#meads

Sam Pinkett

Sam is great in a flare up but he really shines in prevention and daily pain management. Sometimes he’ll find me sleeping on the couch and instead of waking me, he’ll slide a throw pillow between my knees to relieve uneven pressure on my pelvis. When we cuddle, he makes sure one of his legs is between my knees or he’ll hook my leg around his hip. He’s essentially hyper aware of my knees and keeping them parallel to my hips at all times. He is always ready to intervene to make me more comfortable in the long run.

But all of this preventative work can’t keep the flare ups away entirely. When they eventually happen, he’s very attentive but not overbearing. Absolute king of snacks. Always willing to pop out and grab me a bag of Haribo! He does the majority of the cooking anyway but he misses me keeping him company in the kitchen. He keeps the meals simple and comforting for the benefit of both of us.

William Agar

He first witnessed a flare up when we were courting and I had to cancel an outing suddenly. At first, he took this as a rejection but was quickly reassured that it was my mobility that was waning and not my affection for him. He called out of work to ‘check on a patient’ and sat in a chair next to my bed to keep me company while still remaining proper. I spent a great deal of time admiring the flowers he brought me: a small bouquet of mint, passionflower, and hawthorn (denoting consolation for pain and hope for recovery in Victorian flower language). The white and purple blooms absolutely brightened my day! We set ourselves to quietly reading until he scoffed at my choice of Dickens. I rebuffed by attacking his phrenology text which led to a debate on the validity of the science (happy to say I eventually won him over).

John of Temple Meads (nickname Meads)

This courteous Gallant is amazing at massaging aches muscles! He buys odd Yonderland remedies and oils to rub into my hip and back to ease the pain. My favorite oil being one that alternates between heating and cooling multiple times in one application. It makes Meads’ hands feel strange for an hour or two after, but he doesn’t mind. He knows exactly how much pressure to apply with his deft fingers to relax the muscles without causing me too much pain.

If I need to get out of bed, he pulls me to his side and places his hand on my good hip. He doesn’t complain about how slowly I need to move even though he’s supporting almost all of my weight. What is most astonishing is that even after seeing me in this broken, dependent state, it doesn’t change the way he looks at me. The same admiration radiates warmth in his eyes, reminding me that he’s not going anywhere.

Chris

Chris is great with encouraging me to do my exercises and stretches mid-flare up. He knows how much I hate doing them on pain-free days, let alone bad days. If I struggle with completing a set, he’s always cheering me on with a ‘c’mon, just a few more!’ or doing the exercises right alongside, being sure to go the same pace as me. He enjoys helping with the stretches much more as they give a lot of opportunities for saucy jokes. If I let out a moan of pain or relief, he’ll say something like “oh I’ve heard that one before” with a cheeky wink. One stretch involves me on my back with my leg over his shoulder which lends itself nicely to a myriad of lewd quips. He uses every laugh he gets from me to push the stretch just a bit more. After all the exercises and stretches, he’s more than willing to microwave some popcorn and settle down for a good binge watch.

Ariel

Ariel is good with the muscle roller (essentially a bumpy rolling pin sent from hell). We both hate it since it causes me so much pain but know it has to be done for eventual relief. I lay on my side with my back to him and he starts working the knots out of my tense muscles. He thinks that since I can’t see him, I don’t know that he’s wincing along with me, but I do. He’s much sweeter than he’s given credit for. He holds me after, spooning me so I don’t have to move, while tracing soothing patterns on my side and pressing kisses to my shoulder and neck. This is the one treatment that can make me cry so he’ll busy himself with smoothing away the occasional tears as well.

Jamie

Jamie’s is MVP of flare-ups! Absolute champion! He’s armed with pain meds, ice packs, and heating pads. He has two timers constantly on the go, one for when I can take some more pain meds and another for when to alternate from ice to heat. He makes sure I have plenty of fluids to stay hydrated and is perfectly happy to lay beside me in bed all day. Not being at work stresses him out but he has his work laptop on his nightstand so he can do as much work as possible while I nap. It ends up falling to the wayside and he naps along with me, not realizing how much he needed a day off as well.

He doesn’t want to leave my side and he knows my favorite restaurant doesn’t deliver, so he sends Dave to pick up dinner. When it arrives, he puts on my favorite musical to watch while we eat and doesn’t complain about it at all despite his dislike for the genre.

Bonus because it made me laugh, Nanny La Roo