The way it was...

I have been doing a lot of thinking about the way things were prior to Woody's bicycle accident and his melanoma recurrence. This past week (March 15) was the six month "anniversary" of his bicycle accident...so guess that has had me doing a bit of thinking back over the past six months and also about times prior...doing some comparisons...and some wishing that we could go back in time and skip what we have just been through! I guess wishing for "the way it was!"

I mentioned in one of the earlier posts that I really do like to cook. And Woody likes me to cook as he really likes to eat (except at his sickest over these past six months). One of the things that I really don't like to do is clean up my cooking messes! Well, years ago Woody told me that if I would cook, he would clean up my cooking mess! Worked out very well...I did what I liked to do (the cooking)...Woody got to do what he liked to do (the eating)...and then he did what I didn't like to do (the dishes) which he claims that he actually enjoyed doing (I can't imagine!). And, by the way, he did all the dishes by hand. The dishwasher was only used by me. And, when the dishwasher was used, Woody usually helped me by putting away the clean dishes.

Well, all that changed six months ago when he became one handed/armed. I can still remember coming home from the hospital after his surgery on Sept. 15 sometime between 9 and 10pm. I had a rather messy kitchen awaiting me because Woody missed his "opportunity" that day since he had his accident around 4:30pm. So there I was looking at our kitchen...rather overwhelmed...rather tired since I had just waited several hours in a hospital waiting room with absolutely no one around since it was after hours in "sort of" a small hospital (especially when I compare it to Vandy--don't think that I would ever have been in a waiting room alone at Vandy!)...then had sat with Woody an hour or so after he was brought back to his room...even though tired, I was still very keyed up...so I decided to tackle the kitchen. I loaded everything possible into the dishwasher. Then I was faced with what couldn't be washed in the dishwasher and what wouldn't fit into the dishwasher. I'm not sure how long it took me into the night, but eventually I got the job finished. And, I was determined after that to stay on top of the messes and not let the dishes accumulate!

All that to say...the dishwasher has been a "saving grace" (using that term loosely) for me and had never been utilized in our household correctly prior to Woody's accident. Load the dishwasher...run it...empty it...start filling it up again as you dirty dishes...counters keep fairly clean! Imagine! Very simple!

One of the ways that I can tell that Woody is feeling some better is that occasionally I will find that he has emptied the dishwasher for me...and that happened more and more frequently this past week. So my kitchen co-worker is slowly returning--even though still one handed/armed!

By the way applying the "basil tea" to his itchy places seems to be working pretty well. Woody slept fairly well last night...he slept in the latest that he has in a very long time.