Old Timer's Habits: “At least you have your Health”

“At least you have your Health”

This phrase “At least you have your Health” is another statement I heard often growing up. I usually heard this statement when listening to adults talk about all the bad things going on in their life. I used to wonder why a person being healthy was so important that it made whatever was going wrong not as bad if they were healthy. From my perspective as a child that seemed like something that was always there; like the sun coming up every morning, the moon coming up at night and the crickets chirping loudly when I was trying to fall asleep at night. Now that I am older I can see what all those adults I was listening to meant when they said “at least you have your health”.

My oldest daughter recently got a cold, or what I thought was a cold, she ran a fever, coughed and was really tired. I thought oh it’s just a bug from school, so we will push fluids and rest and she will be better in a few days. My mental attitude was that it was no big deal and at first I was right. She was sick, she pushed fluids and rested and her fever broke so I thought she was better.

A couple of days later she was acting sick again and this time her breathing was really labored. So I gave her a rescue in hailer treatment and kept an eye on her. We went to the park after that and she climbed on a bridge of the playground equipment and she just laid down. Now I was starting to get really concerned. When we got home she was still having trouble breathing except now her whole chest, stomach and shoulders were moving as she was breathing. Big warning bells starting going off in my head and I hurriedly finished dinner and got my other children off to bed. I took her in to the hospital and shortly after we arrived her ability to breathe on her own at acceptable levels stopped. The nurses put her on oxygen, gave her steroids to open up her lungs and lots of breathing treatments and she was still having a hard time maintaining an acceptable breathing level. At one point she was at running between 87-88 on 3 liters of oxygen and they were giving her breathing treatments as often as the medicine would allow.

At the time I stuffed down my own emotions about her having such a hard time breathing. My daughter was already scared and me processing my own fear would not have help, my emotions read across my face like text printed on a page. It is now about a week and a half later and I can take the time to process my feelings. They are not complicated, fear and sadness. Our oldest is like the sun for our family, she always finds a way to cheer up her siblings if they are sad. Making others happy is what makes her happy. She is just one of those people. Our family wouldn't be whole without her with us. I do know that she would still be part of our family if she had passed away but it still would have hurt like crazy. Who knows maybe my imagination is overactive but to me it’s not complicated, if you stop breathing you die.

Fortunately that did not happen. On the floor in the hospital she was staying on, all the kids were sick with the same virus and on isolation. I would see other parents when she was better walking with their kids and the portable oxygen tanks like us and the nurses told us that our kid was doing the best on the floor which made me wonder just how bad the others kids were. It felt like the nurses were in her room literally every thirty minutes adjusting her oxygen or doing something to help her. I really have no complaints, the nurses and doctors took great care of her and she is home now. She still gets tired and takes naps which she didn’t do before but she is home with us and going back to school which makes her happy.

In hind sight I have been really ungrateful for the good health that I have enjoyed my entire life. I know that my good health is a blessing from God that not everyone enjoys. Not even in my own family and I can now see why that is such a great gift and blessing to have your health. I am still tired at the end of the day but I really have no room to complain. I have the things I really need.