Thankful Thursday - Salty & Sweet

Know what time it is? 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. as I mentioned, I no longer have the "linkytools" but I invite you to share your thankful blog in the comments section. Without further ado, here's what we're thankful for:

Mandi's List:

I'm thankful for runs. I am finally able to run again now that my ovaries have shrunk back down to their proper size. I am slowly working back into it, but yesterday I was able to get a 2.5 miler in and it felt SO good. I'm hoping I can continue to work up to running 3-4 at a time, but I'm just so thankful that I can run at all!

I'm thankful for my Harkins Loyalty Cup. It's a cup you pay for at the beginning of the year, and then you get $1 drinks when you go to the movies. And while I'm thankful for that aspect, I'm more thankful that I've had a HUGE cup to drink out of around the house. It's a 32 oz ginormous cup and I've been drinking water out of it all day long. This wonderful cup has helped me drink a TON of water each day! And I'm sure peanut is thankful too.

I'm thankful for tradition. I got up early on Friday morning to watch the royal wedding and I found it all so awesome. I just think all the tradition is so fascinating. I am thankful there is such thing as live television and that I got to watch it all, just like I was there! Side note: Kate may be the most beautiful woman ever!!

Ronnie's List:

I'm thankful for a giving wife who speaks my love language better than any other. If you have no clue what I'm talking about in terms of love languages than you should check out the book The Five Love Languages. It's basically helps you narrow down how you receive love from another person and what you identify as "love". I forget my two main love languages, but I know one of them, acts of service. I feel loved when Mandi is willing to do stuff for me. Tonight was a perfect example of that; I really wanted something sweet and she offered to make me something. I didn't ask for it, but ended up snacking on Golden Graham treats made from scratch. Got to love it! Thanks babe!!!

I'm thankful for sweat. I may not always be thankful for the natural shower that my body gives me once in a while, but today, it was welcomed. Whenever I'm in the gym, I love to sweat. I once heard someone call it a "liquid confirmation that you are working hard" and I couldn't agree more. When I start really sweating in the gym I always get an extra burst of energy cause it feels like I'm "reaping what I sow" so to speak. Today I had a light grey shirt on which turned dark grey by the end of my workout - sort of the icing on top.

I'm thankful for my hospital including me in their CF Taskforce meeting. Basically, my hospital is trying to make the hospital a more enjoyable experience for all parties involved - CFers, nurses, dietitians, etc. They threw together a task force to look at certain issues that may happen during a hospital stay and figure out ways to improve upon the deficiencies. What was cool, was that I got an inside peak into "non-patient" issues and was able to look at certain issues as a healthcare provider. To really understand a lot of the issues we face in the hospital you've got to see it from both sides. I'm fortunate that I was able to hear from their perspective and I can only hope that I added value and a true patient perspective on my end.

So, what are you thankful for today?

Thankful (again) for Clinical Trials!!!

It's been long overdue and I think it's time for a Thankful Thursday...

I'm thankful for the advances in CF medications. Yesterday I had the opportunity to be pre-screened for a clinical drug study for a new anti-inflammatory. The hope is that this new drug will have all of the benefits of other anti-inflammatory medication with none of the drawbacks. I for one am really crossing my fingers that I get the drug. I have a 66% chance so the odds are in my favor, but you never know. Nevertheless, I'm just thankful for the opportunity to do the trial and hopefully be a small part of something much bigger. I've heard from other fibros and cysters in the community who feel that they were randomized the drug, that it kept them healthy for longer and made it easier to breathe. I'd love a piece of that.

I'm thankful for the rainstorm I drove through on my way to Tucson. As we made our way to Tucson, it was raining kittens and puppies. I had my wipers on full speed and it barely made a dent (that is rare for these parts). I was saying to Mandi that this was the first time I've seen a rainstorm first hand for about 5 months. Now, I'm a clear blue skies and a bright orange sun kind of a guy, but I must admit, I'd love for the skies to open up again and let it rain. We haven't experienced a rainstorm together in our first house and it's something I'm definitely looking forward to.

