Fitness Fridays = Physical Fridays (Apolo Ohno still rocks)

My brother and I are all smiles at the end of my first 5K. Riley was a big motivator at the end. Can I get back to that place?

I’ve got to start somewhere and right now that’s just doing some kind of physical activity each day.  With my surgeries, my dad’s emergency and long recovery, I never got on track with my fitness goals. So instead of making these grand plans to run/walk 5 times a week, etc., I’m going to just try to do something active every day.

This week I did laundry: loading, unloading and folding and putting away. Ryan usually does the laundry, but with the change in my schedule, I’m able to do more around the house. Last night, I danced (in high heels) as Harry Connick Jr. (more on that later) sang at the VBC Concert Hall. Tomorrow I’ll be at Riley’s softball practice, likely helping out by chasing down foul balls. Every little bit helps.

I’ve edited my big goals:

Do 10 real pushups
Wear my GAP boyfriend jeans (in my closet since 2007) smallest size Lane Bryant jeans
Do the Ribbon Run 5K in October Cotton Row 5K in May
Wear my cute workout tanks/shorts again
Get my calves back into my tall boots without spillage
Carry Riley to bed without giving myself a hernia
Fit into my Bama T-shirts this football by the end of softball season
Outrun 8- and 9-year-olds at softball practice next spring by the end of summer

So those are my big goals … today. They might change tomorrow or next week as I have more time to think about where I’m headed. I will also have to decide what steps I’ll take to meet these goals. Next week’s post will cover that.

The Olympics are winding down, and tonight we saw why Apolo Anton Ohno is one of the best short-track speedskaters in the world. He had to jump over one of two skaters who went down in the quarterfinals, and he avoided another spinout in the semifinals.

He won his eighth medal as he anchored the U.S. to a bronze in the team relay. He should’ve had nine, but a ticky-tack call by a Canadian judge disqualified him (he had the silver) in the 500-meter because he touched one of the Canadian skaters. However, a different Canadian skater put his hand on a Korean skater. Then the Korean skater touched that Canadian. But who was disqualified? Ohno, the skater who was in fourth place at the time. Judging is far too subjective in speedskating.

After that disappointing ruling, Ohno came back to skate an incredible race in the relay to pull the USA to the bronze after being fourth for most of the race. His heart and drive are incredible. There’s no quit in him. A good reminder as I start my fitness journey: If an obstacle slows you down, don’t quit. Make the leap and keep skating.

Edited: February 26th, 2010

How do you map an ear?

Audiologist Emily Rector checks the connection between Riley's CI processor and the computer.

Yesterday I talked about taking Riley to her mapping appointment at the HEAR Center. You’re probably wondering what that means. Mapping means programming. It’s a little like upgrading the software on your computer. Sometimes your computer slows down or needs a boost to do some new processes.

Riley wears her CIs everywhere but in the water and to sleep

Same thing with the CI processors, which are the pink and blue devices you see Riley wearing. They contain tiny computers that need occasional updates.

The cochlear implant processors have to be readjusted at various intervals depending on how long a child has worn them. For example, when Riley first got her CIs, she had to get them mapped every month for the first couple of months. Then every three months for a couple of years. After nearly seven years, unless she’s having trouble with the CI, Riley’s map is updated every six months.

The audiologist hooks the processors to her computer and updates the software on them. This mapping sets the devices’ electrode stimulation levels in Riley’s cochlea so she can detect soft and loud sounds comfortably.

Over time, Riley will adapt to the settings. What was once too loud might become too soft as her brain’s auditory center gets used to the sounds. Then we’ll go back for another mapping session.

Edited: February 24th, 2010

Today I am 38

My birthday is today. I didn’t do much, but that’s OK. I took Riley to her MAPping session today at Children’s HEAR Center in Birmingham – all went well there. After we got back to town, we met Ryan at Phil Sandoval’s for an awesome Mexican dinner.

When we got home I was instructed to go to my office and shut the down. I sprawled in the floor and flipped through More magazine and waited. Riley came and got me and I noticed all the lights were out. She made me close my eyes and she led me into the kitchen, where a chocolate cake with chocolate icing was lighted by a 3 and an 8 and two gifts waited. It was very sweet, and the cake was good, too.

I’ve spent the rest of the evening in my pajamas, watching Riley do one-armed cartwheels, watching the Olympics, playing with WordPress plugins, and listening to music and watching videos like this one and this one and this one and this one and this one. And drinking Coke and eating Doritos and Chips Ahoy chocolate chunk cookies.

It’s been a good day. I’m not going to look back at my last birthday and all the things I wanted to do but didn’t. You can read the dirty details in the related posts below. No point in looking back and getting down on myself. I’ll just keep working to get where I want to be. Eventually I’ll get there.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I love my friends!

