Finals and such

I just wanted to post, because I'm thrilled, that my Winter Quarter is OVER. I finished strong with 3 A's and a ?. The ? will either be an A or a B, depending on how I did on my test this morning. I felt really good about it, but I had to get an A to get an A in the class. I find out Tuesday. Ugh. That's a long wait.

Today, I am packing up and heading to home! Tomorrow, I am packing up and heading to Austin, TX! I will spending a week with Anjea & Jason (sis-in-law & brother) while I job shadow a range of PTs, and an OT, at Anjea's work. I'm pretty pumped, to say the least.

So I'm considering minoring in Biology. I would only need 3 more classes, plus 1 lab, beyond what I already take for my major. I'll think about it, but I kinda like the idea of a major in Kinesiology with a minor in Biology. Just sounds good. Looks good. And I like science!

BOYFRIEND is moving closer to me (on the college campus). He's getting out of the dorms and into an apartment with this guy TODAY. Before, we were pretty much the entire campus apart, but now he'll be a minute's walk away. I'm pumped about that too.

I'm just PUMPED about everything now that the weight of finals has been lifted.

Oooh.. next quarter, I'm taking a full load. A second biology, a biology lab, developmental psychology, basic chemistry, and trig. Spring quarter finals will be rough....

I'm not sure if I've complained about the people who live above me on here before, but my RA has taken care of the problem. He is now my hero.

Alrighty! Time to clean up, pack up, help the boyfriend move, pick up my lab notebook, and GO HOME!!!!!!

-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

Snow Days!

So before, I complained about the weather. I knew it was getting colder and was going to sleet. Except it ACTUALLY SNOWED for two days, and stuck. While the cold was no fun, the snow was awesome! Here are a few pictures.

-Annie

(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

Rough Week.....

You know how people can recite stuff "in their sleep!" or know how to get somewhere to well they could "drive there in my sleep!"?? Well, I know I've always prepared my morning treatment on 95% auto-pilot, especially those early morning ones, but Tuesday night, I literally did TOBI in my sleep. At 3am. I woke up around 3:30 to find TOBI done, and myself very confused. That was a very bad night. So was last night. I never dream anymore. I only have nightmares. And cold sweats. I usually wake up more tired than I went to sleep. Yesterday I took a 2 1/2 hour nap (after studying for 5 hours straight for biology) so that was good sleep. I missed a sisterhood thing with my sorority that I wanted to go to, but I needed the sleep. Last night, I just sat in bed trying to keep my eyes closed because they kept opening against my will. I spent an hour just trying to fall asleep. I woke up this morning feeling so sick because I'm not getting enough sleep, but I had a class and then a test I had to go to. Then immediately after that, I studied for biology again for another 4 hours. I'm doing treatment NOW so I can go to the (mandatory) basketball game tonight until 10pm. Then I plan on passing out after the game. Tomorrow morning, I am getting up, showering, and then doing treatment (reverse from my normal routine) because my friend I've been studying with all week is coming to my apartment around 6:30 tomorrow morning (while I do treatment) to review the study guide before our 8am biology test. AHHH When she quizzed me through the entire study guide, I didn't miss a single question (out of 169) so I expect to do very well on this test. GOOD.

Pray I get some sleep this weekend! I NEED IT!!!!

-Annie

Today is already off...

Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh. Mondays can sometimes be really annoying, ya know?

Last night, I started TOBI up again. UGH. If you haven't noticed, I'm not a fan. I now do TOBI with a towel over my pillow so it doesn't leave those little stains. It really helped this morning. However, this Monday was unusual in a different way. Today, in biology, we were talking about genetics and the diseases. I looked ahead and OF COURSE, CF was in there. I've been bracing myself all week...

So this morning, I get up, do treatment, shower, and look up my two genes to make sure I have them down right. I'm running late, as usual, and rush out the door. All I can think about it the lecture. What is he going to say? Will I feel compelled to stand up and correct him? Will the class of roughly 100 now label me as the kid with "thick mucus in her lungs"?! Halfway to class, I realize that I've been so stressed and distracted, I left my backpack in my apartment. Great. But it's too late to go back, so I keep walking.

The lecture begins and we first touch on PKU, sickle cell anemia, and then finally CF. He tells the class to all be thankful we have thin mucus in our lungs, and then proceeds to discuss the biological problem. Very little else is touched on and the lecture continues.

After the class, I went to talk to him. It took him a few minutes to realize that I was saying that *I* had CF. Then his eyes widened and he instantly wanted to know more. So I told him which genes I had, the diet I had, about the Vest, about the treatments and medicines... he asked a few questions but listened more than anything, nodding his head regularly. At the end, as I was walking out the door, he said, "Take care of yourself... literally." "Yes sir. I always do."

He saw me outside later and asked my name. I am now, officially, the only person in that class he knows by name. Good or bad? Not sure. But since I'm a pretty good student, and I'll be taking another class with him next quarter, I'm thinking good.

But still. Ugh. Mondays.

-Annie