The Vest: Friend or Foe?

There are days when I finish the Vest and I want to give it a hug or a high five (if it had hands, of course). There are other days where the "minutes left" section seems to almost go backwards. Today is one of those days. I've had to stop it multiple times because my coughing is so extreme, I'm about to bring up the fantastic dinner I had. That, my friends, is a MISERABLE feeling. And I ate 2 hours ago. This was not a "somebody didn't wait 30 minutes after eating before swimming!" situation. This is just a "my Vest hates me" kinda day. Happens. Doesn't mean I shouldn't still use it. It just means today, I won't be smiling afterwards because I feel better, but more likely because I'm done! (2 more minutes.... almost there....)

Two weeks from today, so on May 18, I will be DONE with my sophomore year of college. :) But with every silver lining, there is a dark side: some of my best friends are graduating and moving away. :( Luckily, Skype exists so we can still help each other with what to wear when going out!!

(DONE WITH THE VEST FOR TONIGHT!!!!!)

So with summer so close, it just means finals are even closer. Oh boy. I can't wait. lol

Hope all is well with you. Have a fantastic day!
-Annie

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

A little of this... a little of that...

My mind has been going 1000 different ways at once all week. I still don't have much of anything to post about to take up a whole post, so I'll carry on about a few different things. I'll even number them for pure entertainment.

1. Guys rush is over!! No more late nights cooking food in mass quantities. Thank goodness.
2. I found out I cook a mean sheep dip. Don't google "sheep dip" because what I cooked is not what you will find. What sheep dip is in my family = meaty cheese dip in everyone else's. No one is completely sure where our term for it came, but it still stands.
3. I'm tired of people pointing out that I cough. Thanks, but I'm pretty well aware of it. Mind your own business.
4. Tonight is Sunday Night Soccer again! My legs hurt just thinking about it. It's gonna be fun, but I still won't be able to hang with the guys for very long. I get so winded...
5. Doctor's appointment quickly approaching... really nervous about that. I know I always say I have a bad feeling about the PFT results, but I do this time too. aaaahhhhhhhh!
6. I studied way too long for a test I didn't do nearly as good on as I had hoped. *frustrated*
7. Went back to my college-town church today and was reminded of how much I love it!
8. Great Strides is Oct. 9. This evening at meeting I'm going to get up the courage to ask my sorority to walk it with me. I'm terrified.

That's all for now.

-Annie

Everything huuurrrttsss

Central location of pain ATM: my right shin. Playing soccer at night with no lights with college guys and without shin guards, yet not backing down from any tackle because that's not my style results in a skin colliding VERY hard with a knee or foot or whatever that was. Thought I broke it at first, but apparently I just can't break my own bones (knock on wood!) so thankfully it's just a big ol' bruise. But, because it's never fair, you can't see my big ol' bruise! It's hidden, but hurts like crazy!!

Whoa, rewind. Yeah, that's right. I played soccer tonight. It was so much fun. As one of the few girls playing, I have to earn my respect. Working on it.

Seriously? About 2 weeks until my next doctor appointment? Didn't I just go?! Awesome...

I'm so tired. It's time for bed. Gnight.

I feel terrible.

-Annie

Oh, hang on. Graffiti party was epic. 100000x better than last year, and I loved it last year. I got there around 10:30 (started at 10) and the place was already packed out. I was there from 10:30 until 1 when the cops shut it down for noise. I mean, 800+ people, of course it's going to be noisy. So much fun. I bloodied up my foot though, but it's ok. It started hurting again about an hour into the soccer tonight. Happens. My shin welp still isn't visible but it hurts and it's really hot. Weird. NOW it's time to go to sleep.

Home, sorta

I got home last night from Panama City Beach. My trip was wonderful, filled with beach visits (day and night), eating at some great restaurants (Margaritaville, Reggae J's, Back Porch, 5 Guys Burger & Fries, etc), hangin' with fam #2, SHOPPING, and jet skis. Ooooh jet skis. I love them. I loved them before, but I *LOVE* them now. I was sore for 2 or 3 days after crazy wave jumping, and still have bruises on the inside of my calves, but it was all totally worth it.

