A Glimpse...

For those of you who wonder what "home hospital care" really means, let me give you a glimpse!



The Set Up


Mommy's little helper


The finishing touch


This has pretty much been my life the last month. I am not complaining, just informing : ) It seems I'm constantly hooked up to one tube or another. Ryan snapped this picture of Harrison and I and it really sums everything up. I am in this exact position at least four times a day. If I'm lucky, Harrison will sit and play with me but he usually tries to crawl right off the bed. Here's what's going on in this picture: I am wearing Oxygen to increase the amount of oxygen in my blood. The less oxygen in the blood, the harder the heart has to work to pump blood and the more exhausted the body becomes. I am also doing a breathing treatment which helps to open my airways and makes it easier to breath. While I do my breathing treatments, I wear my nifty vibrating vest which not only shakes loose my mucus but gives me an awesome darth vader voice! It is not enough sometimes to just open the airways and shake them up a bit... Enter the big guns. I.V.s!! I am running my I.V. antibiotics five times a day. These antibiotics will kill the bacteria growing in my lungs. The I.V.s go in through a PICC line in my arm which goes to a big vein in my chest so it will last longer than a regular I.V.. Today will be 21 days on I.V.s and I have one more week and then I will be a free woman!

There are good things about being on home hospital care. I can milk it and pretty much get Ryan to do anything I ask, including going to the store at 11:00 at night to get me some lime sherbet! Also, lots of treatments means lots of time to study the scriptures. It's kind of my rule of thumb to do my scripture study whenever I do a breathing treatment. I started that years ago because it helped make something I dreaded doing...my treatments, more enjoyable and even meaningful by pairing it with something I treasure doing. Another plus is getting Persian food! Whenever I am not feeling well Sanam always delivers delicious home-made Persian food. This time around I got Ob Gousht and it was seriously so yummy and so healing. I also got a delivery from Suedy of Gormeh Sabsi, the ultimate Persian comfort food! Thank you Sharon and Suedy and thank you Sanam for the hours you have spent preparing healing meals for me! It's almost worth getting sick when I know I'm going to get your cooking : ) Last but not least on the list of perks of being sick is visits from mom. Yesterday she brought me the most adorable shirt from Anthropology "just because!" Thank you mom for everything, the babysitting, the groceries, the goodies and the love. You have always eased these more difficult times with your love.

Most of all, anytime I get sick, I reflect on how lucky I am to be alive and the abundance of blessings in my life. I feel Lexi closer and know she strengthens me when I am fighting harder to be well. I am humbled and turn closer to my Father in Heaven for comfort and healing. At the end of a "tune-up" I always feel like I have been strengthened physically and spiritually. I guess it's not such a bad price to pay... it just takes some patience!