Overdue update

Well hello world!  It's been about two years since I've updated ... shame on me!  However, life has been busy, exciting, and I owe you an update.  Let's see if I can recap all that has happened.

Before I get there though: one of the reasons I stopped blogging was for fear of losing my job due to my "public" notices regarding my health.  That can't be any further from the truth at my job.  Not only is the company I work for supportive and caring, but the office I work in makes sure I am taking care of myself so I can continue to do my job to the best of my ability.  It's also a perk that our campus is 100% non-smoking.  No longer concerned!

Pics at the END of the post, some of them semi-graphic/gross blister pics-- just as a warning!!

HEALTH UPDATES:
Let's get the boring health updates out of the way first.  Then we can move on to life!
-Overall, doing well.

-Hospitalized summer of 2013.  Rashes, blisters, the usual.  I remember my dressing having to be changed multiple times, even in one day. Definitely NOT fun.

-Hospitalized late December of 2014, which of course is always no fun, especially around Christmas time.  Instead of the typical PICC, I got a midline to see if that would prevent the itching/blisters (see HERE for what I'm referencing).  I also prepped ahead of time by working with my father-in-law (what?! I'll get there) who was in contact with a 3M rep and got me samples of different dressings/tapes, etc.  A huge THANK YOU to the rep and 3M because what I did use was much nicer on my skin than what the hospital provides.  They also recently (in the last year or so) changed what PICCs are made out of, but I still went with a Midline.  Result: no major rashes and no blisters at all.  We changed a lot of things from the last visit, but it worked.  I can't say I like the Midline over the PICC though.  My line wouldn't draw blood so they had to set another IV very carefully in that arm to draw levels.  The Midline was much easier to put in though.  I'll have to make a decision for next go-around, whenever that may be.

-My CF doc and primary NP level the clinic.  It wasn't anything major political so everyone parted ways on good terms, but I'm sure going to miss them!  I go back to my clinic in Nov. to meet the interim doctor, so we'll see how that goes.

MAJOR LIFE UPDATES:
This is really what you've been waiting for anyways, right?
-11/9/2013: Andrew proposed to me.  It was as low key and sweet as I could have hoped for.  Long story short, we spent the weekend in our college town with some friends to watch a football game and see our bricks in the Alumni Walkway. Sunday morning before we went back home, we went to a park that we took walks in back in college.  He took me to a bench and proposed.  He was so nervous and it was precious.  Little sister Morgan was there to take pictures, of course, creeping from the bushes.  The whole thing was precious and apparently everyone knew ahead of time except me!  My parents were just waiting for me call at home, watching the clock.  I knew I didn't want the wedding to be far away so we called our wedding planner and set a few temporary dates.  Final date was set a few days later when we found out venue availability: March 29, 2014.

-During the short time between proposal and wedding, it's a blur.  An absolute wedding-planning filled blur.  My mom, who was not working at the time, did so much of the leg-work while I was sitting in the office.  There wasn't a single day that went by that wasn't at least partially dedicated to the wedding.  Without my mom, this wedding would not have been as perfect as it was.

-3/29/14: My wedding day!  It was held In the Round and couldn't have been more beautiful and perfect.  It was exactly what I wanted, dreamed about, and we worked to bring it to life.  So many special people helped pull it off (music, flowers, etc.) and we were surrounded by ~300 friends/family to help us celebrate.  It was wonderful. And most importantly.. I'm married to my best friend and better half.

-Soon after that we had a little one... a FLUFFY ONE! We got a Maltese puppy who we named Zoe
and she is a handful.  She was born 3/13/14 and she is a WILD ONE.  Stubborn, smart, and incredibly agile and athletic, she keeps me on my toes.  Couldn't have asked for a funnier pup with a bigger personality though.. she's a mess!

-Andrew and I lived in a rented townhouse for about a year.  He lived there since Oct 2013 and I moved in after our honeymoon cruise.  On February 27, 2015, we closed on a home!

-Current status: Andrew and a friend are remodeling our hall bathroom.  It's very loud, but I'm going back to work tomorrow (Happy Labor Day!) so I won't be here to listen to it.

