Our tolerance for conversations we overhear around the hospital is growing. When your child is in a hospital bed, chest open, breathing with a tube down their throat, it is really hard not to want to punch the woman sobbing on her cell phone about how she can’t handle that her son had his appendix out. But we’ve grown in wisdom by reminding ourselves that on a 10 out of 10 scale for the worst thing that has ever happened to you, this woman’s 10 is her son’s appendix being removed. Our 10 just happens to be a lot higher. I’ve learned to still feel genuine empathy for people whose problems do not seem as severe as our own, but are no less difficult for those experiencing them. With that in mind, here is something that my husband commented on one of my other blogs.
“Just to add my part, the biggest thing that people don't realize (is) that our 10 out of 10 for stress, anxiety, etc. is so dramatically different now than it was before our little man-cub came along. ‘Don't sweat the small stuff.’ When you have to look at the possibility of your son being too sick to have the surgery he needs to live, what really can have any hold on you after that? Everything is small stuff from that moment on. Yes, it sucks that we are still here, can't play with, hold, and tell Little Bird we love her as we put her in bed for the night. By all that is good in the world, it sucks something fierce. But our son is still here. He is fighting every day against a heart that beats with a little less ability than ours, lungs that are being bombarded by not having the proteins that help keep his fluids flowing nicely, and coming off of medications that adults spend years trying to get out of their systems. All of this while far away from home, being prodded by nurses, doctors, techs, respiratory therapists, and whoever else that needs to do something to him. As parents, we are supposed to be stronger than our children. So we make ourselves stronger every day just so we can keep up with a little guy that hasn't even been out of the womb for more than three months.
We will not be outdone by an infant.”
I definitely try to keep that in mind while Bella goes through a test or procedure. It's a drop in the bucket to what it could be. It's very sobering to watch you go through all of this because I can't imagine what it feels like. Rowan fights so hard to conquer that next step and accomplishes goal after goal. He's not even three months old and he's already schooling a lot of us on perspective! He's going to be wise beyond his years.
ReplyDelete