Tag Archive | marriage

A Sliver of Light

Jun2

Sometimes, when the darkness comes and you feel your world crumbling down around you, a sliver of light makes its way through the cracks of your life.  The past month has been a huge struggle for me and my husband.  Not only has he seemed to have gotten noticeably worse, but financial burdens have become overwhelming, our kids have had some personal struggles, and the pressure to remain strong and keep life “normal” for everyone has become harder for me.  Then, on May 18th, my husband was brought to the ER by ambulance once again.  He had been vomiting on and off for days, thought he was better, and then started all over again.  We thought he was septic again.  This was not a new thing for us…we had been down this road several times before.

But, this time was different.  He went to his usual hospital, where they knew him and his history.  They discovered he wasn’t septic, but possibly had a blocked intestine from his tumor growing and squeezing it shut.  A doctor came into the room and said that she felt he would be better off going a few blocks away to Smilow Cancer Hospital.  She felt he would be able to get tests over the weekend, and that there may be doctors there with more expertise.  So, we agreed and he was transferred.  It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made regarding his treatment in the last 11 years.  It changed the trajectory of his treatment and gave us some hope we haven’t had in years.

Dave stayed in the hospital for 5 days, and came out looking and feeling like his old self.  The difference?  He had a different doctor who decided that since his disease is essentially an overproduction of inflammation (in a very basic nutshell), that they should put him on steroids and see how he does.  The result was nothing short of amazing.  He felt better physically with less pain, and his head cleared and he was able to think more clearly.  He was more awake.  They released him on Tuesday, with a referral to a doctor who specializes in rare diseases.  That doctor happened to be in the SAME practice as the doctor he has been seeing for the past 5 or 6 years.  We have no idea why we were never told about him.

Last week, he had his first appointment with the new doctor and he has given us more hope in one visit than the other doctor has ever given us.  The new doctor is already treating another patient with Erdheim-Chester Disease in the same practice.  He studied under a doctor at Sloan-Kettering and a doctor in Boston who both have experience in treating ECD.  He started my husband on a new medication, has a brand new plan for him, including monthly visits, scans, and testing for a gene mutation that could change the course of his treatment in a positive way.  The hospital also gave him other resources to help him and the family.  In 11 years, we never knew any of this existed.  One trip to the hospital, for what we thought was just another hospital stay with some sort of infection, turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  We had the right doctor at the first hospital who questioned his lack of current treatment, who sent him to a specialty hospital, who had the right doctor on staff to lead us to a completely different doctor with a much better plan.

Life is still a struggle, and the illness will always be there.  We’ve watched as my husband slowly deteriorates, not knowing what to do or where to go.  Just when you feel as if life has kicked you so hard that you don’t want to get back up, the right people, in the right place, at the right time, enter your life.  And everything changes.  We don’t know yet what the outcome of all of this will ultimately be, but we feel hopeful for the first time in a long time.  Sometimes, that’s all you need to get you through.

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I See You

Sep17

A few weeks ago, I was at the beach and I saw a young woman walking with her two little boys and her husband.  Her husband was disabled, walking with a cane and appearing to have lost some muscle function in his arms and legs.  I keep thinking about the woman and what I would have said to her at the right time, in the right place.  This blog post is for that woman, and the other young people who are caring for an ill or disabled spouse, while raising a family.

To The Woman on the Beach:

I see you.

I see you enjoying a day in the sun with your family.

I see you including your husband, who is clearly finding it a challenge to walk in the sand.

I see you take his hand, silently letting him know you are there for him.

I see your little boys, enjoying the sand, seashells and surf like all little boys would at the beach, happily oblivious to what you and he are going through.

I see you trying to make life as normal as you can…for your boys and for your husband.

I see you putting on a happy face, even when you aren’t happy.

I see your concern for the man you love.

I see your heartache and your heartbreak…watching the man you love suffer, wondering what your future will be like, wondering if you will someday be alone.

I see your worry…worry for your husband and his future, worry for your boys and their future, worry for yourself and your future.

I see your exhaustion.

I see your resentment and your guilt.

I see your loyalty.

I see your commitment.

I see you lying in bed in the wee hours of the night, waiting for the darkness to pass and the light to return.

I see your sadness.

I see you taking one step after another, walking through the storm, hoping that someday there might be sun again.

I see you trying to find happiness wherever you can.

I see you being grateful for all the little things.

I see you wishing for things you may never have.

I see you laughing.

I see your tears, cried silently when you are alone.

I see your appreciation for the moments you have together.

I see you taking care of everyone’s every day needs, while putting your own aside.

I see you wishing you could have time to yourself.

I see you keep going even when you think you can’t.

I saw you on the beach that day.  I saw you, and I want you to know, I understand.

 

Exhaustion

Apr4

Exhaustion.  It can hit out of the blue.  You think you’re doing well and handling everything, and you have a hopeful outlook.  It’s not always physical exhaustion.  It can be mental or emotional exhaustion.  But, mental or emotional exhaustion definitely adds to the physical exhaustion.  That’s where I am this week.  I’m mentally exhausted.  I’m tired of struggling all the time.  I struggle with a busy schedule…work, managing a household, taking care of kids, being available to my husband for his dialysis or any other medical needs he has.  I struggle with worry EVERY SINGLE MONTH on how I’m going to pay everything and still be able to buy a little extra, or do something fun, or be able to pay for something my kids need or want.