And what better way to close out my birthday than with a little Jon Bon Jovi and a 16-year-old’s memories? Sweet dreams, y’all …

Edited: February 23rd, 2010

Coping with a child’s hearing loss

Ryan, Riley, Tiff at Lullabies on the Links benefit golf tournament

ADVANCE for Audiologists magazine featured my family’s story as part of a series on Maintaining Patient Dignity. The piece is called The Coping Parent:

“In many cases, the parents of hearing-impaired children may need more counseling from their audiologists than the patients themselves.”

The article talks about ways audiologists can make it easier for parents to understand and deal with a diagnosis of hearing loss. And do it without belittling or being condescending toward parents.

Frank Visco, the assistant editor, did a wonderful job telling our story and putting together a slideshow of Riley. He found us through my post Delivering the Diagnosis: Your Child Is Deaf. Please visit the magazine’s site and leave a comment if you enjoyed the article.

Have you ever had a doctor or nurse make you feel like dumb like our first ENT did? How did you handle it? What else can doctors do to help patients’ families cope? Leave me a comment. Thanks!

Edited: February 19th, 2010

Softball and cochlear implants

Riley as a lefty

It’s time to gear up for softball season again, and once again, Riley will have the same coach. It’s nice that we won’t have to explain about her cochlear implants or that she needs you to use gestures if she’s in the outfield and you want her to move or running the bases and you want her to stop. Even with typical hearing, it’s hard to hear when you’re playing and the crowd is cheering and all the coaches are yelling.

This will be her second year of fast-pitch coach-pitch softball, so we should see some improvement in her hitting. She wasn’t bad last year; it just took her a while to get comfortable and find a zone.

Ryan took her to a friend’s for a little batting practice in the garage, (they have a net and use wiffle balls) and she did well. However, she has now gone from batting lefty to righty. Ryan said she did much better right-handed. Maybe it’s all the Wii we’ve been playing. <span style=”font-style:italic;”>(The photo above is before she made the switch. That’s Ryan in the back left, and Big G on tee duty.)</span>

Riley is ready, except for a new batting helmet and cleats, which we’ll probably get this weekend since practices start next week. Games start the end of March. And since I’m not at the newspaper anymore, I won’t have to be in a hurry to get back home to my desk.

Go, Riley!

Edited: February 18th, 2010

Home sweet home

Daddy is home. Finally. After more than two months in the hospital, he can finally sleep in his own bed, relax in his own recliner and shower in his own bathroom. Hallelujah!

He has only a PICC line left, and Momma has learned how to give him his antibiotics through it. I’m not sure how long he’ll have to take those meds, but I imagine it will be for a while.

Daddy has lost so much weight – he’s so thin you can see the tubes the surgeon used to do the aortic bypass. One snakes down each side of his chest from the axillary arteries to the femoral arteries. He’s gone down a size or two in clothing – that belly you see in the picture is no longer there – and he’s now wearing track suits. It’s kind of funny to see my khakis-and-golf-shirt Daddy in a track suit.

His physical therapy is going well; he says he’s sore, but I tell him it’s a good kind of sore because it means his muscles are working. He’s getting around with the help of a walker, but hopefully he’ll get stronger soon.

The biggest problem I see is his mental state: Sometimes I get the feeling that he doesn’t want to try so hard. That he wants someone to feel sorry for him or do everything for him. But he won’t get better if he doesn’t fight hard to get healthy again. And it won’t happen if he doesn’t do it for himself.

Don’t get me wrong. This whole situation totally sucks for him. To go from playing golf one Monday to almost dying on Saturday. Then spending two months in a hospital with drains and tubes and stents and monitors attached to him. I get that.

But it’s up to him to do the work to get well. We can encourage him nicely and gently. But if that doesn’t work, we’ll give him some tough love. We’re not going to sit back and watch him waste away. He can just get mad at me, but he’s going to do the work when I’m around.

We’re going to their house this weekend to hang out. I’ve talked to him every day, and so far he sounds great. I hope being at home is just what he needs to speed his recovery.

I appreciate everyone who has said a prayer or sent good wishes or kept a good thought for him. And I’d like to ask for you to continue. It’s going to be a long haul, but we’re ready for the trip.

Edited: January 22nd, 2010

Help for Haiti

It’s astonishing how much money has been raised so quickly to help the victims of Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti. $5.9 million through texting alone! That’s incredible.

Kleph at Roll Bama Roll tweeted this:

Think of the last sporting event you attended. Now imagine coping with something that killed that many people. Link

That hits home. Like he wrote at RBR, remember the 92,000 who attended Coach Nick Saban’s first A-Day game? Imagine that many people gone, trapped under rubble. Imagine the family members distraught with grief, searching for any sign of their loved ones. Imagine relatives who live away from Haiti, trying to get word of whether their family is alive.

