Wednesdays have been my husband’s day off of work for the last twenty years. It is our weekend. We stay up late on Tuesdays and sleep in on Wednesdays. We walk the dogs, hang out, buy a paper, eat lunch, go to a matinee, or stay home. The staying home part has earned the designation “Naked Wednesday.” Because of this, most people know not to call or stop by on a Wednesday. Even if we’re not naked we’re probably not going to answer. I think this Wednesday ritual is what has kept our relationship strong after so many years. I wish more couples had a “Wednesday.”

This past Wednesday was not a Wednesday. My son was scheduled for sinus surgery so my husband was working for him. We had to be at the hospital by 7:30 am for check-in and pre-op. I know it’s just surgery on sinuses and a million people that you know have had this surgery, but this is still my kid and they were gonna cut him. I think I handled it very well, as did he, but it was still scary. Do you know where the sinuses are? We got to see slides from his scan—there are sinus pouches between your eyes and your brain. Do you want someone digging between those two vitals?!

THIS IS NOT A WEDNESDAY.

His surgery went fine, no complications. He was awake but suffering the effects of the amnesia sedative. He was pretty entertaining, we had fun with plans to improve the pain chart. By the time the meds wore off enough for us to take him home to my house to rest, it was about 3 o’clock. There was very little swelling, even less bruising and minimal discharge.

Barely two hours later I got a call from my daughter’s boyfriend. She’d been in a bad car accident. The emergency crew had just taken her to the hospital.

THIS IS NOT A WEDNESDAY.

Yanking on my shoes as I checked my pockets for car key and cell phone, I told Zach and his girlfriend that I had to go– Nicole’s been in an accident. White knuckled and stiff armed, I drove from DeKalb to Rockford on cruise control for fear of speeding, (I do not have time for a ticket!) telling myself she’s fine, she’s fine, she’s fine.

THIS IS NOT A WEDNESDAY!

When I got to the emergency room, her boyfriend was there, as were his parents. (I thought that was very considerate!) Nicole was strapped to the board with a neck brace on. Her car had been hit on the passenger side and she had slammed into the driver side door hard, her left side bruised, swollen and abraded. For all of the horrible visions a mother has clogging her brain with such limited information and too much time to think, she looked damn good. Her nose and lip were swollen; there were a few scrapes on her face. She was crying a little, apologizing a little, and joking a lot. When they asked her how she felt, she would groan and say, “Ugh, I feel like I just got hit by a car.”
(I thought, she’s about a six on the pain chart, or a @#$! on the Lamphere revised version.)

After a battery of tests and scans that all came back clear, she was released. She’s going to be very sore and achy for a few weeks. And by today I’m sure she’s blooming in all the colors of spring—blue, purple, red, yellow and green.

After ten+ hours in the hospital on NOT A WEDNESDAY, I am glad that I only have two kids! But mostly I’m grateful that they’re both going to be fine.

TWNAW

Being a parent can be scary. And no matter how old they are, how independant they are, or how far away they live, they’re still your children.

It’s been a very long couple of days.
Is it Wednesday yet?