Here’s what went down during the first week of Simple September. Highlights include fun socks, cozy naps, and threats of hospitalization. Dun dun dun…
September 2, 2025
A man jogged by as I sat at my desk this morning. My first thought was, “What perfect weather for a jog!”
My next several thoughts weren’t as innocuous. They started with “I wish I could go running” and made their way to “I’ll never be able to run again in my entire life.”
But I caught myself as I began to free fall into the my-leg-is-so-busted abyss.
“You know what I can do?” I thought. “Cycle.” So I hopped on my phone and signed up for the 8:15 cycling class at the gym.
I went and spun my little heart out and had fun doing it!
That’s a good lesson for Simple September. It’s more useful to focus on what I can do rather than waste my energy on what I wish were different.
September 3, 2025
Today at physical therapy, I was lying on one of the tables doing a stretchy band exercise. I felt pain in body parts I didn’t even know I had.
As I tried to focus on anything but my bodily sensations, I glanced at a woman two tables away. She was about 80 years old and had on a black top and gray slack-like pants. She could have just as easily been at a job interview, but anyway.
Her black socks had white writing on them, but I couldn’t tell what they said. As she moved, I kept trying to catch the right angle to read the socks.
Then the moment happened. I saw the socks in all their glory.
They said BITCH BETTER HAVE MY $$$.
I laughed out loud, and the physical therapist looked my way. I was doing an exercise called “hip haters,” so I assume he didn’t expect to hear sounds of pleasure.
I told him to go look at the woman’s socks. He approached her table, read her socks, then started laughing. Word got around, and the laughter spread. All because that woman put on her bitch-better-have-my-money socks this morning.
Who knew something as simple as socks could brighten someone’s day?! Here’s to finding tiny ways to make others smile!
September 4, 2025
I used to feel like I needed to keep my calendar full to be happy. But in truth I needed more balance in my life. So today, for Simple September, I took a mega nap with some sweet beagles. If you, too, deem naps “unproductive,” I challenge you to view them as an investment in your best self. Rest doesn’t need to be earned.
September 5, 2025
On Day 2 of Simple September, Tuesday, I had a virtual visit with the CF team. To my surprise, my lung function numbers were down considerably—the lowest they’ve been in my life. I knew to expect a decline after discontinuing the miracle-drug-with-serious-side-effects in April, but this was a jaw-dropper.
By the end of the visit, the plan was to retest in two days in clinic rather than using my home spirometry machine. The pulmonologist said that, if my numbers were still down, we’d discuss a hospital admission for IV antibiotics. Not my idea of Simple September.
At yesterday’s retest, my numbers were still quite low. In my heart, I believed it was the result of allergies and that IV antibiotics would be overkill, but I wasn’t sure whether the doctor would agree. Today he called, and we came up with a plan of attack to treat it as inflammation rather than an infection.
So, for the next three weeks, I’ll be roid raging my way through a course of prednisone. We’re making a few other medication changes, and hopefully this combination keeps me out of the hospital.
If I could do this week over, I’d have spent less time worrying. We hadn’t even solidified a plan, but in my mind, my intestines were an IV-antibiotic-induced wasteland and I was getting woken up at 3:00 a.m. for hospital blood draws. I was future-tripping HARD.
Here’s to taking one thing at a time. And to STEROID SEPTEMBER.
ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR! 💪 🦖 🦁
September 6, 2025
Today I made this design on my tablet. I created it just for fun—three words I don’t say often. I realized several years ago, in the throes of adulthood, that it’s difficult for me to do things for pure enjoyment. I think that’s something most adults in our society suffer from. If someone else were to show me this, I’d probably ask, “What are you going to do with it?”—failing to recognize that maybe creating it was the entire point. So, for Simple September, I’m trying to focus less on outcomes—on the future—and more on the process—the present.
September 7, 2025
When your food delivery matches the house…
That’s all for now, folks!
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