I'm thankful I'm not a landscaper. I have SO MUCH respect for the guys and gals that choosethat profession here in Arizona, heck, anywhere. I may have sweat 15 gallons of sweat while mowing the lawn yesterday. Here's the problem though, it was slightly overcast, with a breeze and the coolest it's been while the sun is going down for at least the last 2 months. Still,

I was barely able to open my eyes to mark out my path because of the mixture of liquid and salt pouring into my eyes. I made it through the torture and even had the courage to edge using the weed whacker, but then the old trusty blower wouldn't start. Now I have grass clippings kicking it all over my sidewalk. I can't tell you the level of frustration I felt on my 135,009th pull to try and get that stupid blower started. I finally gave up and swept all of the grass clippings off with my sandal. I'm so thankful I'm not a landscaper.

93 Floors, Throwing Up, and Putting Out Fires

6:00am: I absolutely did not want to get out of bed this morning. My body AND mind still felt tired from yesterday. I'm looking forward to the weekend, which means I'll get ONE day off of the gym. Maybe I can sneak in a Sunday afternoon nap as well. Then again, I'll be hanging with my little brothers this weekend, so the activity level will probably be ramped up a bit. I'll see if I can convince them to do an early morning hike with me on Saturday or something.

I felt bad that J Bell didn't get a walk yesterday, so I knew that instead of the gym this morning that I would take her around the block. So I took a few swigs of Powerade and off I went (that becomes important in a bit). I felt good in the very beginning of the walk and was able to move some stuff up, but I started to have a really deep cough about five minutes in. Well, if you're a CFer, you know what a stomach full of liquid plus deep coughing can produce. That's right: Projectile Powerade. I water somebody bush on the side of the road with my stomach juice. I wonder what the passing cars were thinking?

Anyway, after that little episode I felt fine. I had a decent pace and was breathing with very little effort. Jezzabel had a smile from ear-to-ear the whole time and behaved herself rather well. I'll have to make up some cardio time at the gym later. Today is legs and shoulders, so maybe I can blast my legs on the stairmaster...

Total Distance: 2.1 miles Time: 38'31"

3:30pm: ...and blast my legs I did! But first I did rehab lifts on my shoulders, which seem to be responding to the new "very light weight" workout. Hopefully in about a month's time I'll be able to really lift on them again. I also did some squats and leg presses, but just mostly to warm up my legs for climbing some floors of stairs. I decided to do the stairmaster for 30 minutes today! Let me just say, about 10 minutes in, I hated my decision. I thought that somebody was playing a joke on me a slowed the timer down. I pushed through it though and then before I knew it there was only 5 minutes left. I then decided to really kick my own butt. At the 5 minute mark, I started increasing the level every minute. The last minute I was hauling tail on that thing and I had the sweat soaked shirt to prove it. There was sweat running down my arm and spraying off of my elbow like a water hose. I honestly think I could have put out a camp fire with the amount of liquid that was pouring off of my body. Man did it feel good!!!

Total Floors: 93 floors

Total Distance for Day: 2.1 miles Total Floors for Day: 93 floors

CFF Pool Parties Ahead!

6:00am: I think I hit snooze about 4 times this morning! Not sure why I was so tired, but I think it may have to do with yesterday's workout. I'm really trying to step it up in the gym and get stronger every single time I am in there. So far, I've been able to steadily gain strength and size, but I want to make sure that continues. The longer you work out, the harder you have to push yourself to get the same results as before. By stepping up my workouts, I'm just hoping to keep that ball moving down field.

Anyway, I was off to the gym this morning to do some cardio. I ended up starting on the elliptical which I did for 20 minutes. I've started bringing magazines with me which really help to pass the time. I learned all about Jon's affair on Kate and how Brad and Angelina haven't been spotted together for weeks. I mean, who doesn't want to know that stuff (before you pile on me, the magazines are Mandi's)? They do help the time fly by though and I would suggest it to anybody who has actually read this far down in the post. After 20 minutes on the elliptical, I moved to the stairstepper which I did for 10 minutes. It's actually a little bit unbelievable how much I manage to sweat first thing in the morning. It just starts pouring off of my forehead and onto and off my nose. I can't think of a better way to start the day though. These morning workouts give me a boost that last the whole day!

