Thanksgiving Post

Dear friends, family, readers, subscribers, and passer-bys,

I hope every one of you had a fantastic Thanksgiving, if you chose to celebrate it. Not all of my viewers are from the United States, but I still hope they had a happy Nov. 25 yesterday. However, those in the US most likely celebrated Thanksgiving, a holiday to celebrate the pilgrims eating with the Indians so long ago. They had so much to be thankful for then. In my opinion, we have even more to be thankful for now.

When Thanksgiving was approaching, I was thinking about what I wanted this post to say. I thought about a list of things I'm thankful for, but the list seemed to never end. I thought about just writing about my day with my family, but that just didn't fit either. Since I've been home, I'm already read 2 books and I'm halfway through my 3rd. I love reading, but I really only have time for it on breaks from school. Each book has taught me something to be thankful for, so that's what I decided to write my post on.

First book I read was "Love, StarGirl" which is the sequel to a book I love, "StarGirl." In short, StarGirl is a very unique girl who just "graduated high school" even though she's home-schooled. Her family moved to Pennsylvania where she connects with them in ways most people can't connect with people. From this book, I learned to be thankful for our strengths, weaknesses, and the beauty of nature.

The second book I re-read was "Number the Stars" which is a short, kids book focused on two families during the German invasion of Denmark during WWII. One family is Jewish and the other is not. The story tells of how the non-Jewish family protects the Jewish family and how they escape to Sweden. From this, I learned to be thankful for good friends, family, and my freedom.

And lastly, the book I am I re-reading right now is "My Sister's Keeper" (which was butchered in the movie; just read the book, it's phenomenal). It's harder to sum up this book, but it's about a family where one daughter has cancer and the other daughter was born to be a perfect transplant match for her. Now, the second daughter, at 13, has filed for medical emancipation from her parents right when her cancer-stricken sister needs her kidneys. From this book, I learned to be thankful for my health.

1. No, I'm not learning to be thankful for my health because I'm reading a book about a girl with cancer. It's not the "oh, she's worse off" mentality. Not at all. I already knew I wanted to post about being thankful for your health, and this book just said it too.

2. What did I mean "be thankful for my health"?!? I have CF! No, I didn't forget. Trust me, I'm doing treatment as I type this. I didn't forget. But I am very thankful for my health. Read on.

My health has it's ups and downs, along with every other person in this world. My ups and downs might just give you whiplash though. I am not only thankful for the good of my health, but the bad. Yes, you read right. I'm thankful for CF.

I think I just committed a CF-sin saying I'm thankful for it. But it's true. Without a shadow of a doubt, I know that I would not be the same person I am now if I didn't have CF. I also wouldn't know so many of the amazing people I know now, my friends through CF. I wouldn't have this blog! More importantly, my health has made me available to help others, through being an inspiration to some and source of strength for others. I don't think I would appreciate the little things in life as much as I do with CF. I don't think I could love people like I do now without CF. I just don't think I would be the person I've become without CF.

So thank you, cystic fibrosis. Thank you for helping me to become the strong, loving person I am today. Thank you, with all sincerity.

I am thankful for so many things beyond those that I listed here, but there's no way I can list them all. But know that you are on my list of things I'm thankful for. :]

-Andrea

Every Life got an award!

I got an email the other day saying my blog was being recognized as one of the top CF blogs of 2010! How cool! I now have the badge over in the top left corner (as you may have noticed). I'm just really excited about it. Another thing to be thankful for!

My thanksgiving post is coming soon! I'm thoroughly enjoying my break from school though. Tonight, Zumba with Mom!

Thanks for the award Registerednurse.org! Click on the badge to see who else won too!

-Andrea

The Call for JM

A fellow CFer, who I will refer to as JM, got The Call for his lungs about 7 hours ago. He lives in a city only 30 minutes away from me and the largest group at my local Great Strides walk a month ago was for him. I have no updates other than he got the call. I'll update as I know things.

Thanksgiving post is coming up along with a great video my mom showed me about some upcoming new drugs! We have so much to be thankful for!

Be back soon!

