Whew! Now That That's Over!!

I suffered through the flu for over a week, followed by acute tonsillitis for two weeks, that had been misdiagnosed twice. Once I finally saw the ear, nose and throat specialists, and the proper procedure was done (without me hitting anyone in the doctors office for the pain they caused me) and the appropriate medicines prescribed I am now feeling 80% better than I did just yesterday. After 28 hours of labor pains and attempting to push out my small 5lb 7 oz 2 week early bundle of joy who is now 6 years old, that seemed like a cake walk compared to having 80% of my throat swelled shut causing excruciating pain and nausea for nearly two weeks. I realized the same thing most mother's, wives and business owners discover when they fall ill and have yet to duplicate themselves in business, I CAN'T AFFORD TO BE SICK!!! I missed blog postings, face book friends, and all other technology like the telephone because I couldn't speak. Sure I attempted to drag the laptop to my bed, but I had to lay in a certain position in order to breath. I would find myself waking up abruptly throughout the night because I had shifted positions and stopped breathing. Even a trip to the emergency room proved unproductive. My herbs weren't working, so I relied on al I could rely on, prayer.

I didn't want to totally coin my husband as useless when I'm ill, but there are some things I'm beginning to realize about his personality that you can only find out over time. First off he's a US Marine, so you can imagine there were days where I felt like I was in boot camp. Days where he felt if I just got up and moved around (despite my lack of oxygen) I would fight the illness better. Then there were those days he would not even check on me at all. One evening around 6pm when I hadn't had any water or liquid or food that day, I simply asked him to get me a bowl of cold cereal, he said if I wanted it I'd have to get it myself. He left the room, came back in a short time later eating a bowl of cereal. Most women at this point would have been calling their attorney, signing on the dotted line, and cutting her loses. LOL I must admit, it did certainly enter my mine (that or slipping him some of my meds into his cereal bowl when he wasn't looking). Then I stepped back and analyzed his behavior, as I mostly do with everything. How many times has he witnessed me defensively ill in the 5 years we've been together? Only twice. I had always worked through my minor illnesses. Even the one major occurrence that landed me in the hospital last year, I still refused to be admitted and was out within hours and the next day back to work. As a Marine, he is used to following specific orders that have a start and an end. This is not the case with illnesses. Each doctor we visited he attempted to diagnose me (with the irritation of the doctors, not really understanding his personality), attempting to get them to determine a time of how long it would take before I was well again. None of them knew, which added to his irritation. Everyday he'd walk over to my side of the bed and ask "Are you feeling better today? You look better today?" Meanwhile I still couldn't talk or breath without my special position. Then it hit me, he's a sprinter! He'll run really well and dedicated for a short period of time, then he becomes exhausted and looses heart. This doesn't mean we are fated to divorce in the next few years. I noticed this about his personality before marriage. I often joke diagnosing him with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), not for his lack of attention, but his attention to everything so much that it is difficult for him to focus on what is important. He has to stay active, doing something or he will become bored. While taking care of me is on his "to do list" taking 100% care of me, including daily needs is a challenge. Marriage is a grooming process that we both have to go through. I have to train him to take care of me the way I need to be taken care of when I sick. We don't like the word "train" as it relates to relationships, but we're perfectly accepting of the word as it relates to a job or special assignment. I watch George read countless manuals on how to fix things, but believes that there is no need to read a manual on how to make a marriage work. Most of us feel that same way.

We often conduct business in this matter. We don't create an operations manual for our businesses, thus if something happens to us, no one is able to step in and take over to keep things going. I'm guilty as well. I have let the lack of funding to hire an associate hold me back from continuing to go through the process of duplicating myself, which should never be the case. So several doctor visits and trips to the hospital later, as well as about 100 bucks down in meds, I get it!!! Whew, it could have cost me more, it could have cost me my entire business if I was down long enough. So let's get to work people! Let's get to work on this immediately. I'll make a pact with you, and you can join and follow my blog to let me know how it's going for you. By this years end we will have the rough drafts of our operations manual in place so that by the first quarter of 2010 we will be able to duplicate ourselves and continue in business no matter what may come. I vow to have the first few pages done by October 31. Let me know how you all are coming along.