Now remember Hurricane Katrina’s devastating effects upon our Gulf Coast and the attacks on Sept. 11. Though fewer people lost their lives, the psychological, emotional and physical damage remains.

Imagine if we could raise that much money for those in need here in America. For those who have no food. For those who must choose between eating and taking necessary medications. For those children who cannot attend school. For those children whose only meal comes at school. For those who have no place but a mattress to call their own.

I’m as guilty as anyone for not doing enough to help those here at home. Let’s let this year be the year that we don’t wait for another catastrophe to do something.

Photos of a tent city constructed by survivors, top, and a young girl resting with her mother and brother at a makeshift medical clinic are courtesy of United Nations Development Programme

Edited: January 15th, 2010

Alabama: National Champions: A family affair (Part 2)

Part 2 of the 2009 edition of Crimson Tide football and family

Dec. 2
Just when we thought things were getting back to normal, Daddy faced another setback. A lingering fever signaled an infection that landed him back in the hospital, facing more surgery, at least three procedures.

Dec. 5 Florida (SEC Championship), 32-13
Momma, Michael, Ryan and I watched this one with Daddy in the unit, along with the other patient and nurses, who were all Bama fans. For the first three quarters, we took shifts with him so we didn’t tire him out too quickly. In the fourth quarter, we all gathered around his bed and watched the Tide finish off the Gators and earn a trip to the National Championship game in Pasadena. Finally!

Dec. 12 NYC
Sophomore running back Mark Ingram of Flint, Mich., became Alabama’s first Heisman Trophy winner. I was as nervous watching this as I was watching The Drive that beat Auburn.

Dec. 16 Surgery day
Daddy underwent an axillo-bifemoral bypass, the removal of the infected aortic stent and the removal of part of his bowel. The surgeries went well, and Momma, Michael, Ryan and I were able to go see him a couple of hours afterward.

Dec. 25 Christmas
Ryan, Riley and I took presents and a little fiber optic tree to the cardio-thoracic recovery unit where Daddy was. The gifts and our visit cheered him up. Momma said the next day that our visit really helped lift his spirits.

We’ve been to see him as much as possible between school and work, and finally just before the new year, Daddy got to move to a regular room.

Jan. 7 Texas (BCS National Championship), 37-21

Daddy was released from the hospital and sent to a rehab center at a nursing home closer to their house. He made it in time to watch the title game. Again, I had to work, but at least I was at home. I texted Daddy before the game and got a “Roll Tide” back. I was unhappy with the way this one started – it was like Auburn all over again – and I hated to see Colt McCoy get hurt. But I loved the 24-6 halftime score.

However, the conservative third quarter made me nervous. And 24-21? Yikes! But I was confident that Bama’s run game could keep the clock moving and our defense could tighten up and stop the Longhorns. And they did.

Marcell Dareus, Eryk Anders and Mark Ingram came up big. Heisman jinx? No such thing. Sports Illustrated jinx? Whatever. McElroy played with two cracked ribs, Ingram was banged up and linebacker and soon-to-be NFL star Rolando McClain was given fluids before the game and at halftime after suffering a stomach virus all week.

Heart. Toughness. Dedication. All part of Coach Nick Saban’s process. Focus on the journey and you’ll arrive at your destination.

I think that philosophy could help Daddy, too. (And me as I start on a new path in a few weeks.) Ryan, Riley and I went to see him yesterday at the rehab center, where he’ll be for three weeks. He and Momma were tickled by the championship T-shirts we took them. It was good to see him in a sweat suit instead of hospital gown and without all the tubes and drains.

We all took a stroll with him down the hallways, and he said he was looking forward to starting his physical therapy today. I hope he puts in good work and is able to get home by February. I know he is ready.

Edited: January 12th, 2010

Alabama: National Champions: A family affair

This season of Alabama football took me on a roller coaster ride, despite finishing the season a perfect 14-0. The Crimson Tide has always been special to my family, and this year was no different. Although, circumstances kept us from watching as many games together as usual, Bama football was still a family affair.

Click the links below for recaps of the first five games.

Sept. 5 Virginia Tech, 34-24

Sept. 12 Florida International, 40-14

Sept. 19 North Texas, 53-7
I just remember this being an early game on Fox and being glad I didn’t have to buy it on PPV, which I would have done. And early season backup QB Star Jackson led a TD drive. Then I went in to work.

Sept. 26 Arkansas, 35-7

Oct. 3 Kentucky, 38-20

Oct. 10 Ole Miss, 22-3
Bama intercepted four Jevan Snead passes, but it only scored one offensive TD … by Mark Ingram, of course. Leigh Tiffin kicked five field goals. Ryan, Riley and I watched the game at home.