-Annie

Greetings, from the other side of finals week

The quarter is over and break has begun... THANK GOODNESS. That was a rough quarter, to say the least. But it's over now and it's time to relax for a while, eat lots of good food, spend time with family and friends, and then, once again, start thinking about Winter Quarter.

Health update!

I've still been coughing a good bit (I think it's related to my wacky schedule during finals week) but NO BLOOD!! I can't even tell you how excited this makes me. I still check each time I have a coughing fit, just to be sure, but so far nothing. Yay!

On the other hand, my gut it furious at me. This happens from time-to-time and is where most of my CF problems have occurred. It will pass in due time. Amusingly enough, when my colon makes really funny noises, it freaks my dog out because she doesn't know where the sounds are coming from. Hee hee

Speaking of my puppy, she's been very, VERY clingy lately (I'm talking thunderstorm clingy) and I think it's because she's afraid I'll leave again. The last few times I've been home during college, I've either not stayed the night or only stayed about 24 hours. Not long enough for my dog to be happy with it apparently. She's been enjoyed curling up in my bed with me, I can tell. She's there now waiting on me. Well, she's already napped on my stomach, curled in my knees, and on my feet keeping them warm during the day. Clingy clingy. But I love it. :]

Time to rest up for a Saturday or relaxation. Doing nothing is hard sometimes! Ahh, the joys of break!

-Annie

To celebrate the week of thanksgiving, look for my upcoming post on things I'm thankful for!

To sum up my Thanksgiving afternoon....

Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!! Last year, I had a PICC line on Thanksgiving so I didn't eat much at all. The antibiotics just made me feel full and not so great. But this year, I'm PICC free and ready to shovel food!! This year, Thanksgiving Lunch will be eaten with my parents, the middle brother, his wife, new baby Carter!, and my grandmother. My aunt/uncle and the boyfriend will be joining later for cards and games. We may have other family members drop by, but these are the people we know for sure are coming.

Oh, I guess I should mention that my puppy and my brother's puppy are coming over to play with each other. And they're not really little puppies anymore (Coach is over a year and McKenzy is almost a year) but they will always be puppies to me. :]

So I've been withholding information from the blog for people's privacy, but I'm ready to shout it out: I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT AGAIN!!! My other brother's wife is now pregnant (only a month behind her sister in the pregnancy!) and they told our family this past Saturday. Obviously, I'm really excited. Being an aunt is the fun part. Except when you have to fight "grandma" for baby time. Like yesterday! I was holding Carter and my mom so desperately wanted to hold him!! But he was content and sleeping and I knew if we moved him, he would cry. I didn't want that, so I held him until he actually needed to have his warm clothes on before they left. My argument was that she will have plenty more time to spend with him than me, since I'm about to go back to college. Let's see how many times I can pull that card!

The boyfriend came back yesterday from visiting his sister. It was really great to see him. I really did miss him! He dropped by my house for a minute (which is all I asked for) before going all the way home so I could see him. I ended up going to his house later, which was a lot of fun. I hadn't seen his family in a while since I don't go over there as often anymore. It was nice to see them all again.

Tomorrow is Black Friday, the craziest shopping day of the year. What do I do? Hide. I don't leave my house. Tomorrow will be my day to sit and study for the Chem 100 credit exam. I'll probably go out on Saturday to do some Christmas shopping, but not Friday.... *shivers*

Lunch is an hour and a half away!!! Time to get ready for the day. :]

Don't forget what you're thankful for!!

-Annie

Thanksgiving and such

Piles and piles of food: turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, peas, rolls, green bean casserole, corn, sweet tea and I don't even remember what else! Food galore! And yet, I ate almost nothing.

The worst part of Thanksgiving is when you can't have any. My appetite went out the door that day. I munched on some food, forced more food down my throat, and told my mom that if I ate anymore, I would be sick. And just like that, my Thanksgiving meal was over. I was more frustrated than you can imagine. Thankfully, I still got to enjoy the time being with my family, which is ultimately more important than the food.

Since Wednesday, I have not left the house. Is it just me or are the rooms getting smaller??

But now! I'm leaving to go to Joanne's to buy fabric. :] Yay!

-Andrea