RANDOM OTHER UPDATES:
Other things I feel like mentioning
-Andrew shot his finger with a nail gun.  I have a pic (see below) and it was a big deal for a little while.  He's got almost full ROM back now thankfully.  When the cold weather picks back up, we'll see if it still hurts him.

-I'm coaching soccer!  Last year (Oct 14-May 15) I assisted with a U14 girls team through our local soccer club.  They were also RPL (Regional Premier League) so we traveled a good bit.  This year, I'm assisting with a U17 girls team.

-We did a Spartan Race!  It was held in Austin, TX, in early November 2014.  Our team was me, Andrew, both of my brothers, and one of my sis-in-laws.  It was hard work but a lot of fun!  I posted some before/after pics below.

-I went to Vegas in Aug 2013 with little sister Morgan to celebrate her 21st birthday!  Since then she went a grew up on me.  She just completed her Masters Degree in Dublin, Ireland, and has since found a full-time job over there.  I'm incredibly proud, but miss her TONS. She just came back to visit for a bit.. yay!!



I think that's all for today!  Pictures below... sorry for the major gap!

 2013 Hospital Blister pics

 

Weekend of the Proposal!!

 

Spartan Race Nov. 2013

Wedding!!!

Zoe joins the Family!

Midline

Andrew's Injury

New Home/Car

Morgan comes to visit!!

Construction has begun..

 Thanks for catching up with me!

-A

Fear can sometimes be encouragement

The title of this post says it all. I have a twitter follower request from a 24 year old woman waiting on her new lungs. Cystic Gal got her lungs right around age 30. The boy JM I've mentioned before got his lungs in December. Even Grey's Anatomy today was about a CF patient getting his new lungs! I read Facebook posts, blog posts, tweets, and news articles about people getting new lungs. I even cut open a sheep's lung the other day in my Anatomy & Physiology II lab. Lungs lung lungs. I like mine. I'd like to keep mine. I hope to never have to give them up.

My good results from Cayston at the last check up gave me hope. If I stick with Cayston, Albuterol, Pulmozyme, and the Vest, plus my cardio I'm adding next quarter...well, let's keep these air bags healthy!! Sound like a plan?

At my last appointment, I spoke with JM's mom. She spoke about his year prior to his transplant. It was a very tough year for him, brought on mostly by his own personal life choices that had finally all caught up with him. She asked me a question that never in my wildest dreams would someone ask me at this point in my life: "Have you ever had to be on a ventilator?" The look of shock on my face was clear. Of course not. I'm 20, healthy, and living my life. Why on earth would I be vented? Well JM had and his mom described it as one of the most terrifying things.

Hello, motivation.

While my doctor's have never even whispered the word "transplant" to me, and my PFTs are too high to even think about it, it sure has been on the front of my mind a lot. I'm actually kinda bullied into being on top of my treatments by the overwhelming amount of transplant talk. Is that a good thing? Maybe. The result of the lingering topic is good, but being scared into good health isn't. I'm hoping that I can alter my own attitude from being afraid to being proactive. Either way, I plan on keeping these lungs forever by taking care of them and staying in shape.

I once told my friend, crying, that if I was ever excited about being on a TX list that she needed to snap me back into reality. While it may be an exciting time for many people, and congrats to them, it is some place I hope to never be.

I apologize if some of you find my last statement offensive. It is not meant to degrade anyone, but simply voice my personal feelings about the situation in regards to myself.

On a lighter note, I'm done with Winter Quarter! I get a short break, then back for 2 days, then off for MARDI GRAS! Sophomore year is flying by. WEIRD.

Sorry for being MIA lately. I really had to buckle down and focus all free time on school. You even missed a leg injury that I really thought was a fractured bone!! 2 weeks later (today), it still hurts to the touch and sometimes even to walk. So maybe I did do something to it. Regardless, I'm a quick healer and was walking normally by the next day.

That's all for now. Hope to be back posting more often now that I'm done with finals!

-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.