Does it have to be that sticky, really?

Okay, so Craig came home from the hospital with a light dressing on his back that was supposed to be removed before we left, but wasn't. I should have said something, but I also knew he'd rather have me carefully remove it than them pull it off. The PT assistant mentioned that nail polish remover was good for removing tape residue so I soaked cotton balls in that, then applied them to the edges of the gauze bandage. It came off like butter, but left all the sticky stuff on his skin. After 45 minutes of trying to clean it off I gave up and ran for the Goo Gone. Five minutes later the job was done, but now my back hurts from bending over the bed to scrub him clean.

Yesterday was my first day back at normal life. It was refreshing to empty the dishwasher, do laundry, pick up around the house and think about grocery shopping. I couldn't leave the house until Tom got home since Ellen was still in Lafayette with her friends, but it just felt good to be out of the hospital. I arrived there at 5:20 on Tuesday morning and except for a 2-hour stint on Saturday afternoon when I ran home to get some stuff done, I didn't leave until Sunday afternoon at 2:30.

Craig is hanging in there. I try to get him up 4 to 5 times a day. Up is painful for him, but it is important to the healing process. Every movement involves stretching or pulling a back muscle somewhere and everything is tight so he needs help doing most things. It's kind of like having a new baby again. He pages me a couple of times during the night to give him pain med, turn him, give him a drink or have someone comfort him. During the day he prefers to be lying in bed where it is most comfortable, but it gets boring pretty fast. He can't move his head very well yet so reading, watching TV or pretty much anything else is out for now. He can feed himself if I spear the food on the fork for him or if I put the plate on his belly. He laughed for the first time yesterday when his friend came over. It was good to hear it.