Sick sick sick

The Epic Snow

You've probably been wondering where I've been.  Or, you haven't, because you're all very busy people with your own chaotic lives to attend to.  That said, I've been sick.

Very, very sick.

You see, back when I was pregnant the girls were extremely unkind to me.  They destroyed my immune system, cramped my vital organs, and generally made me extremely miserable.

The long term consequences?  Life long vigilance against the skin cancer I got while pregnant, and gall bladder disease.

Now, I won't go into the details about gall bladder disease.  It's just plain not pretty, comfortable, or fun.  Suffice to say I have spent much of the last month in increasingly intolerable amounts of misery.  This all came to a head a little over a week ago, and since then I've been living on a diet of crackers and broth.

Hopefully, I've lost a little weight.

As of today, surgery is off the table for the immediate future.  My gall bladder is bouncing back well, it looks like my appendix isn't about to burst, and I was even able to eat some terribly unhealthy junk while watching the Steelers break my heart last night.

No, if only it was just me.  As I began my spiral into gastrointestinal despair, M brought home the Evil Virus of Sinus Destruction.  I confess, I basically told him to quit whining and man up about it.

I feel so terrible about that now.

First M got it.  Then SI got it.  Then DD got it.  Then SI's turned into an ear infection.  And then I hit bottom on the scale of functionally ill.  With my immune system distracted by my inflamed, infected, and non-functional organs, the Evil Virus of Sinus Destruction attacked.  Hard.

All of this managed to correspond with one of the worst snowstorms in Chicago history, which somehow managed to leave us with only one car.

M has spent nearly a week taking care of me and the girls.  That is to say, the girls didn't have real meals, the house is a disaster zone, both M and I and behind on our classes, and everybody ran out of laundry.  SI chose this week to start cutting about three molars.  M is exhausted, and I think has a newfound appreciation of what actually goes on around the house while he's at work.  I think I might need to bake him some cookies once I'm completely back on my feet.

I've felt like I had a face full of battery acid and been kicked in the ribs by a horse.  But today, finally, I feel a bit like myself.  I fed the girls yogurt for breakfast, which they greedily devoured (without making a mess!).  DD even scraped the remnants from her bowl with a graham cracker.  Her daddy would have been so proud.  Then they played peacefully while I caught up on some laundry and dishes.  My little angels.

So yeah, that's where I've been.  M had already gone through at least one set of ear tubes by the time he was SI's age, so I'm expecting this ear infection to be the first of many.  M will hopefully get our car fixed tonight so that I'll be able to get to class without much to-do, god willing.  I really can't miss any more class.  Cousin LaLa is on her way over so I can spend the afternoon recuperating from my morning's activity.  Which is to say, passing out again.

And that's our life.  Never a dull moment.