A Year of Making Art, Day 339: I Didn't Sign Up To Be Nurse & Caretaker

March 24, 2008  Day 339

Today is the last full day my stepson and family will be here.  They are still tending to sleep until noon, unable to get themselves off California time.  The teenagers, especially, stay up late and then have to be dragged out of bed in the mornings.

I did today's drawing in browns and tans with calligraphy pens:

  Drawing #346  14" x 11"

Then Adrian showed me a lump on his right leg, just below his artificial knee.  We were worried that it might be a clot, so we made an appointment witht he doctor for one p.m.  Dan got up in time to take him, and when they came back, they reported that the real problem seemed not to be the lump, but the fact that a wound on Adrian's other leg was infected.

Our local pharmacy was closed, so I went out and filled three prescriptions and bought other supplies for bandaging Adrian's leg.  Later the bandage came off twice, so I finally made it tighter and taped it better.  Today I'll have to get more supplies.  And next week, we have an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon.

Somehow, preventing a fall never seemed to be Adrian's priority.  He walked without using a walking stick as he was instructed by his doctors, and he took chances leaping over the brook along our property.  The last time he leapt, he felt something tear in his left calf.  Now he is limping and unable to walk the dog at all.  But saying, "I told you so," is useless and cruel.

Sometimes I feel like being cruel, however,as I did this morning when he spilled coffee all over our new glass table and then asked me to clean it up because he had done the same thing the night before with orange juice and was tired of cleaning up.  The coffee had gotten into every crack and splashed profusely, and as I was cleaning it up, I found the remainder of the dried orange juice to clean as well.

When Adrian takes chances and disables himself, I suffer along with him.  I get to be his nurse and caretaker, not jobs I signed up for.  But that is the plight of the healthy spouse, and you get no sympathy because you are the healthy one and should shut up and count your blessings.

Writing the above made me feel better, though.

(Note: There is a gap between the dates I'm writing and posting in order to give me time to get ahead.)