Update from the Hole: Day 17

Thankful Thursday - Thunderstorms & Wiggle Worm

It's thankful Thursday time! We all have so much to be thankful for and we love to take this opportunity just to write down each and everything that comes to mind. Please take this time to share with us what you're thankful for as well. If you have a blog expressing your thankfulness, please share the link! Without further ado, here's what we're thankful for:

Mandi's List:

I'm thankful that Ronnie's starting to feel a little better. He's not feeling 100% up to par, but any improvement is fine by me. We always know that the hospital is just the launching pad for getting PFTs up and getting back up to snuff. So I am so thankful that we have this launching pad and I'm thankful that we can work hard, together, to get his PFTs soaring in the near future.

I'm thankful for my little wiggle worm. As a paranoid first time mom, I often worry at the slightest change in feeling, movement, you name it. But the one thing that always reassures me that Peanut is healthy and happy is when she moves around. And let me tell you, this little love is a serious wiggle worm. This afternoon, after being moderately active all morning, peanut moved constantly for about 2 hours. She would stop for 1-2 minute stretches and then would be at it again. I absolutely love when she's moving because it reassures a worry wart like that she is doing well.

I'm thankful for thunderstorms. In Arizona, we don't get a ton of good thunderstorms. But I LOOOOOOVE thunderstorms. Something about the sound of rain on the windows, the booming of the thunder, the flashes of lightning is just so relaxing and beautiful to me. The last couple of weeks we've had quite a few thunderstorms, and man, I love it!! Not to mention I'm thankful that it's cooled it off around here - so the heat of the summer has subsided a bit and it feels great!

Ronnie's List:

I'm thankful for the exercise bike in my hospital room. Since I'm still not able to run with any sort of consistency, it's nice to have an option of a workout here in the Hole. Mandi and I still take walks everyday, but the bike gives me the opportunity to really get my heart pumping. In fact, I started to "back-flush" a little bit of blood into my PICC line the other day while biking because my heart was beating so fast!

I'm thankful for thai food. We had a little treat last night for dinner when my mom brought some thai food up courtesy of my grandma (thanks g'ma!!). Mandi and I love thai and we especially love a little hole-in-the-wall place that is very close to the hospital. I'll admit that I overate just a little bit, but I did resist more than I usually do.

I'm thankful for rain. It's been storming here in Tucson for the past couple of days and it's been absolutely great. I can hear the thunder crashing outside of my window and it's really cooled things off for the afternoon walks! Now, I'm glad that it's mostly sunny here in ol' good AZ, but having a little bit of rain is a nice treat once in a while.

So, what are you thankful for today?

Update from the Hole: Day 15

Update from the Hole: Day 14

Vacationing at Club Med...icine

As many of you have read in past posts, I happen to enjoy hospital stays (to a point...after a few weeks I can get a bit stir crazy). There are so many things we enjoy in the hospital together that I look forward to this time together. After being back home Thursday-Saturday (had an OB appointment and some work stuff), I was looking forward to getting back to the hospital to spend a lazy day with my hubby yesterday...and I was not disappointed. Yesterday was the type of "hospital day" I look forward to.

I started the day with a run/walk, which felt glorious because it was "chilly" out (about 75). When I got back from my workout, Ronnie had just finished his vest treatment and we were ready to eat. There is only one desired option for weekend morning breakfasts in the hospital, and that is none other than DUNKIN! So I headed to DDs to get breakfast sandwiches and coffee. We then downed our sandwiches while enjoying our favorite radio segments from Johnjay and Rich - War of the Roses and Second Date Update (google them...they're epic). We then proceeded to sit around ALL morning and afternoon and listened through a huge chunk of archived War of the Roses and Second Date segments. It was incredible. There's nothing like laying around all day listening to mindless radio segments while snuggled up with your hubby. We laughed at all the funny callers and jokes of the DJs, we shared stories and "what would you do ifs" as we put ourselves in their shoes...oh and of course we enjoyed some Crunch Berries as our "popcorn" for the show. We just laid around, laid around, and oh yeah, laid around some more. We did rest our ears for a bit while Ronnie did his 11 AM and 3 PM treatments - he played video games and I napped. We snuck in a quick walk in the afternoon, but that was the extent of our physical exertion for the day, and it was amazing!! After hours of laying around and snuggling, Ronnie's mom and brother brought us a yummy soup for dinner and we topped off the night with my new favorite hospital tradition: fresh baked cookies from the cafeteria!

It was the most amazing day after. There is nothing better than having the excuse to lay around and enjoy my hubby's company. As I laid there this afternoon something really hit me though. I realized that days like these are likely coming to an end. Hospital stays will now become a time of increased responsibility for me verses a "vacation" from our reality. I found myself a little sad at the thought, but that sadness was quickly replaced with excitement. I couldn't help but wonder, "what new hospital traditions will we come up with for Peanut to enjoy?" I got excited about Peanut and I bringing daddy Dunkin together. I visualized Peanut going for IV pole rides. I thought about the fun Disney movies we'll watch together, the 3 of us snuggled in the tiny bed together. I cannot believe that this is our last hospital vacation just the two of us, and while that's a bit sad and scary, I find myself SO eager to see how the next hospital stay looks like with the 3 of us!!!! Let the new traditions begin!