I'm a good Dad


In 1998 I was having some severe eye problems . My left eye had become very red and swollen. This had happened to me 2 years earlier and I hoped it was a one time thing. The doctors had both times given me high doses of Prednisone to take. I can attest that it's one of the most vile medicines ever invented by man. Even worse then the extreme side effects was the fact that the second time I was on it , it didn't work. The doctor (whom I'm reasonably sure studied under the Marquis De Sade) had to go to more extreme measures. But that alone will take a few blogs.
I went to see some other doctors who informed me that I had something called Ankylosing Spondylitis (). This explained my aches and pains, and why I'd been limping since I was 20. The long and the short of it is many of my bones are fusing together. My hip bones have already fused to my pelivic bones. If it sounds painful I can assure you ,....it is. One of the other symptoms is a hardening of the ribs. Which means that my ribs do not expand as much as normal. In point of fact there are days when breathing hard causes pain. My worst fear on those days is a sneeze.
You probably never think of the force of your sneezes. Your ribs expand violently outwards. That's what they are designed to do. Sadly whoever designed my ribs seemed to have been the same guy who designed the Maginot Line. ( If you don't know what that is don't worry. It's French. That should tell you all you need to know) Sneezing can cause me scream , or for even short periods, pass out. I dread a sneeze worse then a visit from some nut with a little bible. I've come to dread the future and what it will bring. I've come to the conclusion that I'll die sneezing.
However today I found something far worse then a sneeze.
A hiccup.
Don't laugh. It's not nearly a powerful as a sneeze, but there are so many of them. A hiccup is also very fast. I can't recover from one hiccup before the next is on me. I was downstairs laying down on my couch watching the Bears be crushed by the 49ers ( the last I saw the score it was 982 to 7 or something like it) when the hiccups came. The first few weren't bad , but within a minute I was in so much pain I had rolled off the couch and was now asking God to just kill me.
And he tried.
He sent my 4 year old into the room.
Isaac heard me making noise and came down from his room. He saw me rolling around on the floor, making funny noises and must have thought,"Dad wants to play!" So he jumped on me. He started rolling around on the floor with me , smashing into me very hard.
This is also very bad for me.
And this is what makes me a good Dad. Instead of yelling at him and frightening the little guy, I let my son play with me. The more I made hiccupping noises the more he laughed. He really loved the sounds that came out of me as he rammed his head into my rib cage. 20 endless agonizing minutes later my oldest son Ethan came home from spending the night at my mother-in-laws house. Isaac hearing his big brother was home ran off to play with him. I dragged myself into the kitchen and took 5 extra strength Advil.
I felt very proud of myself. I don't want Isaac or Ethan to worry about me. I also don't want them to hear me yell and scream like my Dad. So I was proud of myself. If not for the vast pain I would have patted myself on the back. I gave my son 20 minutes of laughter and joy and all it cost was extreme debilitating pain , and I'm sure a few years off my life.
I'm so proud that as I sit here and type this I look forward to the future. I look forward to a very few short years to a Halloween night when I take Isaac trick or treating with a copy of Orson Well's War Of The Worlds playing in the cd player