Are You Ready??

I know this has been touched on before, but it bears reminding that one never knows when the caretaker will be out of commission. Not long ago I was tested for Lymphoma. We hadn’t planned on this. I hadn’t been feeling well. I went to the Doctor, which led to another Doctor later that day which landed me in the hospital that night. No going home, no getting meals prepared, no list of supplements or directions for my husband. In the midst of the confusion of me being admitted, vitals being taken and me feeling completely spent after my bone marrow biopsy, there I was trying desperately to remember all of her long list of morning supplements, her dinner menu, her breakfast and her lunch. Cryptically scribbled in haste on a little piece of paper.

Fortunately, he had a basic idea and she is very verbal and relatively functional, but he is NOT a multi-tasker and does not want to make a mistake. Add to that the sudden uncertainty of my health and no outside assistance readily available, it was a wake-up call.

So what are my notes to myself and what can my hindsight offer you?:

A: I keep a calendar of lunches, in rotation for her, on the fridge so I don't have to think so much in the morning, but it's outdated.
NOTE: Update and repost menu.

B: Keep the weekly supplement/vitamin caddy filled. I hate filling it when it's empty, even though I know it's easier for me when it is.
NOTE: Get over it and 'just do it'.

C: Also, I keep a little post-it note next to the vitamin counter that spells out what and how much for each meal.
NOTE: Update and repost that.

D: I haven't reprogrammed our phones since our last set died 2 months ago. I'm tired and it keeps getting pushed to the bottom of my long to-do list. Fortunately, my husband knows how to access my computer and I was coherent enough to tell him where the list of phone numbers was that I had saved.
NOTE: Reprogram the important numbers.

E: I always travel with food and water for my daughter, but this time it wasn't enough. We'd had to pick her up from school to make the appointment and by 4PM she'd gone through all her snacks. I hadn’t anticipated being gone through dinner-time. She didn't get eat dinner until 8:30 that night because my husband had gotten lost on the way home from the hospital.
NOTE: Better emergency kit for the car including a list of emergency foods he can pick up at any grocery store.

F: To top off the possibility of cancer, going through a bone marrow biopsy, getting settled into the hospital and completely crashing from my severe anemia, I was worried about our daughter. He didn’t seem as concerned about the time and her hunger in the same way I was. My husband hung out and hung out waiting for me to get settled while she, as I perceived it, got hungrier and hungrier...(She was VERY good and I doubt she'll have to see a therapist about this when she gets older...)
NOTE: He is her Father. He is capable of taking care of her, he's not going to let her needs go untended and ...I just really have to let go sometimes and let him be her Dad.

G: Most importantly, he got a dose of what I go through every day. He gets that reminder periodically throughout the year and it's good for him and our relationship. Sometimes the best thing we can do is let go and take care of ourselves for a little bit.

So, it’s been a month since that event and my ‘honeymoon’ is over. It's back to the same old grind. Though I don’t know what I have, I know I don’t have cancer. My To-Do list has gotten a little longer, but the order has certainly changed. How many times have you heard about 'planning for disaster' and how many times have you said: “Yeah...Wow! Good idea...I should do that." How many of you have actually followed through?

What about your order? What’s on your list??