Dori is home

Having Dori home has been wonderful.

After eight hours of being in awe, she started to settle in. The kids and I put a sign up on the door, signed by each of us and filled with hearts. She loved it. She remarked how wonderful the house looked and just took it all in, really.

Dori said it's even nice to hear the kids argue and do the dishes and laundry (I'm still doing these chores, but she's beating me to it usually). She has spent a good amount of time napping, catching up from sleep deprivation and frequent interruptions. I think last night, which she spent on a "sleepover" with the kids, was the first time in two months she slept without waking up or being woken up.

I have to share what happened as we left 11 North at VUMC. The nurses, care partners and staff lined up at the exit and gave Dori a standing ovation. By the time we got to the elevator, Dori and I were in tears. I won't name all the wonderful team members - there are so many and they were all so dedicated - but I will encourage you to read the post on CaringBridge by Alia Nunn, Dori's nurse when Dori checked in and checked out. She summed up beautifully how the staff feels about Dori. We feel the same about them.

Dori's grace and strength were invigorating to many people. Unfortunately, I saw some patients and family members take out their frustrations on the staff, which kinda hacked me off. That's not what they are there for. They're human, as are the doctors, and we didn't have a perfect stay. You can't if you're there 54 days. But we valued them as the pros they are, and they stayed true to the mission - getting Dori well and home. Hats off to them all ... we should have applauded them!

Training has been a little better this week. After Monday's fiery 10-miler, I took off Tuesday to enjoy the whole day with Dori. Yesterday, I ran 3.5 miles in the heat. It was 95 degrees, 40% humidity and 66 on the dew point. I ran shirtless and just poured out sweat. Man, it was scorching hot. I am not keeping time on super-hot runs ... what's the point? Still sore from Monday, I probably ran a 9:30 pace.

Today, I ran five miles at the Y and for good reason. It was 110 degrees in the Y parking lot. What is this, Arizona? I started out to do a brisk 10K, but felt mild foot pain and brought it down after 3.6 miles (I was at 29:30 or so and on a 7:53 pace). I actually was thinking about a sub-49 minute 10K. I felt the foot twinge again at 5.0, so I said, "Be smart ... No injuries this late in training." I still had a lot of energy, so I lifted, worked on the stomach and stretched a lot. All in all, I was doing something good for more than 90 minutes.

I'm at 18.5 miles for the week. Maybe I'll do a short run tomorrow before a long run early Saturday with Ann, who is back in town from vacation and ready to help me again. Since Ann won't be joining us Sept. 2, it looks like the Virginia Beach Half Marathon crew will be me, Navy buddy and fellow participant Dave Baum, Vanderbilt buddy Dan Flagler and my sister, Anne. All four of us know how to navigate a bar. Should be fun racing and celebrating.

Jim