on the mend

First, I must wish my friend Chris a belated happy birthday. Chris, I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating last weekend and I wish you only the best this upcoming year. You're an intelligent, thoughtful and considerate person who deserves to see his dreams realized. Happy birthday, Chris!

Also, let me wish Stephanie a happy birthday a little early. It sounds like things are going really well for you and I hope that continues (and then some) in this next year. Have a great time celebrating! Happy birthday, Steph - you're a true girl genius!

The title refers to me. A week ago I left work early because of back pain. By that night, Brian was calling an ambulance to get me to an emergency room because I couldn't stand without nearly passing out from the pain. I spent over twelve hours in the ER (Brian was with me for nine of them, G-d bless him) and was finally admitted for bed rest, heavy medicating and IV antibiotics. The diagnosis? An infection the doctors thought was gone, wasn't and in a completely separate event, my lower back was in full rebellion. It was awful. I was discharged on Sunday and have spent the whole week on bed rest. Things are a little better today and I'm hoping I can be back at work on Monday. It's going to be a low key weekend though, that's for sure.

Brian has been amazing through all of this. He was at the hospital all of the time, even though he was exhausted, he talked with doctors and nurses when I couldn't and he has taken wonderful care of me now that I'm home. When I say bed rest I mean nearly no movement at all. I really had to depend on him (way more than I would be comfortable with) and he never stopped being right there for me. I am an exceptionally blessed woman. Note: this photo is from when my folks came to visit and we took them to Mount Vernon. I know it's mean to tease you with a photo where you can't see his face, but it's the only one I got approval to share (and he still might not like that I'm posting it here, but I love this photo, so it'll be okay).

Also going on this week is that my uncle passed away last week and his funeral is today. I was supposed to fly home Wednesday night, but bed rest also equals no flying. It's been hard enough being stuck in bed, but doubly hard knowing what my family's going through and not being able to be there. Still, the closure is important and much needed for everyone and we were blessed to have nearly a whole extra year with him. It's important to keep all that in mind.

That's probably all for now. Typing puts my hands in an awkward position so I think I'm going to give it (and myself) a rest. Happy weekend, all!