I’m not good at this. I don’t nap. I don’t “relax.” Sure I take time for myself to get a pedicure or to go for a run, but take time to rest, that just doesn’t happen. I’m busy and I love it that way.

They say nurses make the worst patients. I’ve taken care of a few and they weren’t so bad. I’m really not a bad patient either because I will do what I’m told, but no one says I have to like it.

I hate this. I swore I wasn’t going to write about “the rib” today, but it’s all I can think about. I have forced myself to rest as much as possible since this happened. Monday and Tuesday were spent primarily on the sofa with breaks just to make meals and believe me they weren’t fancy meals.

Yesterday I took my pillows and heating pad outside and got comfortable on the deck so that Carlos could play outside for a while. He kept asking me to play baseball, in his sand box, cars, etc. My answer got redundant. He was hot, tired and apparently a little fed up with me and my “rib.” Suddenly he burst into tears and said, “I want the old Mommy back. I don’t like this one. I want the fun Mommy the Mommy who likes to do everything.” I couldn’t help but cry too. I grabbed my little boy so he wouldn’t see me crying and silently sobbed as I agreed, “I miss that Mommy too.”

I’m crying now as I write this. I know that I have to be patient. I’ve researched broken ribs on just about every reputable medical website I could find and some not so reputable websites (hey you never know where you might find a miracle!). The one common thread of advice for healing a broken rib is the same throughout – REST.

So rest I will. Who knows, maybe I will even learn to like it. Hopefully not too much because I have a marathon to run in January!!!