Birthday weekend

I had a fantastic birthday weekend! It started off with the Sigma Fall Party (on my actual birthday!) where they sang to me and I got a cake! Then I went home the next day and spent the day with friends and family before having to drive back to college that night. For Sunday was initiation for our new girls! They are official members of Sigma Kappa now! What an exciting time for everyone.

Doc appointment on Tuesday. I shall update again after that.

So far no more blood (yay!!) and we'll see how Tuesday goes.

Until then,

-Annie

Birthday!

Today is my 20th birthday!! I'm really excited about it! It's a good end to a rough week! I'll be spending it with my sorority at our fall party! I'll celebrate with family/friends from home on Saturday.

I love birthdays!!!

-The 20 y/o Andrea :]

Hemoptysis update #4

I talked to my doctor again yesterday. Here's the game plan:

I go back to clinic a week from today ( Nov. 1) and get my PFTs checked out. We'll see where to go from there (IVs, etc.).

If I cough up a cup of blood or more in one setting, I drive to the ER back home.

I'm back on the Vest.

So far, no more blood since my last mention of it.

I will update as things come up

-Annie

ps- Birthday Week!

Hemoptysis update #3

"Glad that's over"

What was I missing? Oh yeah. Knock on wood.

Too late.

I started coughing up blood again this evening. No where near the volumes from before, thankfully, but enough to be concerned about. Calling the doctor Monday morning. Taking myself back off the Vest...

This is frustrating. And scary. I really don't like this. I'm more afraid of what this means and what might have to be done about it than the blood itself. I got over that pretty quickly. But because it's not normal, I know I can't keep doing it. I'm just scared, that's all.

Sorry for the brutal honesty.

-Annie

Hemoptysis update #2

Alright guys, unknown cystic called me out. I've been MIA about my health updates.

I called my clinic and talked to my doctor. She was glad to hear I put myself back on Vit. K because she would have put me back on it too. She upped my dosage to once a day while I'm on the bactrum (and I still have several days left). I got the ultimatum that if, in 24 hours, I was still coughing up blood, I was to drive home and go see my nurse practitioner (because the rest of my clinic was at the conference!) and get checked out. I was to not exercise or do the Vest, or do anything to stimulate coughing, aside from just my normal day-to-day cough. Otherwise, nothing else was changed.

I prayed hard and waiting for the 24 hours to pass: no blood! I think my lungs got the message that bleeding is not ok and stopped. :] I just started back on the Vest last night, since the hemoptysis had stopped, but I'm being cautious with it. I don't want to start it back up again.

My doctor said it was either just the antibiotics or I actually had a bug of some sort. If I had any bug, I'm guessing the bactrum and Cayston took care of it. But really, I think it was just my lack of Vit. K in my body.

Hooray! Coughing up blood is NOT fun. Glad that's over.

Sorry for the late update, Unknown Cystic. I've been insanely busy with Sigma stuff and finishing catching up on homework from when I missed.

-Annie

Wordless Weekend

(Stolen, again, from Anjea/Jason's blog. My niece, Kiarda!)

Hemoptysis update

Yet another day coughing up some blood. This is delightful... *blatant sarcasm*. I did get it up and out though, which is good except for I kinda threw up a little too because it made me gag.

Here's the plan: No Vest while I'm still doing this, Dad's bringing me some Vitamin K (at the suggestion of Fatboy) because I was taken off of it a while back. I'm on Cayston and bactrum already, so any infection will be taken care of, hopefully. I'm also calling my clinic tomorrow to talk to my doctor and to see what the official game plan will be.

In the mean time, I have homework to finish and a few more preparations for Big sis/Lil sis week starting tomorrow! Let the to-do lists begin!

-Annie

Hemoptysis

So randomly and often spread out, I have had this liquidy, funny tasting, and hacky cough that I never understood. My gag reflex kept anything from coming up and out (as usual) so I never really understood what it was. Until Saturday morning.

My coughing wakes me up at 7:40am this Saturday morning. I'm doing that cough, the one I hate the most, where it feels like I'm drowning and I can't make it stop. I feel like I'm going to throw up all this liquid, not even positive what it is. I cough a ton, open my mouth, put my finger on my tongue and look at it.... blood. And not just a fleck or too. But a lot. I look at my hand more closely and find a lot more blood. My heart starts racing. I get up to do albuterol (not sure what else to do to make this stop!) and get on RunSickboyRun because I remember him saying something about coughing up blood. Sure enough, his description of the amount of blood (tbsp to cups) and the coughing fits. I have been having bouts of hemoptysis for years and never knew it.

I've had two recent bouts, both pretty bad, really close together. I'm hoping that this is just a coincidence, or maybe related to the stomach bug I had, but nothing serious. I remember seeing, while I'm throwing up for several hours, a larger amount of blood in what I was bringing up than ever before. Sometimes when I would cough, I would see a fleck or two, not a big deal. These are not flecks. These spells will fill my mouth of blood. However, for some terrible reason, I can't do anything but swallow it. So I am swallowing a large amount of blood and then I feel terrible for a little while! But if I get it out, I will start throwing up too, and then get REALLY freaked out and still feel terrible. Ugh.