The trip wasn't all great though. There was one thing that rode my nerves more than anything: the insane amount of smokers. There were so many times when I'm sitting on the beach, at night when there aren't that many people out, and someone sits down nearby and lights a cigarette upwind from me. So many times when I was out shopping, I had to leave areas because, as I'm browsing the outdoor areas, or resting my feet on a bench, the smoke rolls in. I'm seriously paying for it too. It was an unavoidable amount of smoke sometimes, and I can feel some junk now piling up in my lungs, more so than before the trip. Not bringing the Vest hasn't helped either though. I took the flutter, but it's not as affective against mass inhalations of smoke as the Vest is. So I'm doing an extra Vest treatment right now, trying to fight back against my struggle to breathe. I really can tell a difference after so much smoke. It really does affect my breathing pretty quickly. And if I'm willing to do extra Vest treatments, that should tell you how frustrated I am. It does feel good getting a lot of this junk up. And, thankfully, on that trip I had a good friend who ran away with me and helped me kindly ask people to smoke away from me (those time when I had been "camped out" on the beach loooong before they showed up). She let me rant about all the smoke a ton, which helped because it was really starting to work on my last nerve.... ugh. (Thanks Kid)

Still doing Cayston. I wish I could feel better, and hopefully I will closer to the end of my first 28 days, but right now I feel worse because of all the smoke. I'm expecting things to take a positive turn soon though.

Around 6pm tonight, I move out to that mansion with my dear friend Casey. As I mentioned before, we are house sitting for roughly 2 weeks. I'm pretty excited but also kinda nervous, with the more I learn about this place. It's under a lot of remodeling right now... a lot. There is one working bathroom, and it doesn't work too well. The dryer doesn't work. Mice have been spotted in the kitchen. I'm hoping there's internet so I can keep the blog updated.

So remember a little while ago I switched from Pancrease MT20 to Zenpep MT 20? I haven't noticed a difference. It has not fixed any of my GI issues like it was suppose to nor really helped my chronic sick feeling, even when I take all the other meds. *sigh* I'll keep taking them, in hopes that maybe it just takes my body a while to get used to new stuff, and talk with my doctor at the next appointment.

Time to do a little at-home relaxing before I pack and head out to my next vacation/adventure. Pictures of my new adventure are coming up, but here are a few more from my beach vaca! Click to enlarge them.

-Annie

The Morning Coughs

The mornings are the worst for coughing. I sit up, and everything drains south, much to the despair of my lungs. Loud, productive coughs rattle the room. Let me tell you, they sound gross! Haha. But that's part of being a "CFer" I suppose. This morning, I hadn't done albuterol yet, so in the shower (I'm sure you all want to hear about this... lol), I was doing my lovely coughing fits, and I spit out bl.ood. UGH. NO! I can't stand that. I've been told that when this happens, I'm suppose to chill on the exercising for about 24 hours to let me lungs heal the little capillary back up. No!! Today I was going to restart the workout routine. AND tonight are the singing tryouts for the Spring Musical "Fiddler on the Roof"!!! Both my working out and the tryouts will be later this evening, so maybe if I don't spit up blo.od again today, I'll assume they are healed and go anyways. That's probably what's going to happen.

I'm back in college-town! This quarter will be very different from the last. I am taking 12 hours (a full load on the quarter system) and on MWF, my first class is at 12:30!! How nice is that. T/TH I have an 8am, but at least it's not every day!!

Nothing too exciting or important to announce. At least nothing I can think of at the moment.

Signing off!

-Annie

Day of Rest

Today, Sunday, is my workout day of rest. Mostly because Sunday is one of the busiest days for me, ironically. I have church in the mornings from 9-12, choir from 3:45-5, meeting from 6-7ish, and tonight we have Sorority Sunday from 7-7:30ish. On Sunday, the gym closes at 8. And I know when working out, I need to have a day where my body can just recover, so I decided Sunday would be the day. I can feel I'm sore, but it's not impairing me in any way, thankfully.

Yesterday, I hit the gym again! The boyfriend and I did a bunch of arm machines, including some new ones (pull ups, dips, rowing machine). Even he worked legs with me, including this new machine that is difficult for the vertically challenged. And then, cardio time. I powerwalked 1.5 miles!! It was hard walking that far because my shin splints reared their ugly heads about 0.3 miles in. But I kept going. Again, good productive coughing about 0.7 miles in and on, including afterward. The boyfriend walked/ran a mile on the treadmill, and then ran at a heartier pace a few laps around the track while I finished my 1.5. He's really putting a lot of effort into this, and I'm super proud of him.

Together, this is our plan:

We work out every day, except Sundays.

We always do a full-body: arms, legs, abs, cardio.

