Baby Steps

I did a lot yesterday in the way of activity.  If you heard what it was, it would sound pathetic, but so much coming off a month of little activity.  Babe had his last day home before his NEW job started today.  :) He took the big boys to school and then we both got to attend WHS' Fall Festival and costume parade.  He took me to church so I could have lunch with my precious Bible Study group.  It was so great to be out and be social!  However, those two events alone put me over the edge.  I needed sleep, but sleep didn't come before the big boys were home and we were hyped up for Halloween!  Babe took the boys around the neighborhood while I sat still and manned the porch and the candy.  It was such a beautiful night, kids everywhere, friends and neighbors stopping by.  I just sat in my rocking chair on the front porch and soaked it all in.  I am so grateful for our lives.  While tired, it was a wonderful night filled with kids, friends, and lots of fun.  God is good.

A dear friend brought us dinner last night...precious that she could accomplish a meal for both us and her family on Halloween!  And I ate it.  Real food, solid food...and I was prepared to pay the price of skipping my regular chicken broth.  By the time I crawled in bed, I was starting to hurt a little, but I typically start hurting when I am overtired.  So, I took a pain pill.  And I never woke up.  This might seem small, but this is HUGE step for me not to wake up by 3am in excrutiating pain.  That is typically the time any whole food from dinner has found its way to one of my strictures that seems to be unphased by the steroids.  While I did wake up by 4am, it was not from pain in the least.  It was simply from the fact that I am on steroids and I don't sleep much.  I tried to lay in bed and sleep, but by 5am, I was on the couch working.  While steroids are not my drug of choice because of the icky side effects, they certainly allow me to be alert and get things accomplished if I am not in pain.  I remember very well moving into this house.  It was the day Hurricane Ike hit, we had no furniture and no food, so the boys and I headed to Bartlesville where I went directly to the hospital.  I was admitted for several days and returned to Houston amped on steroids and KICKED bootie moving into the house.  If I didn't have medicinal help, I would still be unpacking boxes...

I digress.  So...baby steps accomplished.  I feel like I made a small step forward last night having eating solid food and have yet to take a pain pill today!  Woo hoo!  I am realistic enough to know that for every step forward there will probably be a step back, but any step forward is cause for celebration.  I know if I don't take any more pain pills today, I will have some trouble coming off of them for a day or so.  Oh, how I hate taking something that causes such a detox!  However...grateful for the pain relief they have certainly provided over the last month.  I might be admitted to psych unit if it weren't for them...