It’s been so long since my last blog entry. So long that it’s hard to know where to begin.  So I begin with the moment.
Compassionate Care  I am in Chicago, offering Compassionate Care to my sister Toni, who was hospitalized on November 7th with COVID-19. She sustained extensive lung damage from the COVID pneumonia and is still on life support after all this time. She is now at RML Specialty Hospital, the best hospital in the USA for weaning patients off ventilators. In the eleven days I’ve been here, I have seen Toni grow stronger each day. She still has a long ways to go, but I know it is a matter of time before she breathes on her own again fully.

Yesterday’s Art Project

Here is the Caring Bridge Link that many of you are already following.  Site name: tonistrong

Toni on a FaceTime visit with brother-in-law Jim. Jim encourages Toni by telling her stories of his survival from cancer. She listens to his every word.

And here is an article from Johns Hopkins on what Covid does to the lungs. Th0ugh healing occurs at a snail’s pace, the following quote from the above article gives me the greatest confidence that Toni will be weaned off the ventilator eventually:

Is COVID-19 lung damage reversible?

After a serious case of COVID-19, a patient’s lungs can recover, but not overnight. “Recovery from lung damage takes time,” Galiatsatos says. “There’s the initial injury to the lungs, followed by scarring. Over time, the tissue heals, but it can take three months to a year or more for a person’s lung function to return to pre-COVID-19 levels.”

He notes that doctors and patients alike should be prepared for continuing treatment and therapy.

“Once the pandemic is over, there will be a group of patients with new health needs: the survivors. Doctors, respiratory therapists and other health care providers will need to help these patients recover their lung function as much as possible.”

My Chicago Time is filled with teaching online yoga from my Chicago apartment, spending time with Toni every single day, and meeting family members on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I have permission to give Compassionate Care for Toni up to four hours per day. I definitely use that amount of time on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. During my work week, my time with Toni varies and I am not able to put in the full four hours a day.  It is exhausting work. I am having a hard time muffling internal screams when I hear comments like, “You are amazing!” I know it is meant as a compliment, but actually, I am not amazing. I am just me doing my best, which often doesn’t feel like much. I know I can’t fix Toni’s lungs. I can only offer love, the same thing you would do if, God forbid, you had this same situation on your plate.
The healing is taking place, slowly.

Carved Wooden Guardian Angel from Hindelang, Germany (gift from Ursula and Tom). I didn’t know it was made of wood until I saw it. Very easy to hold in the palm of your hand.

Stress Release is something I specialize in! So one way I am staying healthy is by eating nutritionally dense foods. I order all organic whole foods from a nearby organic food market and the deliveries come once a week. I have a great big salad every day and am enjoying having a colorful array of vegetables on my plate. I am splurging on organic blueberries, which are out of season!  I love eating clean and healthy food. My sister Nora, my niece Angela, and my nephew Chuck have all made delicious healthy soup for me. I am taking my vitamins and make sure I get enough sleep and stay hydrated. I do my yoga every single day and have my tennis balls to roll away tension from my shoulders and low back. I shower daily from head to toe when I get back from the hospital and spoil myself with hot hot water and rather long relaxing showers. The owner of this VRBO brought over weights upon my request so I can continue to do my workouts with my trainer on Zoom!
Unfortunately, my neighborhood is not the safest (my beautiful apartment photographed above). Every Uber driver asks me why I chose an apartment in this neighborhood. I chose it because it is one mile from the hospital. I had imagined I would walk one mile to the hospital in the daytime and Uber back as it started to get dark on the week days, but every single person has told me that is not a wise idea to walk at any time of the day. So I take Uber everywhere.  I generally walk at least 3 miles a day in Seattle, but in Chicago I cannot walk freely except on weekends when I take an Uber to safer areas of the city.

Chicago’s Lakefront Trail

 

Another gorgeous view from Lakefront Trail.

 

Millennium Park and the Bean

Another view of the Bean at Millennium Park. Usually you can go right up to the bean and take cool photos but because of COVID, it is cordoned off and we had to see it from a distance.

I am also so happy to be able to spend weekend time with my sister Nora and with my nephew Chuck and my niece Angela.

We have to be outdoors to be together safely, so we bundle up and walk. Here Nora and I are having a cheers outside my apartment.

With my niece Angela

Every day I share dedications with my yoga classes. Last week was an unforgettable week. Here are my dedications from last week.
Monday, January 18 
Classes were dedicated to an ordinary life being acknowledged as extraordinary. I was inspired by my daily visits to the hospital. I see doctors, specialists, nurses, therapists, technicians, and various medical aids, as well as front desk staff, security guards (the hospital is under lock down due to COVID-19), housekeeping staff, and patients. And I feel they are all extraordinary.   On this day, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I am reminded that Dr. King dreamed all people, -regardless of skin color, social status, or level of education- would be acknowledged as equally extraordinary. Here are his words:
Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree. You only need have a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Tuesday, January 19
Classes were dedicated to a thought generated on MLK Day by my Uber driver whose name is La Jaysha.  We chatted on the short one-mile trip from the hospital to my apartment. At one point, I asked La Jaysha what MLK Day means to her.  Without hesitation, she said, “MLK Day makes me think about how the silence of good people is deafening.”  Her statement packed a punch!  We sat in the car, in front of my apartment, mulling over her statement, until she got another driving assignment and had to leave. I found this quote to go with Tuesday’s thoughts on the The Silence of Good People as being Deafening.
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. -MLK, Jr.
Wednesday, January 20
On this day of Presidential Inauguration, I thought about the potential for violence in a country so divided.  And I dedicated our classes to Clinging To Our Practice of Conscious Movement.  Whether your conscious movement is Yoga, Tai Chi, or Qigong, there are five ideas to hold on to as we cling to our practice of conscious movement:
  • Breathe slowly through your nose.
  • Breathe deeply.
  • Meditate to purify your mind.
  • Connect with your community, even if from a distance during these COVID pandemic times.
  • Visualize peace every day.

Thursday, January 21

Today’s class was Dedicated to Light. I was still humming with the excitement of having heard the stunning 22-year-old poet laureate visionary, Amanda Gorman’s poem, The Hill We Climb. And I read the  last lines of her poem as today’s dedication:

There is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.- Amanda Gorman

Speaking of light, Rick’s light-filled dad passed away two days before my Chicago departure. We really had hoped that Bob would be the centennial man. He died 6 years short of becoming the centennial man. He was the best dad to his six children and I know Rick will miss him terribly. I am sorry I cannot be home with Rick, to be there for him at this time. May Bob Rest in Peace.