Saturday, October 2, 2010

I'm so thankful...

I'm so thankful for the time I just spent babysitting my little cousins.

I'm so thankful that my runs have gone better than expected this week.

I'm so thankful to have a wife I can't get enough of.

I'm so thankful that I can get back to church.

I'm so thankful that I have family in the neighborhood now.

I'm so thankful that the "cool air" is starting to find it's way into AZ.

I'm so thankful that Mandi surprised me with a mowed lawn when I got out of the Hole.

I'm so thankful that I have little brothers who love me.

I'm so thankful that I only coughed up blood once this week.

I'm so thankful for new medications.

I'm so thankful for job opportunities.

I'm so thankful for friends who value my opinion.

I'm so thankful for second chances.

I'm so thankful for my neighbor.

I'm so thankful an upcoming trip.

I'm so thankful my God.

I'm so thankful for all of our many blessings.

I'm so thankful that I have a blog in which to share what I'm thankful for.

I'm so thankful...

What are you thankful for today?

Workout Week In Review

Here's a little update about my workouts this last week...

Monday - I had a short walk, short as in 15 minutes, before my Pulmonary Function Test. They also sprang me from the Hole on this day. Yippee!

Tuesday - First day out of the Hole, so I wasn't expecting much. We decided to really push and run/walk a preselected route in which we did not know the distance. It went better than I expected it to go.

Distance: 2.35 miles Time: 40:00 Pace: 17:00

Wednesday - Selected a new, shorter route with the hope of improving my pace. Had some blood issues about 2 minutes into the run, but it never got that bad so I pushed through. This was a sprint/run/walk and I improved my pace by almost 2:30 minutes!

Distance: 1.8 miles Time: 26:00 Pace: 14:27

Thursday - Decided that I would sprint/run/walk the same route with the hope of bettering my pace from the day before. Mission accomplished.

Distance: 1.8 miles Time: 22:23 Pace: 12:26

Friday - Last workout before the weekend and this one was a doozy. I accompanied Mandi on her 4 mile run...but let me point out that I was on a bike. Nevertheless it was a 44 minute bike ride followed immediately by a sprint/run/walk of my own. I didn't really know what to expect, but I must say, I was pleased with the results.

Distance: 1.8 miles Time: 20:52 Pace: 11:35

All-in-all it was a great week for me. Only had one small bout with hemoptysis that seemed to just take care of itself. I was able to improve my pace everyday which I am very proud of. I'm hoping the trend will continue.

By the way, I also track all of my workouts on a site called dailymile.com. If you'd like to become my friend on there so we can challenge each other and hold one another accountable in our workouts, go to http://www.dailymile.com/people/RonnieS to join and become my friend!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Flash Me Friday - "Fall Decor"

This week's addition of Flash Me Friday calls for pictures of our "fall decor". We live in Arizona. There's no such thing as fall, let alone, "fall decor". I went back into the picture vault and found some pictures of the last time I did what I would consider a "fall activity". This counts right??











Are you interested in also participating? This brainchild of Jen over at The Groettum Family blog is going to be a weekly series in which we have to take a picture of her choosing without any cleaning up whatsoever. If you want in on the action, please visit here for the "rules".

Thursday, September 30, 2010

What the _____?: September 30th, 2010

A while ago we started a little contest on this blog in which I post a picture and whoever comes up with the most clever/funny/witty/etc caption gets put into a drawing for prizes at the end of the year. Still don't have everything figured out as of yet, but we do know a couple of things 1) There will be multiple prizes 2) I love the participation so far 3) If you think your submission is inappropriate for others to see, you can always email your answer directly to me at ronnie@cysticlife.org :) 4) I've literally LOLed all weeks so keep it coming!


Alright, what do ya got!?!?

Last week's photo with the winning caption:

GracePhoto.jpg


1st: "2nd base means you touch MY ta-ta's...not yours!"
submitted by Lisa Dwyer

2nd: "You think if i squeeze them together they will touch?"
submitted by Jessi

3rd: "What do you mean, I play too many video games? You mean my hands aren't SUPPOSED to be like this??"
submitted by Mindy

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Goal Was Failed, but Not My Mission

It was off to the races on my first full day out of the Hole. Let me first just say that it was absolutely awesome to wake up next to my wife in our own bed and not look over to my left and see her sleeping on a hospital cot. It was also simply splendid to take a shower in my own shower and make coffee just the way I like it first thing in the morning. But enough about that as I'm sure most of you either know what I'm talking about, can imagine what I'm talking about or you're simply sick of me talking about it.