Home dialysis was supposed to make things easier for “us.”  They told us the machine is the size of a suitcase, and we can take it anywhere, even on vacation.  They didn’t tell us we would need to lug 5 large bags of fluid for each day of dialysis (25 bags for a week), saline IV bags, and a gazillion medical supplies with us. They told us you do dialysis more frequently, but for less time.  We do dialysis 5 nights a week for 2 1/2 to 3 hours once he is actually hooked up and dialyzing.  It doesn’t include set-up time and clean-up time.  It ends up more like 5 hours a night.  That’s a lot.  They said he can do it on his own, but it turns out, he has to have someone here with him to help him hook up and unhook, or be here in case of an emergency.  It’s not easier at all.  It’s harder.

I’m so tired of worrying about money.  I get the summers off, but I end up a stressed out wreck because I don’t get paid when I don’t work.  I’ve been applying for other full time jobs that are year round, even though it will mean I will have to leave a job of 9 years that I love.  I considered finding something part time that I could do during the school year to supplement my income, and pick up hours in the summer to maybe enjoy them without worrying.  But, because of dialysis 5 nights a week, I don’t know how it’s possible to work part time during the school year, after work.  There just isn’t enough time in the week.

I’m tired of saying no to things that are important to my kids because I can’t afford them or I don’t have the time or ability to be both at home, and out.  People will say, “you don’t have to give them everything they ask for.”  My answer to that is that they don’t ask for much, and when they do ask, it’s very important to them, or it’s a life event that they shouldn’t have to miss.  I hate that there are times they have to miss out because I’m not available or can’t afford something.  I hate struggling to figure out where the extra money is going to come from.  I hate that I am the only one who worries about it.  It really sucks to keep disappointing your child, when you know you are struggling yourself to accept all of this.

I’m tired of having to keep it all to myself because the person that I’ve always figured this stuff out with is sick.  He’s sleepy, he’s medicated, his brain is often foggy.  And there isn’t much he can do.  He is exhausted, too.  His body is failing him, he’s in constant pain, he’s sleep deprived, he’s forgetful.  He doesn’t have a solution to any of this.  I’m tired of handling it all alone.  I have to always keep him and his illness in mind, otherwise I would be overcome by resentment and hopelessness.  I keep him in mind because he has enough to worry about.   He didn’t ask for this any more than I did.  He has it worse.  My exhaustion is nothing compared to his.

This exhaustion has come and gone many times in the last 9 years since he got sick.  We always rally, we always make it through, we always survive.  It’s a matter of plugging along and pushing through.  We have no other choice.

Adjustments

Sep13

It’s been almost 8 years since my husband’s disease was discovered.  It’s been a long 8 years, full of learning experiences I never thought we would ever have to endure.   I’ve learned how very possible it is to get through every day life, struggling with exhaustion, or finances, or lack of time, or situations out of our control.  I know what it’s like to continually take one step forward and two steps back.  I know what it’s like to make sure my kids have a good childhood, with interesting experiences, unique opportunities, and the chance to become the people their souls are meant to become, all while living with a fathers’ illness that invades every part of our lives.  Life has been an ongoing struggle between dealing with a sick spouse, the loneliness of losing people in our lives who can’t deal with it, grieving the loss of our dreams, and living every day life, raising kids, enjoying what we can, and just keeping on going whether it’s an easy day or a hard day.

The hardest lesson has probably been acceptance of how this disease has changed our marriage.  Eight years of spousal illness takes a rough toll on a marriage.  Both of us are dedicated to each other until the end.  There is no question of that.  We love each other and we are both loyal to each other.  But life has changed for us.  My husband sleeps all the time.  When he is awake, he has no energy, or he has energy for short amounts of time.  He is on so many medications that he is often in a zone and not really hearing what I’m saying, nor responding to me.  He is in pain almost all the time.  It never goes away completely.  For all the exhaustion he has, he never sleeps well because he can’t get comfortable.  It’s really hard to watch your husband suffer every single day.  I get tired of it all. Sometimes, I just want to get out of the house so I don’t have to look at him like that.  There are days I want to scream out of frustration…frustration that he isn’t talking to me or listening to me, frustration that he can’t do much to help me out, frustration that it will never get better.  It’ll only get worse.  We likely won’t grow old together, and get to do the things we used to talk about doing when we retired.

There have been many times that I felt alone with all these frustrations, grieving the loss of a marriage that won’t be what we had hoped.  But, he deals every day with illness.  He never feels good, he is always wiped out and exhausted, he is bored being home alone all day while we are at work or school.  He wants to be included when we go out and do things, even though he doesn’t always have the stamina to keep up, and often wants to come home early.  There are times I need to get out of the house and away from the disease, so I don’t ask him to go.  I want to go out, and not have to worry about whether he is tired or in pain and needing to leave early.  We recently had a conversation in which he told me that it makes him sad when we do things and don’t invite him.  Honestly, I hadn’t really thought about it…I needed to get out, and I figured he wouldn’t want to go because he’s sick and can hardly stay awake.  I didn’t always think about asking him.

It made me realize how important the little things are when you are in this situation.  We can’t easily do the big things any more.  I don’t remember the last time we had a date night, or went away for a weekend, or did something fun together. Now, I’m happy when we have a ten minute conversation and he is awake and paying attention.  I’m really happy when he acknowledges the things I do around the house, or the little things I do to help him out, or when he brings me a candy bar just because I know he was thinking of me.  He is happy if I go to Walmart with him, or ask him if he wants to go with us somewhere, or if we pick up sandwiches and eat lunch together.

Life with a sick spouse is all about adjustments.  If you can’t adjust to a situation, you’ll never make it.  A simple shift in the mind can make all the difference in how peaceful your life is.  We have made small changes in order to make life a little easier for each other.  There will be more challenges and crises down the road, but if we do what we can for each other along the way, even little things, those challenges will be that much easier.