up) something didn't feel right, so I pulled up my pants leg and checked my calf.  All I could think of was Uh oh......  Needless to say, I went home, called Gayle and my Dr. (in that order) and elevated my leg, higher than my heart.

Now even as it is going on 5 days with not a lot of improvement, a change in antibiotics, being shadowed by Gayle and constantly being tracked like a GPS by Jordan; I am still considering officiating a basketball game on Sunday.

This is the point where I start citing the many examples of those who did not listen to their wives and paid some dire consequences.  I am sure you can fill in your own story.  The common denominator seems to be we either drive ourselves to ER, alone; or we don't follow our Drs. orders.

As I visited a friend today who had a recent heart attack, we were commenting on how we are using up our 9 lives.  Only some of us only get one.

And no, I am not officiating this Sunday.  Of course I haven't told Gayle I even considered it.  I can hear it now......."idiot".