I woke up Monday determined to have a better day. Being Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the kids were home from school. Dave stayed home from work to be with me. As he went downstairs to deal with breakfast and fights over ipads, he gently suggested, “Maybe you should get up today?”
Dave was right, he just didn’t know I already had plans.
Charlotte Gets Up #1 Run the laundry.
Yessssss. Never has doing laundry been so empowering. I do a minimum of 12 loads of laundry a week. The snow day clothes plus my absence had caused a back up of laundry.
One time very mad at me, my daughter, Eileen decided to punish me and yell, “No laundry for you!” It was hilarious at the time and I never imagined the joy or empowering feeling that washing, sorting, and folding piles of laundry would bring me.
Charlotte Gets Up #2 Sweep the Floor.
It’s no secret I like a clean house. I can’t relax if it isn’t relatively clean and organized. Without my watchful eye, there were crumbs and grains of rice under the kitchen table. Enough fir needles to complete a tree littered the front walk way. Evidence of snacking through out the house left trails on the wood floor. It was enough to make me twitch without the brain injury.
So what did I do? I grabbed and broom and I swept! I swept with gusto. I swept, and then swept again. And the only person who noticed was me, but I was okay with that.
Charlotte Gets Up #3 Set up Dr. appointment and email Doctor McHH.
An upside to technology is that you can schedule appointments without talking to anyone. I’d never tried to use my doctor’s office system before. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was. I set up an appointment for first thing the next day. It only gave me a 15 minute slot. Hmmm. Not my problem if they don’t have an appointment option for released from hospital without diagnosis, but still very afflicted.
I emailed my doctor. Having not seen Dr. McHH since he left me at the ER, I wasn’t really sure of his level of awareness of my hospital experience. I gave him a brief run down. Since talking is incredibly difficult and frustrating, I wanted to make my appointment as productive as possible. So I figured I would just lay it all out. I shared what had happened at Danish Blueberry Mound (and my dissatisfaction with it) as well as what I wanted from him, prescription for ativan, discuss the option of not taking the tourettes medication, some assurances, and a plan.
Despite it being his day off, Dr. McHH emailed me within an hour or two to tell me he had called in a prescription for ativan and would see me soon.
Charlotte Gets Up #4 Send emails to school families
Teaching is not a 9-5 job, even when you had a brain injury. I normally send out an email every Friday afternoon with information for the following week. I managed to send an email, apologizing if I missed any information, to my 6th grade parents. I forgot I teach a group of 5th graders too. It was an especially large oversight given my son is in that class.
Sending an update about math and my predicament served two purposes, it did the job professionally but it also allowed me to communicate what was going on to my son’s friends.
Within minutes of sending an email, I had offers of help. Up to this point, many people had offered help. But in this case, it was easier to say exactly what I needed. Please take my child! In the matter of an hour, my son, Linus, was off to spend the day with 2 good buddies instead of fighting with his siblings.
Charlotte Gets Up #5 Spend time with Children
With one child gone, we now only had to engage two kids. We offered them the choice of cleaning their rooms or going to the grocery store. Normally, I do all the grocery shopping, often by myself. The kids hate the grocery store. They also hate cleaning their rooms. Ah ha! Pick your poison.
Robin opted for quality with Dave at the grocery store. Eileen stayed behind. A minor miracle occurred and her room was cleaned quickly. Not about to turn on screens, Eileen opened up a 1000 piece. We sat in silence for an hour, side by side, and barely made a discernible dent.
Charlotte Gets Up #6
My friend, Alicia, from work came over and brought coffee. We talked about everything and nothing for over an hour. I could tell she was concerned, but she never made me feel self-conscious. It was a good first step toward re-entry into society.
Charlotte Ends the Day on a High Note
The previous day, my principal, Rick, stopped by and brought me a few requested items — science tests to grade, my plan book. We chatted. He joked around. He made fun of me.
I was complaining about being perceived as an invalid and that I really could still do stuff in the kitchen. Rick replied, “What are you going to do? Scramble an egg?”
Humph.
Rick asked me if I liked Din Tai Fung and told me he would bring me some for dinner the next day.
Fast forward to the end of my day of productivity, the door bell rings. There is Rick, smiling, with a bag full Din Tai Fung in his hand. He quickly dropped it off and then he was gone.
It’s not a terrible day when your tummy is full of garlic green beans and xiao long bao.