20 Hours

20 hours is how long my wife slept over the weekend. The insomnia, stress and our crazy life finally caught up with her. After falling on our trip to Thanksgiving and breaking a bone in her hand, we have both been very aware of the toll our current life is taking on her body and MS. On our trip back to Texas we were walking across a parking lot when a speed bump got the better of her. She thought she lifted her foot high enough, but it caught her foot and she wasn't able to react fast enough and hit the pavement. She hit the side of her face, bruised her shoulder, side and hip, and felt like she might have broken her hand.

After having her hand x-rayed, she found out she had a broken bone in her hand. Her body is still sore even this long after Thanksgiving, but it finally seems to be going away. In addition to her hand, we have been swamped with trying to take care of things at the children's home. This time of year is great for donors to think about us and support the Home, but that also means that we all have to work overtime to keep up with the groups that want to come to the Home. My wife has been the contact point for all of these groups and that has put a lot of extra stress on her. Since our Home is 100% privately supported by individuals that want to help kids, this time of year is vitally important and my wife is not one to hold back. She has been giving 110% and working everyday and most evenings.

Since Thanksgiving, we have only had a few days off so it has really stressed both of us. Her body began to show the stress through insomnia, fatigue, mood swings, brain fog and other issues. She kept the numbness away with regular massage and chiropractic, but the other symptoms weren't going away. So, over the weekend she laid down and slept for hours and hours. We know how important this is and are willing to shut down things when they need to so that she can let her body recover. She is doing much better today, and this week will be much less stressful. We are even planning on taking the whole last week of the month off to recover and take a break. This time of year is tough, and we are trying to be vigilant about resting, watching the stress and making sure we take care of our health.