May 1st was supposed to be a nice welcoming long weekend for us here. I was looking forward to the long break and was hoping to fill it up with some much needed family activity. Instead what happened was the wifey fell strangely ill, it started with a headache that occured on a mundane wednesday night when we were done preparing the word for our upcoming EC celebration Way.
The headaches started to intensify and by the time friday and the weekend hit, wifey was just almost bedridden. Initially I thought she just needed some sleep, afterall, the prior weekends were filled with hectic activities which I felt took a toll on wifey. Starting with preparing the paschal candle for our community during the Palm Sunday weekend, and leading it up to my folks coming down for Hams’ baptism and wifey having to host them and then followed by another sunday convivence and the week after that having a 2-day wedding to attend – all this took a toll on the wifey. Imagine having to go through all that AND having to take care of an infant who is going through her leaps and an ever-demanding hyper child – I dont know how she does it week in week out but I do know eventually she would breakdown and this is what had happened – the headaches, the chills, and fatigue took its toll on her and symptoms were beginning to manifest itself.
What I thought was a routine “catch up over sleep and you will be fine” routine turned out to be even more serious than thought. Wifey’s symptoms progressed even worse and by Monday we were in the Urgent care clinic for her to get some medical help. Docs (GP) prescribed her some stronger painkillers and that was it – I am not sure how to react to that but maybe it was just us overreacting to this situation?
I took 2 days of caregiver leave to ensure wifey could rest. It was a tough time because work was definitely going to pile up (and it certainly did!) but I also knew I needed to be on the homefront to manage things at home. I just wanted wifey to rest as much as she could and be back on her two feet as soon as she could also.
Wifey did recover eventually. By the time the next weekend came rolling in, wifey was definitely feeling better but still not to her usual self. In fact, wifey is still recovering as I type out all this – I think she just needs more rest for her body to recover. I hope at the end of the day its just rest, and nothing more serious than that.
I guess you could say that this whole episode taught me alot about the importance and value of family. Taking care of the kids and just forcing yourself to put aside your work forces you in some ways to mature, to realise there are more important things in life than just your work and career. It also has certainly got me appreciating wifey a whole lot more – the amount of effort she puts in, the sacrifices she makes, its all incomparable and I feel just thankful for her. Maybe it s time I do appreciate the family more and not take them for granted.