All of those things were great, but what I was most excited for was being able to run in my neighborhood. We moved into this house after we were married (May 22nd) and the only running I had done was on a treadmill at the local gym due to the fact that it was hotter than the sun's surface outside most days. We would ride our bikes and drive through the neighborhood often, but believe it or not, I actually dreamed of one day running through it. That was a big part of this last hospital stay.

My lungs weren't doing terrible when I checked in, but I was having issues with bleeding. Every time I would push my self in the gym, on the treadmill or on the StairMaster, I would cough up blood. No bueno. I didn't get it taken care of right away cause I "wasn't that sick" and I figured it would eventually stop. Well, after two months it hadn't stopped and I was now sicker. It got to the point where I found it hard to keep up with working out and leisurely bike rides. That's when I knew I had to get in and get this taken care of once and for all. Fortunately for me, I didn't wait until my lung function was down in the dumps to get in. I've done that a few times before and I can promise you that it never turns out well. Anyways, got in, got out, and now I'm ready to roll.

So today for my run I had a pre-marked path in mind that I was going to try and conquer. The loop I picked out was 2.3 miles long and this morning when I woke up I had dreams of running it all the first time out. I felt good starting out. The sun was setting, the air was cool and my lungs felt open.

After .5 miles, I couldn't run any further.

That's ok though. I started to walk to catch my breath and get my legs back up under me. I let one song go by and then it was off to the races again. All told I ran/walked for about 40 minutes. 16 of those I ran. I've got to say, I didn't conquer the vaunted course like I had in my dreams, but here's the deal, I will. When I first started running 18 months ago I couldn't run for .1 miles. Now, I was able to run .5 at a much faster pace the first day back. Not bad at all. I'll take that every day of the week.

So here's my mission. I want to be able to run that 2.3 mile loop straight in 4 weeks. I want to increase my FEV1 from 70% to 75% over that same period of time. Mandi is going to sign me up for a 5k in late December/early January that I will run at length and under a pre-determined time. So there it is. That's what WILL happen over the next few months. Why? Because I will stop at nothing to see this through. No excuses.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

I'm Back and I'm Coming Out Swinging!!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Our PERFECT New Neighbors

I've had a secret dream ever since I was little. My dream was that my brother and I would be next door neighbors when we were older. I had it all planned out. Me and his wife would be best of friends. And our kids would be similar ages; running back and forth from house to house in their diapers playing all day long. And of course they'd be in school together, and we'd take turns driving them or walking them all to the bus stop.

I always thought my dream was a bit unrealistic. We moved around a ton as kids, so in my mind, that's just what people do - they move. How would it be possible to happen to move to the same places at the same times? Also, it's not like we grew up in a small town that generation after generation stay in, filling the shoes of their parents. So even though I wanted my dream to come true, the realistic side of me (a VERY small portion of my being) gave up on my dream.

Well, this weekend, my dream came true. Josh and Chrissy bought a house in our neighborhood, within walking distance. They closed on the house last week, and Saturday was move-in day. Their house is unbelievably beautiful (I saw the inside for the first time Saturday when I went to help them unpack), and it suits them. It has an awesome backyard that is perfect for grilling and sitting out enjoying some music. It has a great study that will be perfect for Josh to study and work from (he's going to ASU to get an MBA right now while working full time as an engineer for Honeywell). It has a kitchen fit for a chef - Chrissy isn't technically a chef, but with as good as her cooking is, she should really look into it. Their furniture looks PERFECT in the different rooms. All in all, they couldn't have made a better selection. But even with ALL of that, the thing I like most about their house is that they're our neighbors!!

Here's to unrealistic dreams coming true!!
(Sorry, that was a cheesy ending, but it was just too easy!!)

Sunday, September 26, 2010

What's in a Google? WHY DO HOSPITALS

Here's something I started a while ago on RSBR, cause as we all know, the weekends are slow around here. I call it "What's in a Google?". It's simple really; type one word into Google and see what the magic bot suggests for you. Once in a while, you can get some pretty funny suggestions. What's crazy, is I'm pretty sure that it means these are the most common searches.

Word: why do hospitals

Top suggested searches:

why do hospitals charge so much
why do hospitals use pagers
why do hospitals cost so much
why do hospitals smell
why do hospitals close
why do hospitals merge
why do hospitals serve jello
why do hospitals outsource
why do hospitals have visiting hours
why do hospitals gowns open in the back

I thought this was pretty fitting...