The Blessing of Being Sick

Last updated on: May 29, 2011 at 11:16 am by Nancy Qualls-Shehata

The Blessing of Being Sick 2011-05-29T11:16:00-04:00 Nancy Qualls-Shehata

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Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim

Salaam Alaikum wa Rahmatullah

I took sick on Wednesday night. Not a cold sick, not even a feverish flu sick, or a yucky stomach-virus sick. This was a different sick.

About four in the morning I roused to nurse the baby and noticed that when I changed sides and turned my head I felt dizzy. I went back to sleep but by morning the vertigo was in full force. As soon as I stood up, the room started spinning and my stomach clutched with nausea. I was only able to stumble to my son’s room to wake him for school. I told him he had to get himself and his brother out the door without my help because I had to lie down. Then I went back to bed and just lay there, trying my best not to move my head at all. It was weird, scary, debilitating.

Now, I’m the kind of person who does not like to let stuff slow her down. I’ve been in my kitchen cooking and baking bread two days after having a baby. I walked around on a broken foot for three days before going to the doctor. It’s not in my nature to let something stop me, or to complain much when I am ill or hurting. Cut myself while peeling onions? Ouch, run it under cold water, slap on a bandage, and finish cooking dinner. So this was new. I was totally unable work through it. The moment I moved, the world started doing flip-flops and my stomach lurched. It was, in a word, misery. I couldn’t even get up to tell my husband I couldn’t get up. He wandered in after returning from fajr prayer and found me desperately clutching the bed, afraid to move. He knows that if I say I’m sick, I’m SICK, and if I say I can’t move, I’m not joking. He took the baby and left me to rest and took over running the household for the day, which is no small task. Customers would have to wait because he had food to dole out, diapers to change, fights to mediate – all that mommy stuff that he wanders around on the periphery of. MashaAllah, alhamdulillah, he jumped in and did what needed to be done.

The dizziness has lasted for two days and finally started abating on Saturday. On Friday night, I called my friend Cathy to ask if she would watch the kids if Sherif had to take me to the hospital. She, with her big heart and great organizational skills, immediately kicked into high gear and was willing to drop everything to help me, alhamdulillah. I made it through the night without making the call to go to the ER – Friday night on a long holiday weekend is NOT the time to need emergency services – but still on Saturday she came that afternoon with a warm hug and enough food to feed a brigade of soldiers for a week. I was as much relieved for Sherif as I was for myself, as he’d been doing all the work the last two days and seriously was in need of a break. By that time I was able to sit up without upchucking and was able to eat a bit, so it seemed the worst had passed, but it was certainly traumatic while I was in the middle of it. Even now, I still feel some dizziness when I move my head too fast and my balance is a bit off and I know I’m not up to snuff. I do plan to go to the doctor during regular hours and try to find out what’s behind this scary episode. In our household, my husband and I are always on call since we have our own business, and we don’t take days off. Losing two days of work can have a real financial impact on us. InshaAllah it will be a one-time thing and I’ll be back to normal soon so hubby can stop worrying and I can once again keep up with the kids. Alhamdulillah, we made it through with Allah’s help, and Cathy was a real blessing mashaAllah, and I know, I know, that my friends on Facebook who responded to my request for du’as had a big impact as well. Allah listens to du’as and responds to them and I had a lot of people in my corner. Jazaak Allah Khair to everyone who sent a kind thought my way, and the practical advice was helpful, too.

Well, I don’t want to spend too much time in front of the computer, so I’ll go now and rest, but inshaAllah I’ll be back in a while and have something witty to say. Just don’t invite me on any merry-go-rounds for a while. Like ever.

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