Monday, February 25, 2013

Anxiety Plays A Bigger Part Than I Thought

Last week was tough for me. Vince was sick with a nasty cold and was extremely drowsy. That started on Sunday. On Monday morning, I took him to the doctor. By Tuesday, I had completely lost it. I was so stressed, I cried all day at work. I must have called my brother in law at least twice last week in tears. I think my supervisor/friend got a tearful episode as well. By Wednesday, into Thursday, I was starting to think a little more clearly. I realized that although I have a lot on my plate, it's not as bad as it could be. I think my Anxiety and my constant worrying magnify our situation. The thing is, I don't always acknowledge this until after the fact. Better late than never I suppose. By the time I calm down, I get so embarrassed and apologetic at whoever got the wrath of my tears.

I need to start acknowledging that although I have a lot on my plate, that is no question, that I also have a severe Anxiety issue. I need to remember that if I am having an exceptionally hard day or week, that I need to take a step back and think about the real issue at hand. Is it all being overwhelmed by my care taking tasks, or is it an Anxiety attack. Through it all, last week I was visiting with some great friends and talked about my issues with them more than usual. I think we have more people in our corner than I realized and it's a great feeling.

Monday, February 18, 2013

These Are The Days I Feel There Is Too Much Weight On My Shoulders

It's Sunday night. Vince says he thinks he should go to the doctor. His ear hurts. It must be an infection. So I call my supervisor, who is the most understanding boss (and friend) I could ask for. I let her know I will be in late tomorrow morning. No problem she says.

Monday morning. I wake up around 8:30AM on my own. I haven't been sleeping very well the past few nights. I wait until 9AM and call the doctor for an appointment. We get an appointment for 11AM. Around 10AM I go to wake Vince up and let him know about the appointment. He is having a very drowsy morning. He gets up and gets dressed only to sit down and sleep on the couch while I put his shoes and socks on and get him ready to leave. We leave soon and he dozes off once again in the car. He was so drowsy that at one point he woke up during the drive and thought I was driving to my work. When we get to the office, we have a seat in the waiting room. He dozes off again. Soon we are taken back to the room to wait for the doctor. He steps up on the table and has a seat. I take a seat in the room as well. He sits there, falling in and out of sleep as I watch him hoping he doesn't literally fall off the table as he sways back and forth in his sleep. I hear the doctor coming towards our room so I quickly wake him up so she doesn't see. She checks him out and gives him a script and we are on our way. We went to the pharmacy next door and then got back into the car, where he promptly dozes off again. Once we are home, he gets back into bed, I put drops in his ear and off snoring he goes back to sleep.

After I have some lunch, I am off to work for a half day. I am left feeling stressed out. The thing that makes these situations even worse is that I try to wake him up during the "dozing off" periods and his usual response is either "I'm okay" or "I'm awake" Now both of those just frustrates me even more. No your not okay, your about to fall off the table, or where ever you happen to be because your sleeping sitting up. Also, no your not awake. I can see you sleeping, head and body bobbing back and forth as you do so.

So to end this venting of a post: I HATE NEUROPATHY MEDICATIONS AND HOW THEY CHANGE WHO HE IS. This is not him. Days like this, I feel like I lost him in there somewhere and I just want my normal Vince back.