In my case, whenever I eat, it truly is "dinner-to-go"!
Seems I eat more when I'm out than I do when I am in my very own home. Between working, raising my family, and helping my soulmate, I hardly have time to cook, so I usually eat what Carrie has prepared or eat when I am out doing my errands.
It truly is "dinner-to-go" now. Just got myself some jungle food from the vending machine: crackers (Saltines, if you please), two bottles of Seven Up, and for dessert, two apples. Real nutritious, I know .... not!! Yet it's better than starving halfway to death!
I am currently holed up here at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, here in Nashville, Tennessee, where I live. My daughter, Winnie, who is five, is in here because of aspiration pneumonia. She cannot chew or swallow and she happened to develop pneumonia. So she is now in the pediatric Intensive Care wing (PICU), where she is slowly (but steadily) improving.
Winnie has cerebral palsy. She is my special angel, my brave little soldier-girl.
My wife cares for her when I am at work, but when I am home, she's mine. I give Carrie a much-needed break. When Win is in the hospital (like now), we take turns; she stays with her during the day, but come four/five o'clock until 9:30/10:00 at night, it's Daddy-Time with Win. That way, Mommy can take care of our other child, seven-year-old Watson, and have a break from worrying, while I do hospital duty.
When Win is well, we both take turns. Winnie loves to be held, rocked, read to, sung to, tickled, and cuddled by us. We enjoy trying to make her laugh or smile; to us there is no sweeter music than the sound of our handicapped daughter enjoying herself.
It isn't fair that Win can't do a lot for herself, but by God, we will try do do everything possible to give her some semblance of a normal life. She deserves to have fun, just like any other child, and if people cannot get past her obvious physical issues, then they're the ones with the problem, NOT her OR us.
When Winnie is sick, our world tries to stop, but we are determined to keep on living. We do worry and fret, especially when she is not doing well or is having some sort of medical crisis. This is when our prayer angels go to work; we have a whole network of friends and family who continuously pray for Winnie and the prayers definitely do help because if it were not for that, Winnie probably wouldn't even be here as I speak!
Anyway, back to my story. I eat whatever I can find. Sometimes I don't have the time to eat, so people in the waiting room go and get me something to drink or snack on. I appreciate that; seems I eat more when I am worrying about Winnie. Or I go without eating altogether, which isn't good because I am diabetic and I have to eat, or else I am apt to run into trouble ... serious trouble that could jeopardize my health, let alone, my life.
Well, I am going to go and see Winnie. It's been a few hours since I last saw her; when I did she was sleeping. I wonder if she's awake now. I will write in here again soon with another update; hopefully next time I do she will be doing much better or at least will be out of the Intensive Care unit and in a regular room, ready to go home, where she belongs!
Take care and God bless! Say some prayers for Winnie; pray she gets over this latest bout of pneumnia! I (and Carrie) would greatly appreciate it! Thanks in advance!
~Dexter, Winnie's daddy, Nashville, Tennessee.
