It's almost like groundhog day...
The title of the post should tell you how Rima feels being in the hospital for over five and a half weeks now. This upcoming Sunday it will be six. Six weeks of hospital beds, nurses, doctors, people coming in and out of the room all day, sinks outside the bathroom, machines beeping in the night, etc. I'm lucky enough to be able to leave the hospital and go home or run errands. Rima is in hospital prison and we don't have a end date on her incarceration. Luckily enough we are able to see the brighter side of a rotten piece of fruit no matter how smelly it might be. Things could always be worse. I've grown a lot over the last year, especially the last few months. My priorities have changed. What I find important is miles different than what stressed me out day to day living back in Brooklyn. Clarity is something I will always be grateful for, we have both found it through this journey, and are still bound to find more.
A cheer you up and good vibes package from my friend Devin and her new cool company, Sparkle Rock Pop
A second cheer up and good vibes package from my friend Ashley in Denver!
Received two of these in the mail from Rima's Bestie Olivia. Just Breathe necklaces from the company Spero. Spero mean 'I Hope' in Italian. A generous portion of the items sold goes to Cystic Fibrosis research. Yay research!
Someone always has it worse than you even if you think you are in the pits. This is beyond true, and has allowed us to shrug off the bad days. We have each other and if I do say so myself a great sense of humor, both of us. If laughter is the best medicine then we are close to curing Rima of everything she has. Many of the nurses have commented on how great it is to see patients and visitors or in my case caregivers have such fun in the hospital. I feel like they are always walking in on Rima and I giggling or in some cases cackling about something ridiculous. Just keep laughing is our motto, it's working pretty well.
Over the last ten days or so since our last post we had a couple visitors! Connie our Colorado mom, as we sometimes call her came to visit us for a couple days last week. She has been friends with our mom since before we existed, so she's been by our side through this whole thing. It was a short visit but a great one. I picked her up from the airport when she got in and we grabbed some lunch to take back to Rima. I then got a few hours of me time and let Connie and Rima catch up without me. Don't get me wrong I try to make some me time at least once a week, I know that's important but it was really refreshing to be able to enjoy my own time while knowing Rima was enjoying hers and not alone. We had dinner at the hospital and then Connie and I went back to our house. The next morning Connie took me to breakfast at the cutest cafe/restaurant, Birchwood cafe. We had a great time catching up and talking politics. We brought Rima some pancakes for breakfast, she said they tasted too healthy, they were haha. Connie flew out that afternoon, it was a short visit but again it lifted our spirits and was just what the doctor ordered!
One of Rima's CF friends from Colorado, Felicia who's been a great friend to us during this time found a mobile hairdresser! Rima has wanted to get a hair cut since before we even left for Minneapolis! Every time we had a hair cut scheduled here, doctors appointments got in the way. Felicia somehow found a mobile hairdresser and got him to come to the hospital to cut Rima's hair. She was so excited when she found out what was happening. Finally a new do! He came with a custom chair he built that went up and down like the ones at a salon. Rima has been talking about cutting her hair short, at least for her, and she finally was able to do it! He took about five inches off. She looks great! I really like the cut on her and so does she which is the most important person to like the hair.
My friend Christian way back from my L.A. days was in town for work last week. Lucky enough I got to hangout with him a lot when he was not showing face at his Minneapolis office. We went out to dinner a few time and he came and hung out in the hospital with Rima and I a couple times. Friday night we went and checked out a Prince tribute band play in downtown Minneapolis. Neither of us are big Prince people but it was a trip seeing all the die hard fans dress up in tribute of the late musician. On Saturday after his office Christmas party we hung out with Rima in the hospital and even got to bowl for one set! Rima is not a big fan of bowling, not a big fan as in she does not like it at all. I twisted her arm and got my way eventually. She caved and we played, by the end of it of course her arm was sore but she said she would be willing to play again. Ha, I win, she will play again with me! We had such a great time with Christian catching up and exploring the hospital buildings with him, getting to show him what we do on a daily basis.
And yes Geraldine is still there!
Other than people visiting, Rima has been going on daily walks around the hospital and its tunnels. She's been doing a lot of snooping around dark hallways at night. We even started playing hide and go seek at night. We have to keep ourselves busy somehow!