Next quarter, months I'm not on TOBI, we go to the gym when it opens if we can. If not, we work out later that day.

I enjoy working out with him. I didn't think I would, and I didn't earlier in the year, but I do now. It's time we spend together doing something we both need to do. He'll push me, but somehow knows when to back down; I do the same. The hardest thing to get him to do is cardio, partially because he has messed up knees, but he'll do it with me. I think working out with him was the final push I needed to get myself back in the gym and getting back into shape, and to get that cardio going. Finally.

Jason/Anjea, I know one/both of you read this often, so I have a question: since I'm spending a week with y'all soon, do you have free weights I could use? I'll try to run, but always walk, with the dogs daily, but I need to keep up the weight-work. Let me know!

Oh! And I'm a dark-red head now! I forgot to mention that! It's subtle until you get close, and I like that. Check it.

I was sitting outside in the BEAUTIFUL weather from Saturday doing homework. It was way too nice to sit inside.

-Andrea

"We don't feel pain"

Finally! A good day in college town! I had had a pretty great 7 day break (snow, family, home cooked food, etc.) but yesterday and today were back to the grind, and they turned out pretty great! One day during break, I did a little retail therapy to help lift my spirits. I spent most of it on make-up and other g.irly items (weird, for me) but I'm so glad I did. I will actually put forth the effort in the mornings to make myself look decent! That helps motivate me to get up out of bed after doing TOBI. That, and my new hair dryer. I'm in love. Just look at it! I pretty much leave the little attachment thing on because the stylists use it on my when I get my hair cut and I love it. The shower-head looking thing makes me a little nervous! I'm off-topic now. Yesterday, both of my morning classes let out early. While I normally groan when my 8am gets out early because I just sit in the same building until 10am, I have found that I really enjoy chatting with some of the people who are also in both of my morning classes. They can be pretty entertaining! After my second class let out, I did some homework and waited for the boyfriend to make the drive from home to college. We made a trip to SuperOne (much needed!) and I baked a cake (yummm). While it was cooling, we went to the gym. YES you read right. I finally made it back to the good ol' gym. The boyfriend is helping me with arm muscle building machines so I can gain my arm strength back, and I always work on my legs. However, while I was doing one machine, my knee popped funny. It doesn't hurt unless I put a lot of strain on it, but I was nervous about running. So I ellipticaled (lol) a mile instead of running. I was proud of myself, but disappointed with the time and respiratory results. So...

Today I made it back to the gym! Yayyyy!! 2 days strong and I'm proud of myself. Today I did the treadmill instead of the elliptical machine and I could feel a difference. The pounding of power-walking (I dislike running on a treadmill) definitely loosened some junk up and I was coughing away (much to the worry of nearby joggers). I had a lot of good, productive coughing for the next 20 minutes after that too. Oh, and before the treadmill, I did all of the arm/leg machines again. Got to put weight on me somehow! And I miss my strength from being an athlete.

I was encouraged by Lauren's post (Read here), but I haven't yet had the time in my day to add in extra miles. With adding all of the weight work too, and working with a partner, it takes up a lot of time. That's not a complaint, but when I have the time, I'll definitely up the distance. It may be some serious power-walking, but it helped! Baby steps....

So the boyfriend has put himself on a diet. Using my amazing new Kines knowledge, we have worked out a calorie amount for him to lose weight to, along with working out. So less about the "weight" and more about the "fat", if that makes sense. Anyway, because of our VERY different needs in calorie intake, we've come across some problems that will only get worse with time: how do I feed both of us together?? I need excess calories/sodium/fat and he needs just the opposite! We're trying portion differences if we share something cooked (I eat 2/3; he gets 1/3). He's cutting out most snacking (unless it's healthy/low calorie; and then it's limited) while I eat constantly. Me eating makes him want to eat too. Poor guy... I really do feel badly about it, but there's nothing either of us can do right now. I need to gain weight and he's trying to shave it off. I'm the one who is really pushing the gym right now, and I know he'll always go if I go. So go we shall!!

Oh, and the gym. So two days now, and there's only one part of my body that hurts: my hands. I'm building my calluses back and they HURT!!! Working out was so painful today, but mostly in my hands! Oh well. Another day at the gym with the phrases "We don't feel pain" and "I ha.te you Chase Wooten" running through my head.

