1.15.11

ROSS:

Some days just start off well and continue to stay positive. Today was one of those days. Let's start by talking about food. Mom's appetite was the best I've seen it in a long time. She ate complete servings for all of her meals, with small snacks in between! It started off with a full serving of cream of wheat with a pack of high calorie baby food mixed in. For lunch, a dear friend brought mom a freshly baked blueberry bagel. This is what she normally eats after yoga class on saturdays. "I live for this meal after yoga," she said, while completing the entire half bagel (with probably 2 servings of cream cheese). Lunch was followed up with a couple bites of milkshake brought by another couple of dear friends. Before mom's afternoon mega nap, she ate some fruit salad. After an eventful morning (which I will get to later), she napped for 4 solid hours, before she woke up just in time for dinner. I gave her a couple bites of salmon I ordered off the hospital menu, which she loved and will hopefully order more regularly. The main course was homemade butternut squash soup. She ate all but two bites. "MMmmm" she said, "I can taste so many other flavors in here." For desert she ate a few bites of homemade chocolate chip banana bread! What a yummy day.

As I said, we had a beautiful eventful morning. When I arrived at around 11:30, she was just completing physical therapy. She was sitting upright and performing leg exercises. We had quite a few visitors this morning and mom was awake and energetic enough to handle everyone! She received a beautiful gift from two dear family friends who compiled a string of loving messages. Mom was deeply touched by the gesture and the messages, she began to cry. There are some things you don't need to see to know they are beautiful. We described the gift's appearance to her and we brought it to her fingertips where she could touch it, "Wow, it's so beautiful!" She said.

(from left to right: Brianna, Lorren, Claudia)

Days like today are gifts, I love every minute of them. They remind me of the strength of renewal, determination, and appreciation for life. Mom was strong with all of these today. I want to remind all of you that we read mom your blog comments everyday, and she is never too tired to hear them. They are an enormous part of her strength. Thank you, all of you.