Cassie's Recovery

April 13, 2012

Cassie's Recovery

Daphne and Millie playing in their matching Easter outfits

On Tuesday I went up to help Cassie Jo take care of her three sweet babes while she was/is attempting to recover from having 8 inches removed from her intestines. I feel that I can empathize with her completely, as I know how horrendous stomach surgery can be due to my c-section with Daphne. In some ways, it was very gratifying to hear Cas say that this recovery process has been hands down more difficult than natural child birth. I know no one gets trophies for pain, but it was just nice to hear some validation that what I went through was extremely difficult.

Daphne and Emmett

Right now Cassie is in a lot of pain, both physically and emotionally. How heartbreaking would it be to have your year-old babe straining in her Daddy's arms to get to you, reaching out and crying for Mama, but not allowed to have her because she is too heavy to hold? It will be another 5 weeks until she can lift little Amelia on her own or vaccuum or do laundry. That is, 5 weeks until she's approved to do those tasks, but in my case it was another 4 months before I didn't feel like crying every time I felt a strain on my incision. This recovery is going to be a long road, but I'm grateful to be able to cheer her on from the sidelines and encourage her that one day she really will feel practically normal again.

Entertaining the babies - I didn't know this picture was being taken

Since my family was down for Easter when the unexpected surgery took place, Mom and Grandma Ellsworth were able to stay for the rest of the week and help take care of the kids. Although I was only able to go up for 2 days this week, it was a lot of fun to play with the kids and help alleviate the pressure on Mom. Next week, I plan to go up again for a couple of days and it will be interesting to see how I do with all 4 kids on my own! I've just got to think of it as on the job training. ;)