Unless this continues frequently, I'm not making a big deal about it. However, I am scared to use my Vest on days when these happen. Should I?

-Andrea

I haven't forgotten...

So my lull in blogging is due to getting the stomach bug right after the Great Strides walk, going to the local Urgent Care clinic to get a phenergan shot, and a topical prescription, and then trying to make up important school things (like my English midterm!) on top of Homecoming week this week and preparing for big sis/lil sis week next week!!

The race was a huge success, as I mentioned before in my last post. I really appreciated everyone who came out to support me (including Alissa who drove several hours to get there!) and the amount of money that was raised was incredible. I'm still floored. $29,000. Wow. Just... wow.

Nothing else to really report on right now I guess. I've been given another incredible opportunity to tell more people about CF, but I won't actually tell about it until after the fact. Hee hee. :]

My birthday is coming up! I'll be 20!

Umm... other than that, I can't really think of anything to report. I'm back on Cayston, I'm on bactrum because I had a cold (prevent a second infection), and otherwise feeling much, MUCH, better than I had been over the last week or two.

Ok, I'm starving. Time to EAT!

-Annie

Great Strides walk- part1

The walk was a successful event!! I'm so happy! It was successful personally because 20+ of my sorority sisters came out to support me, along with some other friends from high school! As an event, we raised.... prepare yourself.... $29,000!!!!! And there were only about 150 people there. But we had raised that much money!

I would love to go into detail about the event, but my nephew is at my knees and pressing buttons on the laptop wanting me to play with him. I can't resist. Here's a picture of the race before I go. More details later!

-Annie

P.S.: this is my 200th post!!

Wordless Wednesday

Doctor's Appointment recap

First, I would like to say that I waste a lot of time worrying! And while it is a good thing to listen to your body and see what's wrong with it, sometimes our bodies aren't saying what we think they're saying. That being said...

I had a pretty good report! I gained weight, PFTs were stable, and my freaky lung pain is gone. We guessed that the lung pain was from my very sudden shift from a sedentary lifestyle to a very active one. My throat is hurting because I have a cold. That's all. A simple cold. No need for antibiotics, just to wait it out. AND, I was so worried about clinic taking the usual several hours and me missing my 1pm lab back at college, when this clinic visit only took and hour and a half! Shortest clinic ever! So not only did I make it back in time for my lab, I had time to eat lunch with the boyfriend too. Awesome!

So, here are the numbers:

Weight: 116lbs (up from 115)

FEV1: stable around 68%

I worry too much. lol

Starting Cayston today again.

Alright, time to carry on with my life. :]

-Annie

My lungs...

I have never felt pain like this. It's not that it's unbearable, but it's just that it's never happened to me before. I've been absent-mindedly trying to pull my sternum forward with my hands. Literally. I will not think about, but catch myself trying to grab my sternum. I feel like my ribs and my sternum and pressing down on my lungs and it's making it hurt when I cough, swallow, and sometimes breathe. I really don't know what's going on, but since I go to the doctor in a few days, I'm sure they can tell me. This whole thing started this morning. I felt terrible, but I thought maybe it was just the start of a cold. However, I never got a cold. Just this pain in my lungs. NOT COOL.

I'm really becoming more anxious that I'll be sent to The Hole (aka hospital). I can tell I've lost weight because rings don't fit right and my jeans are too loose. And now my cough is getting worse, I got winded walking up one flight of stairs in the cold this evening, and now lung pain. I'm done for. There is no way I'm getting out of this Hole sentence. However, and I say this with emphasis: I DO NOT HAVE TIME RIGHT NOW TO STOP MY LIFE FOR A PICC LINE. I'm on step-show, I have a heart sis and then soon is Big sis/Lil sis week, and Homecoming week is coming up (which is super busy!), and an English midterm, and classes in general that are hard to do outside of the class itself (like anatomy LAB).... and oh yeah, MY 20th BIRTHDAY. I really really can't stop everything right now. The CF Great Strides walk is this weekend and since I'm the one that rallied everyone together I figure I should probably be there to walk it with them. Official verdict will be in 2 days. Pray pray PRAY this is an easy, non-hospitable, fix. Needless to say, I'm freaking out. No tears yet, but they will come. Either when they sentence me to The Hole or when they let me squeak by. I'll cry either way.

I have happier news, and those who are FB friends with me have seen it, but I don't want to dampen that news with my lung pain and fears. So it's another post for another day.

-Annie

My life is always busy....

....and I wouldn't have it any other way! But that's why I'm slow to update. Current status: my hair is wet from my quick shower and I have step-show practice in 25 minutes.

I slept for 15 hours last night. That's insane. My body literally shut off at 7pm last night. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I crawled into bed and the battle was over. Gracious.

Doctor's appointment this Tuesday. *anxious*

Ummm I can't think what else to type at the moment. Super busy with the new Sigmas but really enjoying my time hanging with them and my other sisters.

Morgan (real life fake sister) and her friend Celeste came and toured the campus and then hung out with me after I got out of class. Morgan cooked for me (again). :] Then I passed out. Maybe she drugged me or something....... just kidding.

Ok, I need to get ready for practice.

Bye!

-Annie

ps. Lots of people from Sigma have signed up to be with me for the Great Strides walk this next weekend. :]