What Does Healthy Feel Like?

This very moment Faith and I are considering how either one of us will feed our kids tonight. I am in a quarter-sitting, three quarters-laying on my back position that could only loosely qualify as slouching. I think she's actually sitting up right now. If I could only lift my head above the arm of our comfy chair I might find out. I am sore in a way that only reminds me of playing a hockey tournament where every game was back-to-back and I started without stretching properly - and suffering badly from dehydration.

Influenza took out Aslynn Sunday night, so she figured she would share it with the rest of us. Se may not have lost her cookies often, but the first incident ended up cascading down her pillow onto every sheet and blanket she had into the reservoir around her captain's bed that made the mattress soggy and allowed it to seep into two out of three of her drawers and beyond them to the carpet floor and her area rug. I think it took me an hour to clean without taking into account the front-loading clothes washer three times later to remove the aroma of said 'cookies'.

Just before bedtime last night (Monday), Faith started feeling stomach pains and feeling exhausted. She went to bed around 9:00 PM. Just after I put Micah to bed around 10:00, Judah came to me and shared with me that he was feeling ill and threw up on his quilt. At least there was decent containment. He continued doing this every half hour until after 2:00 AM. Even with some adept pail skills, we had to remove his sheets and an extra-large stuffed dog by then. I went to bed. He got up around 3:00 and Faith heard him. I was lost to the world so she gagged her way through it in her own sickness. I helped him again at just before 6:00. I stayed in bed until 11:00 and Faith got up from her restless state to lie on the couch and be with the kids. Judah is better now - we hope. Faith and I still have not done the deed and it seems to be holding on to us with both hands. I'd like for it to stop squeezing so hard.

I spoke with Mom today about how she is doing now that she has had her hip and joint replaced. I think the best word to describe her feelings would be 'optimistic'. She said that even between last night and now she feels so much better. Her surgery was on Thursday and they kept her in the hospital until Monday. I still think that's a short stay considering what she went through. The surgery got pushed back by about four hours and it took about four hours before she came out of it. Even then, the doctors and nurses played a not-so-fun game trying to discover a pain medication that her body wouldn't reject. They must have found something. She sounds like she is doing very well and can sense that may people are praying for her recovery. Now - only to get the other hip done in less than 6 months... She can really tell a notable difference, Apparently she's also gained about an inch of height back!

A few weeks ago we had an unexpected surprise. Grandpa Janzen flew in from the Grande Prairie airport to take up residence at the cardiac wing of the University of Alberta hospital The region around his pacemaker was looking suspicious and he was referred by a specialist. Just like with Mom, the general practitioners thought it was not as big a deal as it was made out to be until the patient saw a specialist who wished he could end the other doctors' careers in medicine. Well, they did surgery to remove the old pacemaker and got as much of it and the leads into his heart as they could. He spent the next few days with a pacemaker inserted and taped to his neck while waiting for blood cultures to return clear of any infection. Praise God they did! I had the privilege of visiting with him most days and was grateful that I could have time with him despite the circumstances. He returned home eager to see Grandma close to a week later with his new pacemaker. Praise God for a government-subsidized and supported health care system, even if there are a few kooks and kinks in it.

What does healthy feel like? I suppose it depends on what you are referring to. We are by no means dead, even though I seem to be barely existing in a zombified state, which would make me undead. We have adequate medical care and know that there are people around us who genuinely care about us. This is healthy and hopeful.

But right now I'd just like to be able to sit up and feed my kids supper... God give us physical strength and health, please.



P.S.: At noon today Faith and I gave the kids instructions from our immobile states and they were able to prepare almost all of lunch by themselves. Way to go, guys!