Remind Me to Laugh
What do you do when you are scared or in pain? Besides panicking about the worst case scenario, I mean.
Thad and I have had a few of those moments in the last couple of weeks. None of it ended up being anything life threatening, but we were worried about the what-if’s. You may have read about our recent medical mayhem. If not check out the blog post Lessons Still to Learn at https://www.lorettaschoen.com/2019/gain-through-pain/2073/lessons-still-to-learn/. It was a double whammy and we were worried that he might have permanent vision loss and I had broken, fractured, permanently dismembered myself and would never be able to exercise again. At which point I would just cope by eating myself into oblivion. I am almost back to normal except for a toe which is still twice the size and negates any closed shoes with the exception of large, Mickey Mouse type sneakers.
Thad’s eyesight is returning slowly but he still has a bubble of gas in his right eye that makes him feel like he is looking through a fish bowl. And while the bubble level has gone down, it sloshes around as he moves. So there he and I are sitting in a doctor’s waiting room and he is jiggling his head back and forth, up and down. I ask him what he is doing and he tells me he is fascinated with the bubble and how it looks to see out of it.
“Stop it”. I chastised him.
“Why?” still shaking his head.
I started to laugh at him. “Cause we are in a waiting room and you look like an idiot and people think you should be waiting in a psychiatrist’s office rather than the urologist!” And I am reminded that I now sound like a mother scolding her child rather than her spouse. Although, honestly, sometimes mothers and wives have the same duties.
But it got me to thinking about how we handle stress. Not to say we weren’t scared when they told us there could be a chance he would only see black when he took the bandage off the day following surgery and should contact them immediately. Not that we didn’t worried if his eyesight would totally be restored. Or would I be his chauffeur forever?
But sitting there across from my husband as he played with the gas bubble in his right eye reminded me of how important it is to find the fun, the funny, and the fascination that life events can provide us. He gets this. My husband, a three time survivor of cancer, two stents in his heart and two shoulder replacements has found one of the secrets to handling fear and pain. Laughter.
Erma Bombeck is quoted as saying: “If you can’t make it better, you can laugh at it”. Thank you, Erma. I need to be reminded of that.
Thank you very much for reading my post. If you have found it encouraging please consider liking, commenting or sharing it. Feel free to comment here or even re-blog – may these words take flight!
I have additional insights I’d love to share with you found in the pages of my debut book: Surviving Medical Mayhem – Laughing When It Hurts. To order a copy or learn more go to my website at www.lorettaschoen.com
Blessings for Health & Wellness.