Life in a Nutshell

I wish I had something brilliant to talk about, something brilliant to say. But I don't. That is why I haven't been blogging. I don't even have anything interesting to say. Life has been hard. We've dealt with lots of sickness and some of the usual tensions in a marriage that can make life miserable. Plus with the skyrocketing inflation and the fact that my husband's store hasn't been raking in the business as usual (January and February have been really slow months for them, making for bad paychecks for him), we have just been having a tough time getting by. My seven-year-old is going through a phase where he badmouths everything and talks back all the time and I can't figure out how to redirect him most of the time.

So what do you do when life comes at you hard? I have no idea. I've just been getting by the best I can, breaking down into tears more often than usual, calling my mom way too much and annoying her, and just feeling so blah, like there's absolutely nothing worth looking forward to in the future. Even though I have a baby coming, my oldest child is turning eight and we're coming up on our tenth anniversary, I still feel like the future looks so bleak.

I am thirty-six weeks pregnant now. I'm either unable to breathe, have to pee 800 times an hour, or in such pain from the baby's movements that I'm unable to do much of anything. Like all my other kids, he's probably going to be a pretty big boy. My hips hurt so bad most days that just getting off the couch to go to the bathroom is a marathon event. I should just set up camp in the bathroom!

Today my husband was diagnosed with Bell's palsy. Sounds worse than it is. On Saturday, he started complaining about how one side of his face felt funny. I did all the stroke tests--had him smile, lift up his arms, but he seemed fine. By yesterday morning, there really was a noticeable difference between the sides of his face, so I called and set up a doctor's appointment. I didn't think it was an impending stroke because he had no other symptoms, aside from a headache, but even the headache didn't match the stroke description. It was persistent, but not sudden or severe. So we went in and he had a neurological exam (we have had WAY too many of these the last six months!) and had all the classic signs of Bell's palsy, which is where a facial nerve has been damaged somehow, causing numbing, weakness and sometimes paralysis in one or both sides of the face. Usually it's caused by a virus, but he hasn't been sick, or at least exhibited any outward signs of sickness, so we're not sure what's caused it. The doctor prescribed him antivirals anyway as well as some anti-inflammatory drugs. Most often the Bell's palsy dissipates within a few weeks, but in some people it can last a year and for some, it never goes away. I'm hoping that for my husband, it will be the first and that the drugs will help clear it up and he will be fine in a few weeks. Especially since in his job, he deals with lots of customers and customer service is a big deal in his company, he can't have one side of his face all droopy.

That's about all. I figured I was due for an update at least. I still can't think of anything brilliant or insightful or even remotely interesting to write about, though.