Oct. 17 South Carolina, 20-6

This was Riley’s 8th birthday, and we were at Walt Disney World. We hit the Magic Kingdom first, had lunch with all the princesses, rode the dizzying tea cup, race cars, the Astro Orbiter, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We headed back to our room to let Riley open her DSi and Three Musketeer Barbie dolls. Then we plopped down on the beds and watched the Tide whip the Gamecocks at the most magical place on Earth. Ingram’s 246 yards rushing landed him on some Heisman watch lists.

Oct. 24 Tennessee, 12-10
I wasn’t able to watch this game closely because I had to work, but it was probably a good thing. Otherwise, I may have thrown something at the TV at home. I had my emotions a bit contained at work. However, I did see the key blocks, thanks to a co-worker and fellow Tide fan who was nice enough to arrange his TV so I could see, too. I downloaded this one from SECSports.com, so I could watch at my leisure.

Oct. 31 Open

This is where things got crazy for my family. On Halloween, we carved our jack-o’-lanterns, Momma came over, and we went to hang out with friends. While we were eating dinner and making trick-or-treat plans, Daddy had an abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture, or AAA.

He’s very lucky that he called Momma and listened to her when she told him to call 911. The blood was leaking into his abdominal cavity and was life-threatening. He went through four hours of surgery to put a stent in his aorta and was in the critical care unit for six days. He spent another 13 days in a regular room, including the LSU and Mississippi State games. We spent lots of time in the hospital waiting room.

Nov. 7 LSU, 24-15

Riley and I drove to the hospital in Florence to hang out with Daddy and Momma and to watch the game. Daddy was in good spirits, and we watched most of the first half together. However, the rooms are so small and an 8-year-old can only take so much, so we headed to my cousin’s so she could play. I watched the rest of the game with her husband, a big Auburn fan, who kept trying to discount Ingram’s Heisman candidacy by saying “he isn’t even the leading rusher in the conference,” that AU’s Ben Tate was. If that was true, it didn’t take long to rectify because Ingram ran for 144 yards. QB Greg McElroy also had a nice game with 2 TD passes. After the game, Ryan & I went back to the hospital to discuss the win with Daddy. He was pleased.

Nov. 14 Mississippi State, 31-3
This game is always played the week of Daddy’s birthday, Nov. 11. This year he celebrated in the hospital and with a butt-kicking of the Bulldogs. It was also my first time live-blogging with the fine folks at Roll Bama Roll.

Nov. 21 UT-Chattanooga, 45-0
Senior Day whoopin. And another Saturday at work. Daddy actually got to watch this one at home since he was released from the hospital Nov. 18.

Nov. 22 Griffin born

Another big day for our family: My brother and his wife welcomed Griffin, on his due date. Big brother Lincoln proclaimed him to be “perfect!” And he is.

Nov. 26 Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Momma and Daddy’s with the traditional turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mac & cheese, pasta salad and rolls. It was good to see Daddy eat some good food and watch a little football with him.

Nov. 27 Auburn, 26-21

Who thought playing the Iron Bowl on the day after Thanksgiving was a good idea? It was dumb. And I had to work in the office. Let’s just say that my co-workers who are Auburn fans were not too happy with me. Few people were working during the game, so I didn’t feel bad about my outbursts. However, on one of those big AU plays, I did hurt my hand by banging my fist on the desk too hard. I got a text from Ryan late in the game: “What do ya think?” My reply? “Bama’s going to win.”

To be continued ….

Edited: January 11th, 2010

Roll Tide! Bama is No. 1

Alabama beat Texas 37-21 in the BCS National Championship, and not without a fight. It was a good game, and I’m so thrilled to see the Tide bring home another championship and an undefeated season.

I have more to write more later, but right now we’re headed to see Dad and take him and Mom T-shirts commemorating the national championship … he’s been moved to a rehab center for a few weeks so he’s making progress.

Roll Tide!

Edited: January 8th, 2010

Refocusing in the new year

Like the photo above, 2009 was a little out of focus for me. My job underwent several changes, my dad faced serious health issues, and things were just tough. 2010 promises to be interesting and exciting, and I have some focused goals. This is one of my first:

I’m refocusing my blog, basically combining my old blog with this one so I can write about, in one place, all the things I am passionate about: sports, cochlear implants, writing, my family, music and books.

I’m thinking of setting up a schedule where I post about sports/fitness on Mondays, CIs/hearing loss/family on Wednesdays, and writing/music/books/movies on Fridays. But I’ll be flexible. If something comes up and doesn’t quite fit my schedule, I’ll still post about it.

This current mish-mash of topics and sporadic posting is annoying. I’d like to get more readers and become more interactive and give as much as I get out of this blog.

So look for a more defined blog, and if I get off track, feel free to call me on it.

And Roll Tide Roll!

Edited: January 6th, 2010

Rock out while helping deaf kids hear

Edited: December 23rd, 2009