(This happened last night after I posted my entry.)My husband has not seen a doctor in 25 years. Maybe more.
I have pretty much chalked this up to his various eccentricities, which include being a vegan and other similar ways of thought. I have not known him to take medicine of any kind, including herbal tea, in any of this time. Today, though, I learned exactly what was behind all this. I'm still working it out in my head.
I think that for the last 25 years, he has felt pretty good. That's it. If he had a cold, he drank tons of orange juice and in a couple of days, it went away. Why take a pill? How long could it last?
On Sunday, however, he hurt his back. I have had chronic back problems since I was 21, but this was a first for him. Yes, he's been achy before when he shoveled snow or worked in the yard. He would go to sleep an hour early and wake up fine in the morning. This was something else.
How it happened is nothing; he twisted funny coming through the back door while carrying grocery bags. That's all it takes, you know. A little while later, I asked him if he wanted heat for his back, and he said he'd think about it. Whoa. This is a major step. I took out the electic heating pad (dry heat) and the microwavable heating pad (moist) and left them on the bed for him. Shortly thereafter, he asked how long to microwave the thing for. Then he lay down on the bed with it under his back. I had suggested that laying flat might help. I have some experience in dealing with back pain.
This helped some throughout the day. I commented in the evening that we didn't have any aspirin in the house, but it might help; of course, he would actually have to take it. A little while later, he conceded that he might take something before bed. This was significant enough for R to text-message K and tell her about it.
He was going to take an Advil, but all I had out were gelcaps, which, you know, have gelatin in them, which, you know, is an animal product. O.Kay. I found an unopened box of regular Advil pills, opened it, and gave it to him. He read the ingredients. One of them, believe it or not, is beeswax. He thought about it a minute, and he took a pill.
It was a big day in the Chai household. Daddy turns out to be of the species human after all.
So now it's Monday, a little after 7:00. He's not home yet, so I don't know how he is; he emailed this morning -- ooh, about 12 hours ago -- and said he was a little better.
It's official: R has just signed on for an apartment. She's moving March 1 or so, although her roommates are moving in the month before, so she'll have access to bringing things in and such. I'm very excited and happy for her. Details, I'm sure, will follow.
There was no heat in Bizarro Town High School today. You know how happy that makes me. It totally sucked.
