I Should Not Have Said Just Lay There and Recover!

The swelling, oh the swelling. Don't forget drooling, oh the drooling. These are the reasons Brad can't get up. Oh and lets add pain, oh the pain!

In the hospital the Drs told us if he was up and moving around recovery would come faster. Walking around was one of the criteria for release. The sooner he got back into a normal swing of things the sooner he'd start to feel better. So let me spell this out- you won't feel good but get up and walk around then you will feel better faster. That is what it means to you right? Well that is not what it means to Brad. He apparently took it to mean when you feel better get up. Until then just lay in bed.

So here is my problem am I the loving caring wife or the mean nurse? Walking the thin line between those two is very hard. I keep slipping from one side to another. I feel horrible for Brad. I know he is in severe pain. I know when you don't feel good you don't want to get up. But I also know that getting up and moving helps you get better faster, well as long as you aren't over doing it. Trust me Brad is not over doing it. If under doing it was a real phrase that is what I would use, look I just did!

He keeps telling me I just don't know how bad it is. But I do try to understand. I went online and read about 8 blogs from others who have undergone this surgery. All of them were up doing something by the 2 week mark. Brad just lays in bed all day. Maybe a shower. Maybe a couple hours on the couch, maybe.

You know how when you sleep too long you are still tired when you do finally get up. Well that is the vicious cycle my sweet Brad has found himself in but he can't seem to break it. Right now it feels to me like he can't even tell this is the cycle he is in.

Men and woman definitely deal with sickness/injury differently. I know I personally can barely stand to stay in bed even when I am miserable, even when I want to. All I can think about is what I need to do and am in a hurry to get back to normal life. Women vacuum with fevers, chase kids with pounding headaches, and grocery shop while nauseated. Men, well men just can't. I swear a splinter requires a nap to recover from.

So anyways, when I push Brad to get up he gets mad at me. So what is a girl to do? I was hoping the Drs at his post-op appt would tell him to GET UP! But they didn't...I should have known...they are men too!