friends and family

DianaK

Appreciations 3/26-3/30: Diana and the Beautiful, Wonderful, No Bad, Very Good Day. (Plus a few other things from before that.)

The aforementioned BWNBVG Day
Starting the day with Katie at Carley Coffee!Carley Coffee 3:2017

Small vehicles carrying precious coffee beans.

Completing several tasks that have been on my to-do list for more than a YEAR!

Fun socks.

Walking around Uptown on my first 10,000+ step day in at least 6 months.

Cina’s good news! Plus her silliness. Heck.

Window art 3:2017Window art with Sarah & Ida. I love our ever-evolving, communal art!

Dragons!

Sarah’s way with words. Did you know that croissants are a donut-adjacent food? 😆

Ida’s breathtaking bedtime performance, ending with a mash-up medley of classic songs – Itsy Bitsy Spider, You Are My Sunshine, ABCs, and Old MacDonald. Brilliant!! 💚

Other things
From now on, any day that I am neither prepping for nor undergoing a colonoscopy shall be considered a Very. Good. Day. 😉

Jeff, who got up at WTF o’clock to transport me to the procedure and keep my company while waiting. And my folks for babysitting me after the procedure.

The med student who rubbed my back and patted my shoulder during the procedure (which took longer and was more challenging than usual for a variety of reasons).

Me, for trying to do Laughter Yoga during the procedure. Even sedated I am hilarious. (And Jody for introducing me to the practice in the first place!) Ha ha ha ha ha! ❤️

Looking forward to next week….with NO doctor appointments for the first time in several months. Wonder what I’ll do with all my spare time!

DianaK

Appreciations 3/2 – 3/7: Gatherings, grownup-ing, glorious weather

Gorgeous weather for walking. Outside! That was fun.

Yum yum yummy fish and chips.

Dinner with the Duncans and the girls.

Sweet birthday gathering for Tom and Jeni with the fam.

march tulips

Coupons for free tulips from the grocery store. Yes.

Current version of seriously-happy.com. More changes on the way. Meanwhile, UNICORN!

lego bugs and flowers

Me, doing my version of being a grownup. It involves lots of legos.

Sunshine, thunder, snow, wind. March is so funny!

DianaK

Appreciations 2/23-2/28 – Good stuff: good brain, good times, good timing, good work

I love that my brain does such good work for me. Even as I work through this challenging health stuff, my brain shines the spotlight on my immense good fortune. Thanks, brain! Here’s good stuff from the past week.

Hanging out with the Katie & Cina who helped me prep meals so I’d have food for the week. Thanks, girls!

Amazing ride home with Cina… I suggested that the ride would take 7 1/2 minutes… and then, since we love to measure things, I set the stopwatch. Guess what? EXACTLY 7 1/2 minutes. I mean, okay, it was 7:30:22… but I’m calling that close enough.

Managing to stay OUT of the hospital (I mean spa) over the weekend. I DO love the folks there, but I really felt like we needed some time apart.

Having a flexible work schedule that allows for days (or weeks!) of tending to my health first and fitting in work on the edges.

Truly wonderful and understanding clients.

The amazing Sara who keeps things humming along when I’m out of commission. Wow, am I lucky to work with her!!

Hilarious timing with both of my brothers the other day – our texts crossing paths at the same moment as we were thinking about each other. Fun!

Working with Sarah on Seriously Happy stuff. It makes me, you know, seriously happy.

DianaK

Ha Ha HAA (aka Health Adventure Appreciations) 😃

Katie and Cina, who once again drove me to and stayed with me at the hospital. They are so generous and funny and make these challenging situations as fun as they can possibly be. I am quite sure I laugh more than “normal” people in similar situations — and the girls play a big role in that!

Working with some of the most generous, delightful, funny, smart, caring nurses, docs, and other staff at the hospital. They really are an amazing group of people. (Though I’ve decided I need to go in every few weeks with cookies and visit them THAT way instead of being admitted….) 😛

The chance being in the hospital gave me to refine my MDFUN bingo cards. The nurses loved them and I learned so many interesting things about their lives and had so many fun conversations with them. One nurse even told us, “I was going to give you to another nurse, but I’m going to steal you!” We had so much goofy fun with her!

The sense of perspective my first night in the hospital gave me. That was a no-sleep night in a shared room with a woman who was having SUCH a rough time. I wished I could help her somehow. So did the nurses. Tough for everyone. 🙁 Reminded me of how fortunate I am.

Fantastic view from my 2nd room (and the chance it gave me to get some rest!)! On Tuesday the skyline played hide-and-seek through the fog. Gorgeous. 💙

Sunday
Tuesday 7 am
Tuesday 10 am
Tuesday 1 pm

My excellent stats in Tissue B-Ball (making shots across the room from the hospital bed). Final score on Monday was 30 shots made and 14 missed. (That may not sound like much, but YOU try throwing with either your non-dominant hand or an arm with an IV in it and see how well YOU do!) 😝

The lovely visits, calls, and texts from people while I was in the hospital. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful group of family and friends!