Time to explain. Chase Wooten was one of my keeper trainers/off-campus soccer coach/soccer camp keeper coach over the last 8+ years of my life. He was the only trainer I've ever had who I actually wanted to keep pushing myself for. He was a great motivator and a hilarious guy. (Oh! I'm saying "was" because I'm "retired" and he moved away.) If the training started to hurt, "Nope, we don't feel pain. Let's go." I don't think I've ever pushed myself harder than when working for Chase. He made training so much fun with his dry sarcasm and comments that made me laugh and want to do better. So, I personally adopted the phrase "We don't feel pain" as my workout slogan for when I don't think I can lift another weight or take another step. And I don't actually ha.te Chase, not at all, but that's another thing I would say to him as I worked because it hurt and he was the one pushing me. Just another joke to get through the pain.

So, if I was a great author like Betsy, CG, Ronnie/Mandi, or Lauren, I would end this post in a cute way, tying in "we don't feel pain" to some metaphor of life. But I'm not, so I'm just going to end it with this: tomorrow morning, I dye my hair. Goodbye brown. Hello red.

-Andrea

(Un)Happy Post # 100!

I was hoping my 100th post would be a happy one. Part of it is! We'll start with the good stuff.

My sis-in-law who's been preggers just found out what she's having today... A !!!!! So I'll get to add a niece to the nephew I already have. That was definitely the highlight of my day.

I've also been drinking a lot more water lately. I'm a Dr. Pepper addict (and proud of it) and I've been chain-drinking for the past few weeks. Friday night I realized I was really really dehydrated. So for 3 1/2 days straight, I drank nothing but water, with surprisingly few negative side-effects. After those 3 1/2 days, I've only had 1 can of Dr. Pepper each day. And it's slowly consumed, unlike the last few weeks when I would finish 2 or 3 in under 2 hours, easily.

However, these rough 3 weeks have really been hard on me. I realized today I'm depressed. Not the diagnosable depression, but just down. I can't eat, I fight with the boyfriend, and I've lost the will to fight CF. I go through stages like this so I'm not too worried about it. But here's what I've contributed it to: I'm homesick, I'm mad that I'm homesick, I feel sick in general, I'm mad I feel sick, I'm stressed, I'm tired, the weather is depressing, I feel like I'm caught in a circle of bad health I can't get out of. Tuesday, I couldn't walk without getting winded. I really felt I was going to die on the couch. Because I feel this way, I don't feel like I can't get back to the physical health I was at. The feeling of hopelessness leads me to stop fighting CF. So when I stop pushing back, I feel even worse. Then I get mad because I h.ate feeling sick. And the cycle continues. UGGHHH!!!

I need it to get pretty outside so I will at least be happier in general, but it is suppose to SNOW tomorrow night. Here in the south, it's not pretty snow. It's gross. Really gross. It doesn't stick. It just makes everything soggy and heavy. I want it to be warm again! When it's a nice warm, sunny day, we all feel a little bit better. I having to bundle up to walk to the gym just to take it all off when I get there. And then I have to find a place to store my clothes while I workout and put them back on before walking back out. It's really annoying, to be honest. And I'm back to seriously hating running again. Did you know that jogging/running is the most ha.ted form of exercise in America?? At least I'm not alone in my hatred. I wouldn't mind just doing weight/flexibility training, but we've been over this: I need cardio too....

I tried the 5 hour energy drink this evening. I chose the grape flavour. It tasted like watered down Dymatapp, so I could stomach it. People, IT REALLY WORKS. I'm very much a skeptic on things like this, but 5 hour energy works. I wasn't jittery or hyper. I just felt awake. Normal awake. And alert. Occasionally, while studying, my eyes would get a little droopy. Give it a few seconds, and they were fine again. It was great. And I watched the clock and as the 5 hours ended, I didn't crash and burn. (It ended an hour ago) I got progressively sleepier as the 6th hour dragged on, but it was 11+ pm and I SHOULD be sleepy! I had a very slight headache afterwards, but it's nothing like the caffeine/sinus headaches I get. Do follow the directions though. It says don't take more than 2 a day, with SEVERAL hours in between. So basically, don't OD on 5hr energy drinks, ok?

Oh, and the New Orleans Saints won the Superbowl. :]

That's all. Don't worry. I'll be fine. I just need some time and for this test tomorrow to be done with. Then I'm baking a cake. Or cupcakes or something.

-Annie

Ahh Mondays

It's Monday once again, but who cares?? I'm still on break! Life's good.

