Delicate Little Flower

This afternoon as I laid in bed, my dear friend Jane, said in a sweet voice as she walked away, "goodbye my delicate little flower friend". I have never thought of myself that way, but in the last few weeks I have certainly felt that way.

Almost two weeks ago I was diagnosed with pneumonia. It came on very quickly and grew from a mild cold to serious ick within 24 hours. Matt's mom, Pat, flew all the way from California to help us for a week and I had a solid chance to rest in bed, in the hammock in the sun...wherever I needed to be. She left on Monday and last night I ended up in the emergency room with a serious relapse. After five hours of IV antibiotics, fluids and some wicked pain medication, they sent me home with a bag of drugs and instructions to remain in bed forever. Not forever, but it is beginning to feel like it.

I am so fortunate to have such supportive family. Pat's visit here last week was like magic. She arrived at 7:30 p.m., dropped her bags and had kids in the bath before I could say "thank you". While she was here she nursed me, nursed the kids (Sam and Arlo had Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, and Otis had a nasty weeping ear infection), helped Matt butcher and process 12 of our broiler chickens, cooked and baked and fed us really well, did copious amounts of laundry and house cleaning....the list goes on and on. She seamlessly walked into our home and took over my job and did it better than I do! It was fantastic. The boys loved having her here, because, you know what else is in the repertoire of a grandma...reading books for hours. That make all three of my sweeties happy as can be. Thank you so much Pat. We love you!

Pat returned home to her life and here I am in bed again, worse off than before, and

we've turned to our community of friends for help. I posted a request on facebook for any info on a nanny and within an hour I had nanny contacts, a food train set-up, babysitting offers....I am truly blessed.

Jane, one of my dear closest friends here and pictured to the right, is here today helping with Otis and taking care of me. She and her family are our family here. She has come over to our house in response to late night calls because of illness, birth, flat tires, house fires...more emergencies than I'd like to admit to. I just can't thank her enough.

I am not forgetting my dear husband, who has taken on my job and his in between the extra help! Both our jobs are more than one person can handle, so for him to do both is pretty amazing. He is being quite militant with this relapse and only letting me out of bed for bathroom visits. I am so lucky to have his support. I know how scared he was in the hospital on Tuesday night. It can't be easy to watch your wife looking like she is dying...and he has had to do that twice in our marriage now. I love him so much.

Hopefully after I meet with my new pulmonologist in a couple weeks, we'll have a better understanding as to why I keep getting so sick. I was told that after my lung surgery two years ago, I wouldn't have anymore problems with this...I'd like to be thought of as a strong bunch of glowing flowers, not a delicate little flower!

The flower image above is borrowed from here.