Pics and updates from Sarah. I am SUPER bummed to be missing our trip, but it sure is sweet to see Ida discovering sand and waves and geckos! 💚

Feeling so much better after transfusions and IV iron. Holy moly, I’m glad these things are possible! I SUPER appreciate the people whose donated blood helped me SO much. I don’t get to donate b/c of my crazy low BP, but I super appreciate everyone who takes time to do this!!

Finding a legitimate reason to bark while in the hospital. Yes, my life is very, very good.

My salty 😉 sister-in-law Laura who brought me ALL the gluten-free goodies French Meadow had to offer on Sunday, and then drove me home on Tuesday, and then picked up my meds and went grocery shopping for me. Did I mention how lucky I am??cheezy-flowers

Gorgeous flowers sent to me from my darling and thoughtful friends. We may live far apart, but we sure are in each others’ hearts. ❤️

Enough juice to get all the way around the block and soak up some sunshine! Thanks, Katie and Cina, for walking me. 😀

Now, having said all that, and just to be clear – I REALLY am willing to notice my good fortune every day WITHOUT some spectacular drama to bring it into focus. Srsly.

DianaK

Appreciations 2/10-2/16: strength stone, bingo beta, morning meal magic, and D dinners

heart-strength

The beautiful Strength stone Ruby gave me. What a sweetie! And, yes, I will take all the added heart strength I can find. 😊

Toaster magic. TWICE the toaster has popped my toast up and INTO the other side!! I will try to catch this on video because it is AMAZING! (And made me absurdly happy the rest of the day – both times!)

The ongoing game of Stealth Dishwashing that Sarah and I are playing. What a fun roommate she is! 💚

The latest version of my MDFUN Bingo cards. I’m loving the comments and suggestions from my beta testers!

Dinners with the Delaneys, the Duncans, and the daughters (well, daughter and her SO). 😉 So lovely to spend time and share food with such wonderful people.

Sarah, the Cat Whisperer. Honestly, you just have to see this lady in action. She is amazing! 😸

Good results from my dad’s procedure yesterday. Hooray for good news!

Sunshine.

 

 

 

DianaK

Appreciations 2/6-2/9: legos, laughter, little miracles

lego-kisses

Valentine-themed lego fun thanks to Sarah!

Newly organized craft supplies. Woohoo!

Dinner with Sarah, Ida, Katie, and Cina. What bright, funny, adorable people! ❤️

U of M cardiology’s very pleasant hold music. What a treat. 😀

Sunshine.

Not being sick!! OMG what a little miracle this is. Feels amazing!!

Toby in the new box. Yay!

toby-in-the-box

 

DianaK

Appreciations 11/10/16

My fabulously funny friend David! I texted him one of my “Thank you for being a bright light in my world” messages yesterday. He replied, “Wait – is this a reminder that I’m supposed to be your light bulb supplier?” In a hurry to get to a meeting, I just texted back, “Duh.”
 
An hour later, an Amazon Prime Now delivery person knocks on my door… and it’s light bulbs from David! And not only regular light bulbs…he’s included a colored LED remote controlled light bulb! So. Much. Fun!!!
Dinner with Katie and Cina and Sarah and Ida. Comfort food and laughter – just what was needed last night.
 
Today’s echocardiogram. I’m so glad there’s technology to track my heart’s function and help us figure out how to keep it going. Plus, it’s pretty neat to see and hear heart valves working. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. 😉
DianaK

Appreciations 4.217

Tin man 2016My new Tin Man and his awesome heart. 😀 Thank you for the funny, sweet gift, Debb. It made me giggle. I love him!

Unbelievable love, comfort, and support from the kids last night when a dizzy spell that felt like the beginning of a faint (which is how last week’s events began) triggered my first ever panic attack. It is a strange and scary thing to have your body doing fight or flight things even after you’ve calmed your thoughts. We got my dizziness, chills and violent shaking under control after about an hour or so, thanks to their good suggestions and all the blankets and all the pillows and all the heating pads. Since I’d never experienced anything like this, even after everything settled down, I was a little scared of having another one… so we decided to play catch with a cat toy that was nearby as a way to keep me distracted…and both of the cats joined in. Everybody was helping me! For any of you who deal with this kind of thing on a regular basis, I am sending you so much love. So much love.

Monet Mar 2016Getting my Monet poster framed and hung at last. I love it so much.

DianaK

Year 1, Day 95: stealing thanks

Borrowing (stealing) the perfect facebook status update from my dear friend Timmy:

  • Thanks Thanksgiving, for providing a willing confederation of grateful people.
  • Thanks gratefulness, for making my days so much brighter during the past six months.
  • Thanks friends and family, for providing so many opportunities to be grateful.
  • Finally, thanks food, shelter and warmth–it’s sobering knowing how capriciously you can disappear.