So I don't think I'm getting sick (*crosses fingers*). My GI junk is better. Who knows what that was, but I'm glad it's over. However, my cough has steadily gotten worse. Not really bad, but I can tell. It's more productive and wet, not that dry cough or the clearing of the throat that all CFers do. But that serious "lung" cough. It came to my attention, days after it should have, that my boyfriend's dad thinks he may have had a return of his walking pneumonia. WHAT?! Contagious or not, I don't think I need to be around it. I learned this after being there 3 days in a row. "This cough just won't go away!" he says. akjsdlakdf then why am I over here?! They are normally really good about remembering my "issues" but this blew me away. However, I think it may be more contributed to his smoking habits than pneumonia. Either way, I'm a little bit upset.

The Indy Bowl is today! Louisiana Tech is not playing this year, but I'm still going. Gig 'em Aggies!

I can hardly wait to get back to college-town and have the gym be open again so I can go running inside. It's very obvious how much running affects my health, but I cannot run outside. It just doesn't work. I have no idea how I did it for four years in the cold (and 14 in the heat!).

2009 is almost over!! I'll do a year's recap soon.

-Annie

"No Excuses!"

And yet... still not running. And my running buddy just left for Illinois. *sigh*. The cold outside takes my feeble motivation and stomps it into the ground. And the stationary bike was put up in the closet to make room for family. So I sit.

I've noticed a change in my level of coughing, and so has my mom. THAT'S NOT GOOD because now she's worried I'm either getting sick or CF sick and I have a Dr. appt in January. Fantastic. I'll be up and running starting around Jan 4 (since I'll be back in college-town) but it's going to be another tough start from the beginning.

On a lighter note, it's Christmas Eve! Today will be a good day with going to the grandparents' for the traditional pizza lunch and then to a family friends' house where every year they host the after-dinner party. The dinner was at another family friends' house, but they've had a busy year with 3 weddings and sick parents, so no annual Christmas Eve chili dinner. So the after-party people this year are picking up the slack and serving dinner too. Life's pretty great around here around this time of year.

So my dog is strange sometimes. In her crate, she has a water bowl that is attached to the metal door. We fill it every night. We also always give her her pink blanket (that her birth owner gave her as a parting gift). It seems by every morning, the pink blanket is put in the water. And not usually just a corning, but stuffed in there. And this morning, I think she tried to take a bath in it, and was pretty successful. One side of her face, her belly, her tail, and all four paws were sopping wet. And as soon as I let her out of her crate, she heads for my bed. *sigh*

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a great morning. :]

-Annie

Rough Running Day

Ouch. Today was a very difficult day for running for me. I went out with Alissa to go run, but I didn't make it very far. Bad bad bad...

I think it was a combination of a few things:

1- I had NO concept of how far a mile was on this track. No markings or anything.

2- It's cold outside! More importantly, it's OUTSIDE!

3- Talking/laughing while running

4- Running with someone who is way better at running. We probably started off faster than I normally do.

5- Hills.

All of these things put together resulted in me coughing until I felt like keeling over and me saying "Alissa, I HAVE to sit down." My lungs felt like they were getting punched. My legs, however, felt fine. Ugh. If it's not one thing, it's another, right?

But, on the plus side, that difficult run produced a lot of mucus. Those really good coughs got plenty up and out, believe me. So while I was disappointed with my short distance, the ultimate mission was still accomplished, so I guess it evens out.

The rest of the day was pretty good though! I saw New Moon with my Dad, and it was good even with the movie stopping at a very tense part. Stopping = the film stops, the lights come on, and the screen moves back to the "pre-movie" position. This was happening right after Jacob cuts his hair and says, "This is me keeping that promise Bella. Now go home." As he turns to walk away, the movie cuts. Classic Dad, he says loudly in the theater, "Well that seems like an odd way to end the movie." The lady 2 rows in front of us laughs even louder. Oh Dad.

This evening was pretty epic, I must say. It was the Christmas scavenger hunt with my friends from high school!! We all met up to eat a cheap buffet dinner (we are broke college kids after all) and then go to our starting/ending house, form teams, get the list, and GO GO GOOOOO!!!! The list included things like: the Black Santa, snow, kissing someone under the mistletoe, caroling to someone, employee in an elf hat, ghetto Christmas decorations, Christmas underwear, etc. We had to take pictures of us with this stuff (and a video of the caroling) and meet back at the house by 9:30. It was a crazy and fun night!