Total Distance: 1.65 miles Total Floors: 30 floors

4:00pm: It was arm day today at the gym, so I was definitely looking forward to working out. Arms are fun to do and you get to see instant results since they're not covered up by your shirt. Plus, it gets to the point where I can barely lift my arm to scratch my nose, so it feels like I'm doing something that works. I guess most people would consider your arm being "dead" a bad thing, but I look forward to that feeling every Wednesday and Saturday (or Sunday). I also was able to do abs today. It's harder to get motivated to do abs without Mandi there with me, but I usually hear her yelling at me in my mind, so I guess it's all the same. I ended up doing a variety of crunches, but they totaled about 200 of them. I felt nice and tight in the mid-section, which I hope keeps up cause I have a few CFF pool parties that I have to attend :)

There was no J Bell walk tonight cause my foot was giving me issues. I iced it on and off while I watched the finale of American Idol. Which, if you're wondering, I would have been happy with either one winning. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'd rather go to an Adam concert, but I'd rather by a Kris CD. So, for me, it was a toss-up. It did however warm my heart to see Kris' wife's reaction. Way to go Kris!

Total Distance for Day: 1.65 miles Total Floors: 30 floors

Furthest Distance So Far!!!!!

6:00am: Another great night of sleep by me! I even dreamed. I know you're saying "big deal" to that, but I dream about 5 times a year, so it's a pretty big deal to me. Unfortunately, I dreamed about issues with my current project, so I obviously didn't do a great job turning my brain off last night. Oh well, still very thankful for good sleep! I rolled out of bed easily and immediately got my gym clothes on. While I'm thinking of it, I'm seriously impressed by how many people are at the gym at 6 in the morning. There are more people there at 6am then there are at any point in the day until about 5pm. I know, I know, people are there before work and then people are there after work. That makes total sense. But it's still 6 o'clock in the AM people! I just wanted to give credit where credit is due.

I started off on the elliptical machine again this morning. My legs where definitely more tired this morning than yesterday morning due to my leg workout yesterday afternoon. In fact, I was behind yesterdays pace with about 3 minutes left to go and I had to kick it into high gear. Kicking into high gear REALLY got my lungs going! I was coughing quite a bit, but my lungs were opening up as well. I started sweating like crazy (to the point that my sweat was dripping onto my shoes) but I got to my goal distance with about 30 seconds to spare.

Yesterday, I did the stair stepper after the elliptical. Today there was not a stair stepper available, so I decided to walk on the treadmill at an incline. I was going to do 15 minutes worth as I had on the elliptical. Everything felt good the whole time on the treadmill, in fact, it felt so good, that I decided to run the last 5 minutes! After jogging for 5 minutes straight, I still felt very good in terms of the lungs and my feet. So of course, I kept going! I ended up doing two more minutes for a total of 7 minutes straight and .65 miles! So far, that is the furthest I've run without taking a break. I was definitely winded, but not nearly as bad as I would get when this all started over two months ago. Progress baby!

Total Distance: 2.7 miles

2:30pm: Today was chest and back. Nothing crazy to report other than being able to increase the weight on many of my lifts. I wanted to sneak in a set of abs at the end of my workout, but I was pretty tuckered out. I worked up a good sweat while lifting though so some cardio got done as well as my chest/back. Like I've said before, no matter what you are doing, just keep moving. You'll always get the best workout that way. And I'm telling you, the more you sweat, the harder it feels you're working out...even if that's not the case. Current Weight: 186 lbs.

6:00pm: Mandi and I took J Bell for a walk as it started to cool down a bit. My lungs felt good throughout the day but my foot was bothering me a bit. I've been icing it though and it seems to be helping. Since my foot was a bit sore though, we decided to do a short walk. Jeezy for Sheezy didn't seem to mind. She still got to go to the bathroom 400 times and when we made our way back to my house her tongue was hanging about a foot out of her mouth. She can definitely tell that it's a bit hotter outside. I like this new routine and I'm going to keep it up. My doing cardio in the morning, I find myself coughing up stuff throughout the day from way deep down. I think working up a big sweat in the morning and forcing myself to breath real deep has lasting effects throughout the day.

Total Distance: 1.1 miles

Total Distance for Day: 3.8 miles