I'm a Lousy Nurse

After 9 days of constant whining, I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't keep asking my poor suffering husband to tell my how he was feeling. I couldn't keep pretending to be concerned about the numerous detailed aches and pains that have overtaken his entire existence since his dental surgery last week. I thought if I just kept being concerned, and interested, that he would eventually have had enough of whining and complaining. Like the theory about letting your kids eat all the sugar they want and they will eventually get tired of it? Well, he wasn't getting tired of it. In fact, the more I listened, the worse it got.

Understand that Clint is always talking about some malady. He's tired, or he has an upset stomach, or his knees are hurting, or his elbow is hurting, or his head is aching...It's always something. The thing is, usually I don't say much, because what am I supposed to say? I murmur something sympathetic, and then change the subject or go do something else, because in my view there's no point in dwelling on minor ailments. It's boring, pointless and a waste of time. But with his dental surgery, I thought I should make an effort and be really supportive, because it was pretty obvious that it was an awful deal. But I had no idea what I would be in for. Even when Gillian shattered her thumb and had surgery and pins she didn't complain like Clint has this past week.

Not only does he complain all the time, but he's constantly grumpy, and closets himself in the bedroom with the TV when he's home. I guess he feels he's too ill to give his kids any attention? So, finally I got irritated and told him what I thought. Told him I'd tried my best to be patient, but that I thought he needed to attempt to rise above this bummer mood and move forward, for all our sakes. He was pretty mad. Felt I was ungrateful, since he'd been doing hardwood flooring in spite of his suffering(for two days of the nine. He also fished two days, too.)

The next day, he was almost normal. Told me he quit taking the antibiotics, and felt much better. Said he thinks the antibiotics were making him feel ill. Then he left for a tournament. The question is, was he feeling better because he was getting better? Or because I quit coddling him? Or because I called him on his whiny behavior? Or because he quit taking antibiotics? Or because he got to go fishing?