It has been awhile since I’ve written a post. I honestly just haven’t felt like writing. Like many of you, this last year has been a bit draining and I think the mental, physical, and emotional stresses have finally caught up with me. This blog is about living life every day. For a little while, I was not living life, but allowing life to live me, if that makes sense. Through this last year and a half or so, there has been a lot happening in my life and in my family. I am normally a pretty laid back guy and stuff just really doesn’t bother me. But, I think the circumstances of life caught up with me and I just needed a break. I love to write, but I was at the point that I just didn’t want to have to think.
From a career standpoint, it has been a very exhausting year. I am a nurse case manager for a local hospital and have spent much of the last year on a Covid unit. I have watched many nurses tirelessly care for patients to the point they are almost numb to the final results. Long hours and very emotionally challenging days for those doing the direct patient care have left many of them empty. I will admit, working with these patients and families has definitely had an impact on me, as well. As a case manager, the responsibilities have been increasing a lot over the last few years and this last year has posed some additional challenges and stressors. It seems there is never enough time to get the work done and I am always behind. We have had more leave the department this last year than any other time in my almost 18 years at this hospital. So, in addition to the extra stresses of Covid, there has been a lot of extra hours, at one point working 6 & 7 days a week for several weeks in a row.
I would say the extra money was nice, but I haven’t really seen any of it. It seems it has mostly gone to medical bills. Every member of my normally healthy and active family has been impacted in some way last year and it continues into this year. With 3 broken arms, 2 knee injuries, and a few other medical issues, we have more than met our family deductible with our insurance. “The family that plays together, goes to PT together” has become our new family slogan. At one point we had three people going to physical therapy at the same time. That was fun.
My recovery from my knee surgery is going well. It has been six months from the surgery and I just want to be back to normal. My doctor just smiles and reminds me that even the athletes with a professional trainer are out a full year with the surgery I had. But, of course, I just want to be back to “normal”. I don’t want to do the exercises. I just want to magically recover. But my therapist (physical therapist, not mental therapist… in case you were wondering) was awesome and kept me very motivated and on track. She had me doing things I haven’t done since college. There are some simple things that I still cannot do well, like hop on that leg. But really, how often do you hop on one leg? Is that a skill I really need at my age?
As most of the family is recovering from the last year and the medical bills are almost paid off, there are still a few things we are working through and another surgery coming next week followed by more PT for that one. Work continues on with the long hours and extra days for the foreseeable future. The house is needing my attention with some much needed repairs and updates. I think all of the above and more I didn’t go into has caught up with me and I needed a break.
I spent the last few weeks trying to do some thinking. It is a rare moment that I can get enough quiet time to do much serious thinking. It is nice to see some of life getting back to the old “normal”. The Covid numbers at the hospital are much lower and seem to have leveled off for a few weeks. New employees have been hired and are being trained to fill most of the holes in the department. My energy level and “motivation” is beginning to return. Work on house projects has begun again and some light family sports has returned to our house. Maybe I will even finish my series on the book of James soon, along with several other things I plan to add to this blog.
I look forward to sharing more with you as I get back to writing and creating. This blog is about living life every day full of faith, family, and fun. I have written a lot on faith and family. I need to share more of the fun. In my crazy house, there is definitely a lot of fun to share. I hope you have a great rest of this week.
