Those hours Kirsten doesn't remember....

Yes this is Brett, I'm finally breaking down and writing a blog. I thought the day would never come and that it was an insult to my manhood or manliness or what ever you want to call it.  I guess a year and a half of marriage and learning how important the blog world is to many people (both male and female) finally broke me down.

Anyway, on to the good stories!

Kirsten's last memory was going into the chair at the dentist office and so I'll pick up when she got out, because she has no idea what happened between 1045am and 2pm.  I'm in the waiting room and working on my homework when the door swings open and out wheels Kirsten in her new wheelchair. Her mouth is wide open and her mouth packed full of gauze, and there is zero, and I mean zero, expression on her face.  I say hi and ask how she's doing and she just kind of looks at me and groans. And I'm like, o dear this is going to be a long weekend. 

So I get some instructions from the dentist and Kirsten happens to be facing the other way in her wheelchair while the dentist is talking to me making sure I know what I need to do. Kirsten decides she wants to be in on the conversation and turns around in the wheelchair to try and participate in the conversation, but just mumble a bunch of jibberish.

At this point I wasn't super sure how out of it she was, but I would soon find out. We head out to the car and we've got to get her in the car. I help her stand up and she is just wobbling back and forth. I've got her around her waist and arm and get her in the front seat. The dental hygienist wished me luck on on our way we went.

In the car I started asking questions and she told me that everything came in twos and that everything was spinning. She then just babbled all the way home, and I really couldn't understand what she was saying. She seemed happy and that was ok with me.  So we pull into our parking place and I decide just to drive up closer to our stairs so she doesn't have to walk through an obstacle course, and as I explained that to Kirsten she got quite upset with me! She was very adamant that she could walk on her own, but I didn't buy it.

I put the car in park over by the stairs and she was so convinced that she was ok that before I knew what she was doing the door on the car was open and she was trying to get out. As she got her foot out of the car and tried to stand up, she just fell limp into the seat. It was pretty comical! She then proceeded to tell me that should could just stand up while I went and parked the car. I told her she couldn't and she argued with me. So I got her out of the car, and I'm physically holding her up and she is just swaying back and forth and it feels like she could just go limp at any time.  All the while telling me she can do it! So I let go of her really slow to see if she can and she tips over towards the car and I catch her.  This seemed to convince her that she needed help.

The next obstacle was the three flights of stairs. We walk over the stairs and I'm holding her up and she is walking in a zig zag pattern, totally out of it. We get to the first stair and she just kicks it with her big toe and doesn't even flinch. No pain at all. I couldn't believe it.  So she gets her foot on top of the step and I lift her up so she can get up the step.  She then kicks the next one, so I tell her " you need to lift you foot up really high so you don't hurt your toe" Okay she tells me. She then lifted her knee up to waist high just to get up a normal step! Too funny.  Fast forward ten minutes and we are at the top. haha. It took so long to get her up those stairs.

We come in the house and I ask her "Bed or Couch" and I get a "Couch" response. I get her to it and she just collapses onto the couch. It was like her legs just gave out.  One of Kirsten's conscious habits is to grab the computer when she gets on the couch, so naturally she tried to grab the laptop over and over and over, but couldn't pick it up off the floor. I give it to her and she just stairs at the screen for about three seconds and says, "I need to go to the bathroom" I'll let you all wonder how that went...

I got her back on the couch and told her that I needed to go and fill her prescriptions and get her some food and liquids. By food I mean pudding, jello, applesauce and yogurt. I left her staring at the computer and her not doing anything on it. I got all the stuff as fast as I could so she wasn't home destroying everything. The last thing I told her was, "the rule is no getting up and walking when I'm gone" I'm happy to say that she listened to that council. 

When I walked in I found her on her side on the couch out cold with the laptop on the ground upside down. I should have taken a picture, it was priceless.  She didn't move from that spot until 2, when I decided she should wake up so I could see how she was doing. I started the laundry, which was decently close to her, and she didn't wake up, did the dishes, no response, put some food in the microwave and that did the trick.  She started coming to.

When she woke up I went over and she was just starring at the clock trying to figure out how it was 2 in the afternoon when the last thing she remembered was being at the dentist at 830.  She was pretty much back with it at this point and doing good, but slept for another 3 hours.

After all of this I decided that my wife would be a terrible drunk.  She would be getting tipsy after just a little bit and it would be pretty comical.  I also realized how much caring for someone makes you love them.  I thought about all those long nights with my parents and all the parents in the world who care for sick kids or people and how they just can't help but love them. I felt that for Kirsten as she was lying there in her sick state. Love ya babe and look forward to many more sick days!