This past week I noticed my husband was limping. I asked him, “Are you o.k. baby?” and he said, “Yes baby, I’m fine…” A couple of days passed and he started to get quiet. That was my cue; I knew something was going on. Yet, I asked him if he was feeling well but he answered again, “Yes baby, I’m fine…,” as he stretched and squatted in the family room letting out quiet grunts and muffled curses.
Around seven o’clock on Friday evening–after playing 18 holes with some business partners–he limped into our bedroom and dropped on the bed. I asked him again, “Are you o.k. baby?” even though I thought I was going to get the same B.S. answer, but this time he admitted, “I screwed up.” Then, he showed me where the pain was and that it was radiating from his groin down to his knee.
I went to my medicine cabinet and took the Bio Freeze spray out and said to him, “This is like liquid ice. I use it on my knees all the time. You’ll feel better.” Sure enough he did feel relief, but a few minutes later something else started burning and he said with his eyes wide open, “Great honey, now my balls are on fire!“
By Saturday morning, this poor man was still limping and really pissed. He went to the store and bought an Ace Bandage and some first aid tape. He wrapped his thigh at the top with all his might and then taped it. Our four-year-old son, our two dogs, and yours truly stared at the leg waiting for it to turn purple. “Oh! This feels great! I can even work out now!,” he said to me and started jumping like a boxer. I said nothing.
Not even 30 minutes later, he took the bandage off and filled up a gallon Ziploc bag with ice cubes, and sat on his chair with the bag on his groin moving it regularly to avoid freezing “his jewels.” That’s how he finished the day: sitting on ice and quiet.
After watching my husband suffer in silence this Holly Week, I learned a few lessons from him:
1.) It is better to die than being called a sissy. My husband prefers ripping muscles and shredding tendons before compromising his pride in front of his friends. Hence, pride is a powerful force.
2.) A normal human being would stop working out if shooting pain starts. In the contrary, my husband keeps going until it kills him. That’s how I love him, to death, regardless if it it makes me want to kill him once or twice… a week!
3.) Know your limitations. No matter how young we feel in our minds, our bodies will show that years have passed, and that no matter how fit you look on the outside, everything needs a little W40 on the inside.
4.) He would be a great undercover CIA agent under torture. Darn, he sure can take pain!
Thanks for reading and sharing.
Xiomara Spadafora
Good crazy woman 