And now, as I do my last dose of TOBI for this 28 days on (and smile!), I say goodnight!

-Annie

And now I'm sick...

This is just fantastic. I'm sick now, and it's not even what the boyfriend has. I just picked up something completely different at the same time. klasdjalkxf!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not a really bad sick, but it came at the wrong time. I woke up the morning with a raw throat and a stopped up nose. I've been coughing like crazy for the past few days but blamed it not on being sick but on my 60% lung functions. Unfortunately, it came right as I ran out of albuterol. Yep. I'm out. Isn't that great?? Thursday night I realized I only had 3 vials left. I used one for that night, Friday morning, and then Saturday morning, trying to stretch it out. My mom is coming to town on Sunday and I've requested multiple times for her to bring me some, so I'm pretty sure she will. If we have some at home.

Also, I have initiation into my sorority tomorrow (the reason my mom, my aunt, and my grandmother are driving in) which is a whole day event and I *cannot* be sick. Grrr!!!!!!

-Annie

The gym, and such.

I was supposed to have an Intramurals soccer game today, but our competition didn't show. That frustrated me because I was really pumped to play soccer. I've missed it so much! So, already dressed for physical activity, I decided to go to the gym. *huge sigh*

Needless to say, I still don't like running. Sorry, but I don't. But I still went to the gym. On my way to the track, I glance into our blue gym and see some guy in the very back kicking a soccer ball against the wall. I shuffled through 2 different basketball games to get to this guy. I called him over. "Hey, do you want someone to just kick the ball around with?" "No." Wow. Shot down. "No, I mean, my game was canceled and I just really want to play." He half-smiled and nodded and gave me the ball. "Your game cancel?" That's when I understood he was a foreign exchange student and didn't quite understand me, not a really rude kid. He looked like he was from the India area, but it was hard to tell. We spoke very little, but ran drills (ugh) that involved long sprints (UGH!!). After a few minutes of that, I was tired so I sat and stretched (that's what all the good soccer players do when they don't want to admit they're tired. "I just need to stretch, hold on.") After that, we just repeatedly kicked the ball at the gym back wall for about 10 minutes. He finally said "I think I'm done." I shook his hand, said it was nice to meet him, and watched him walk out.

I have no idea what is name was or where we was from. We spoke very little, but communicated very well. It's crazy how sports can connect people from across the globe together. After that, I called the boyfriend to see if he wanted to work out, but he was going later with a friend. So it was just me... and the track. *siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*

I was already a little tired from playing soccer, but I ran. I am not sure how many laps around this track is a mile (I've heard 10, I've heard 16) but I ran 12 in 7 minutes (which makes me think it's 16...). I sat on the track afterwards and coughed so much and so loud, I had the rest of the gym staring at me (it's a raised track above the part of the gym with all the weights and machines). I'm pretty sure everyone thought I was about to keel over.

I can't run very far yet, but I'm trying. I am. I pushed myself today, and that makes me angry that I can only run that far. I'll keep running...

Oh, and just as a side note, I was so zoned out from running and walking back to my apartment that I tried to open my apartment door by using the clicker that unlocks my car. *sigh*

-Andrea

Annie, meet schoolwork. Schoolwork, stop attacking Annie.

WOW has school taken off. With only a week left until my break (I leave for Lake Charles Friday morning at 8 for a soccer tournament!!) I have a lot left to do! I have been procrastinating from writing here because I don't have the time. I probably still don't, but oh well.

Drama drama drama drama DRAMA. And I'm just going to leave it at that.

And coughing! When did this start because I don't like it. Had a scary morning too. I kept coughing up (not too much...) but normally I'll cough up just a TINY bit and it's over. This time it was continual. It freaked me out and I finally just held my breath to stop coughing altogether. I ran today and that was probably a bad move. I'm suppose to wait 24 hours after coughing up for physical activity, but I honestly forgot until now. Whoops. Maybe my capillary will heal overnight and I don't have to worry about it.

I haven't been getting much sleep (schoolwork again) and I'm getting up between 5 and 5:30 everyday because treatment, plus Tobi, takes 45 minutes in the morning and and hour at night.
So no sleep, plus really stressed, means I don't eat. Which means I'm probably dropping a pound a week (like I did the two weeks I was on IV antibiotics...) and that's not good!! Maybe over break I can stuff myself silly and gain some of it back...

Ok. I really need to do schoolwork. *sigh*

-Andrea