Tag Team Parenting and a Ganglion Cyst

Last night was one of those nights where I was so thankful Jay and I practice tag team parenting. You know-when one spouse recognizes the other one is at their breaking point with a particular child so they step in and take over. It gives the other parent a moment to decompress and in our case where this revolves a lot around homework – it helps Cade to have a change in homework help.

Last night was definitely one of those nights I was on the edge of losing my mind with Camryn. I really haven’t experienced this much with her yet. Normally I can take the fussing because I’ve learned to block it out, but yesterday was a just a series of things that led to me not being able to handle her constant crying. I’d say it started yesterday morning, but honestly she and I have spent a lot of time together the last month. Not that I haven’t enjoyed it, but with Jay being gone so many weekends to cattle shows it’s been me and her hanging out together. So I haven’t had much down time….then she woke up at 5:30 yesterday morning and I didn’t get to have my normal quiet time before work. Then she fussed all morning while I was getting ready for work. Then I got to work and had to go to a 4 hour (pointless) meeting in Springfield. That was a stressor in itself….my bra was irritating me, my dress was getting on my nerves, one section got drug out entirely too long (with no potty breaks), I had to take one of my earrings out because my ear puffed up and got really sore, I had a sweater over my sleeveless dress and I was so hot, I was also having (as if you couldn’t tell) some hormonal issues which was making my entire body hurt, I kept having to call my pharmacy to see if they had got the prescription request my doctor was supposed to have sent Monday, said doctor didn’t return my call so I had to call them 3 times before I got a response AND my left wrist really hurt. Really, really hurt.

By the time I got home yesterday I was worn out. And again my wrist hurt. It is right on the part of it where I have to bend it when I’m holding Camryn and rubs against her constantly. After being home about 10 minutes with me Jay volunteered to take Camryn with him to football practice. I didn’t put up much of a fight and let him take her. I needed the time to decompress a little. As they were pulling out of the driveway I was yelling at him to take them to McDonald’s after practice. I wasn’t up to cooking while they were gone.

After I had some deep breaths and some veg out time on the couch I felt much better. I got up and picked up the house and the term Ganglion Cyst popped in my head. I googled it and I think that may be what is making my wrist so sore. It is exactly in the same spot where they are most common and I can feel a bump there. It also says they can be very sore when they first appear. And repeated use of the area can make it sorer. I’m used to my hands, arms, neck, shoulders hurting due to their constant use right now, but this was a different hurt. Did you also know those are called Bible Cysts?

So here is a deep dark confession….Do you know why they are also called Bible Cysts? That is because sometimes if you hit them with something heavy (like a Bible) they will burst. I was home alone, my wrist was really hurting….I decided what the heck….it wasn’t like it was going to hurt any worse than it already did. Totally wrong thinking on my part. I logically got what I thought was our heaviest Bible out and tried it. It was too awkward to do much good. Then I grabbed my latest Mary Higgins Clark library book and realized it was the perfect size. I wacked my really sore wrist really hard with the book. It is a wonder Jay didn’t come home to me passed out on the floor. I seriously saw stars from it. Apparently my wrist could hurt worse than it already did. But once the initial pain subsided and I started breathing normally again – it actually didn’t hurt as bad as it did earlier in the day.

It is still sore this morning, but not like it was yesterday. I can still feel a bit of a bump there but Jay thinks it is smaller than it was pre-book bashing. So since it doesn’t seem to be bothering me nearly as much I’m moving it to my “something to keep my eye on and call the doctor if it doesn’t get better in X number of weeks” list. I think maybe I might have made my great-great grandparents really proud with my home remedy….except they probably would have suggested a hammer….

By the time Jay got home with already fed kids I was in much better spirits. My wrist didn’t hurt as bad and no one had needed anything from me for 2 hours. I was even up to helping Jay out by taking Camryn to our room so he could watch the Republican Convention that I had lovingly recorded for him while he was at practice. Thank goodness I had that down time earlier – otherwise I wouldn’t have handled Camryn spinning around and getting dizzy then puking up curdled milk on our bed nearly as well as I did last night.