February 4, 2009

A Trip to the ER and The Tree of Happiness

What does a trip to the ER and the Tree of Happiness have in common? Nothing other than the better half being a part of both.
This past weekend was his weekend home off the road. The guys (the better half, his brother and nephew) had plans of doing a bit of mechanical work on the tractor and farm pickup. Sunday afternoon the better half comes limping in the house after spending most of the day in the shop. After de-greasing and changing into his sweats he retreated to his recliner. Once down in the recliner he found himself totally unable to move and experiencing extreme lower back pain. Imagine if you can, a 6 ft., 330 something lb. man in excruciating pain totally unable to lift himself out of a recliner. Add to that vision a 5 ft. 140 something lb. woman trying to heft him up and out of the chair. Not a pretty picture, eh? Well big boy’s brother (a paramedic at that, thank goodness) came back to the farm, to the rescue.
Seems the idgets had changed truck beds from one of the trucks to another. Dah… pick up truck beds are heavy…big boy must have zigged when he should have zagged and probably didn’t use proper lifting techniques…thus ending up hurting something.
When the pain is so bad that big boy swears (oh trust me, he can swear, he was a sailor), tears are in his eyes, his body shakes from the pain … it is time for a doctor. You know being a Sunday the family doctor would not be in so it was the ER. 6 hours of the ER. From what I understand 6 hours is a short stay, guess we were lucky.
After a shot in the rear of Demerol and a couple pills (most likely muscle relaxers) big boy was one pain free happy camper. I know he was feeling no pain because he asked what was for dinner. Yep, food not his back was on his mind.
How do you think he got to be 330 something lbs? His love of food and being a truck driver. Not much exercise and just sitting behind the semi steering wheel you know. Any hoo, seems he pulled a muscle in his lower back. Thankfully it was nothing severe. After a night and full day Monday of bed rest, a bit of medication he is back on the road. He actually stated his back feels best when he is sitting in the up right position behind the steering wheel as compared to lying flat out in bed.
The better half is and has been a problem child health wise. The family doc says he is morbidly obese; he is diabetic, has high blood pressure and high cholesterol. His weight is killing him. His health problems all stem from being overweight. Yes, I have a problem with this. Yes, I have talked til I am blue in the face, harped, nagged and pushed. He does not listen.
I only have control of his diet while he is home off the road. I prepare meals considering all factors, no sugar, no salt and low cholesterol. Yes, it can be done.
He is home roughly 6 days a month, so my attempt at controlling his food intake is seemingly all for not. He will tell you he has no will-power and out on the road with no one attempting to control his eating habits, he eats what he wishes.
The point of my rambling here is we have now begun a journey that I will share with you as it unfolds. The better half will be having what they call Lapband Surgery. He, according to the doctor is a very qualified candidate for the surgery.
Step 1 - is consult with the family physician. This appointment will be scheduled within the next 4 weeks. Stay tuned.

The Tree of Happiness Award


A big heartfelt thank you to Joanna at BooneDocksWilcox for awarding me the Tree of Happiness Award. It does my heart good and sincerely makes me happy to know that someone enjoys reading my ramblings.

The Tree of Happiness asks you to list six things that make you happy, here are mine…

1. My son, he is the love of my life, my pride and joy.
2. My better half. He offers much encouragement, support, makes me laugh and loves my cooking. (Regardless of his trips to the ER.)
3. My family, Mom, Dad, sister, brother and their families. They make me laugh, feel much loved and are wonderful people.
4. My four legged family on our little farm. Happiness is being owned by goats and sheep. :-)
5. Cooking. Can't explain it, it just makes me happy.
6. Our blogging community. I have met some quite interesting, creative, special people through blogging. Reading about their day to day, ins and outs, ups and downs of life and sharing mine has brought much enjoyment to life.


I happily pass this on to (please don't feel obliged to play along, but if it makes you happy feel free to pass it on).
Diana's Cottage
Musings from Fairlight Farm
The FoxDog Farm Blog
City Mouse/Country House
Antiquity Oaks
Life on a Colorado Farm

8 comments:

Jennifer said...

I am glad he didn't do any serious damage and is feeling better with some pain meds. I think that is great he is going to see about getting that lapband surgery. I wish my mom would. I know he is very able and does a lot on the farm when he is home, but he will surely feel better after losing some weight. Many in my family has weight issues, so I sympathize with the problem and am happy for you both to hear of his efforts at getting healthier! Congrats on the award too!

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

I can relate to your happiness items. Hope husband is on the mend. An aching back is awful.

DayPhoto said...

Oh, this is good, really good! It is so hard seeing the men we love throwing thier lives away because they are -storng, don't want to admit it, if they don't see it then it doesn't exist- whatever.

Thank you for the award. I am behind on some things, but I will follow up and pass it on. You flatter me.

And once more...good for him.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Many brightest blessings on his journey with the lapband.I too have that type of man,big strong and nothing hurts him.Till it hurts him;)

Sharrie said...

That was quite a journey. And.....good luck with the other journey. I hope it works for him. It is a heavy weight for you to carry when you cannot accomplish something for a loved one. Some things just have to be done by someone else.

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness! That must have scared you silly. I know it would me.

With Randy and I the positions are reversed. The 6 ft 2 guy is about 210 pounds (a little extra fat, nothing much else, mostly bone and muscle). The 5 ft 4 in woman is ... well, I'm 'morbidly obese'. However, I don't have any of the health problems... yet, and I'm a bit too light for the lapband surgery (plus I can't afford it, no insurance).

My skinny minny father has adult onset diabetes. He lost some weight unintentionally when he went on a strict diet. His diabetes is controlled by diet only and he's doing well. The diet is brutal, and for a long time he mourned the foods he can't have. He has begun to relax the strictness a bit, to discover if he can add any of those foods back in.

We've discovered he can have a bit of homemade bread, but nothing commercial. He can have homemade desserts (a slice of pie, some creme brulee), but once again, nothing commercial. He does not like sour foods (which can help with the diabetes). But I adore sour foods. That might be why I'm not affected, yet, because I'm certainly genetically inclined...

Anyway, this is a lot of information, but I hope this helps..

Tammy said...

You guys have had a time the last several weeks, first with your illness and now this. I struggle with the same problem--having a desk job and sitting all day. I try to 'eat right' most of the time, but sometimes it's just easier to go the easy route and eat something fast. Since my mom's heart surgery, I've been learning about allot of things! The most startling is how much sodium is in foods--esp. pre-packaged--no matter if it says 'healthy' on it or not. I don't think so! I hope that the lapband goes well and does the trick. I'm sure he will feel so much better in the long run. (and once again--it's handy to have that paramedic brother in law around! ha)
Take care,
Tammy

Anonymous said...

Addendum to my comment above:

I spoke with my Dad today and he said one of the things he's learned to do while traveling is to ask the kitchen to use something other than bread to make his sandwich or burger or whatever. He carries 'wraps' (basically low glycemic tortillas) and just hands them to the waitress or waiter and asks them to put his tunafish or burger or whatever in the wrap. He's never been to a restaurant that won't do it.

So it's an idea for Jim on the road, IF you can get him used to eating wraps. My Dad just about lives on those things now.