First of all, thank you to everyone for their good thoughts about Ellie and Dave. Like I have said in the past - they really do help. And Dave's finger is healing and Ellie seems to have pulled through the seizure intact. That's not the rant part.
Here goes - OK - how do I say this? First I wanted to do a quiz to ask people what they think it meant when I wrote that Dave could not lift Ellie? Because, surprisingly it's not obvious to all. I am sure parents of other quadriplegic children would be saying, "well dah!". But even people close to us don't seem to really understand the implications of one of us, Dave or I, being injured such that we can not pick up our 34 pound quad cp, seizure prone, dysphasic, refluxy, lovely, active, curious, loving, g-tube dependent child.
Why do I think it's not obvious to all? Well because of this suggestion I got from a friend after they chided me for taking on the teaching job (like I needed more chiding, come live in my brain for 2 seconds) about how to deal with all the stress:
"You should go away for a few days on your own to chill out."
Sigh.
I guess it's really hard to put yourself in someone else's shoes. I have always felt bad when I have been unable to do this well. And, of course, there are people living in situations that no matter how hard I try to imagine and empathize I will never truly understand what it's like for them. This must be an example of that. I never thought I was one of those people that is so hard to empathize with. Didn't realize that for some, our day to day normal was so beyond the pail. Maybe I should describe things better here on the blog? Maybe it doesn't matter? What do you think?
