One Year in our New Home!

Just thought I'd share really quickly-- we've closed on our house a year ago today! Since then, we've made several positive changes (remodeled a bathroom, painted rooms, rebuilt a cabinet, etc.) and I'm very happy with where we are in our lives.

New challenges as we continue to move forward? Paying for medicines... but that will be another post for another day.  Thankful for resources and a mom who is doing a lot of leg-work for me.

Have a wonderful weekend!

-A

No pictures still...

Shame on me! I haven't gotten around to taking pictures yet. Still adjusting to home life.

7 more days and I'm DONE. I am very ready to have this PICC out... it's the been most frustrating PICC yet. It still hurts a week later and has been bleeding today. My home health nurse is checking on it tomorrow. I think it's just the extra stitch in my arm since they messed up the first time.... ugh.

My rash is still just as itchy as every.

I've also developed a bronco-spasm with one/all of my IVs. Great. So now it's hard to breathe when doing my IVs. Again, most frustrating IV case so far.

Thank you to EVERYONE who has brought me food, dropped by, or called/text to see how I'm doing or if I need anything. Yall are the best and I wouldn't be able to do this without you.

Guys, I'm tired. This is exhausting. I don't remember this being so tiring. I guess that's what happens when you get old, right? Yuck. I guess the 5am-11pm thing isn't helping. Oh yeah, I'm starting treatments 30min before my IVs to help manage/prevent the bronco-spasms.

Still no official ruling on the arm allergy, by the way. I don't think I'll ever really know.

I have guests tomorrow and my IV is almost done so I guess I'll call it a night.

-Andrea

Home IVs- Night #1

Hello all! I think I'm doing well keeping up with the blog while I have all this "spare time"! Tonight was my first night home on IVs in right about 2 1/2 years. Learning curve! Luckily it did all come back pretty easily. The only curve ball is that one IV that has to be hung from a bag on an IV pole. Honestly, I feel like a nurse having to set up an IV bag, but it's not really bad. I was nervous doing it the first time, just since it was new, but my home-health nurse wrote out step-by-step on how to do it and my sister-in-law, who learned it with me this afternoon, was walking through it with me. We had no problems and I feel confident now in doing it tomorrow morning. Luckily though, it's not my 5:30 dose!!

I'm doing treatment now, so late, because I spend most of my IV time in the den being social. I'm ok with staying up late to do treatment and getting up early to do IVs/treatment. I figure if I need to, I can grab a nap during one of my 2 breaks. But I did notice something: my motivation to take care of myself was reignited 10-fold during my hospital stay. I was reminded how WORTH IT it is to take care of myself every day so I don't have to go back to the hospital any time soon. It flew by, honestly, and I didn't suffer *too* much, so it wasn't a horrible experience. However, I wanted nothing more than to redeem myself, go home, and take care of myself. And it's a good thing I'm rejuvenated with this because right now, my medicines consume almost the entirety of my time awake during the day. From 5:30am-11pm (plus treatment if I do it after the IVs like I'm doing tonight). But my dear friends, hear me loud and clear...: IT IS 100% WORTH IT. I want to have my health and have my life and if I have to devote some time and pain and discomfort and frustration to GET more years added to my life, then so be it. I was blessed and cursed with this disease and I have to take the bad with the good, suck it up, and handle it with a smile. One of the best parts of my hospital stay was the many times I got to tell a nurse/doctor/RT/anyone how I haven't been in a hospital in over 2 years. Their reaction was motivational to me. I want it so much more than that. I want to boast about 5 years or 10 years. It sounds crazy, but I believe it's doable. But only if I don't get down about myself again.

****If you are reading this, and you hear me complain or read about me being down about having to take care of myself, please take this last post and rub it in my face until I remember what these 2 weeks felt like. Thanks!****

I'm also upping my Vest time from once a day for 15min to twice a day for 30min. I really don't like the Vest, so I'm proud of myself for this change. It will take some dedication and a little push from those closest to me, but I know I can stay with it. IT'S WORTH IT IN THE LONG RUN.

While in the hospital, BORED, I stumbled upon a website that sends an email to your future self. I don't remember when mine will be delivered, maybe Nov of 2013, but I told myself how much I hated being stuck in the hospital and how I needed to do everything possible to stay out. Maybe I'll get that email at just the right time in my life...

Allergy update: so we're really still not sure what's causing this, but Sarah and I think it might be a combination somehow of the betadine and one of my medicines. We think this because the rash is almost completely only where the betadine was put on my arm, but it only flares/itches when I have IVs flowing. It's so weird. Either way, I have this prescription topical cream that did wonders for the itching this evening.

I think that's all for tonight. I know I still have yet to get pictures up, but I will soon. Just hang tight!

Thanks for reading, as always.
-Andrea

Hospital Days- Monday

Well!! This post is a lot different than I expected it to be, in a good way! I'm writing this from my couch at home!!!!!!!! (That sentence can't have enough exclamation points on the end of it) Y'all, I'm so excited to be home. So so so excited!!!! I now have my dog home from prison (boarded at the vet) and my afternoon dose of my IV drugs completed. I'm all over this, no problem.

We think I'm actually allergic to the betadine and iodine, not the dressing. But to be sure, we're going to keep using this new dressing and no use betadine/iodine anymore. I have some prescription cream that will help with the rash/itching thankfully.

I will get pictures of my medicines now that I'm home. 2 of them are the imploding balls and one is a bag I have to hang on an IV pole. I also have an extension on the line that allows me to do all of the IVs myself.

Ok I'll keep you updated since I'm just going to just be watching Netflix and playing cards with friends/family all week. Pictures coming soon!

-Andrea

Long time no see!

Hey blog readers,

I apologize for my MIA tendencies lately. However, when a lot of things come up at once, my blogging hobby gets put on hold.

So two weekends ago, I went to Dallas with almost 30 of my sorority sisters, just because! It was a blast. Instead of getting a hotel, 5 of us stayed at a mom's apartment and that was no doubt even more fun than a hotel would have been. Here's a picture to share!



The 5 of us piled in a Honda Fit and hit the road. Between the Tahoe, ice skating, shopping, that crazy mechanical dog that laughs, and my sisters, it was one of the best weekends ever.

And, be proud. I didn't bring my Vest, but Saturday morning me and two of my friends ran 2 miles. Yeah, you read that right. 2 MILES. I walked a little bit (a few seconds) of mile #1 but mile #2 was killer. Especially the uphill section at the end that I was unaware of until we got there!! Haha. I was really proud of myself though, and really appreciated my friends who ran it with me. I couldn't have done it without them.

So it's Christmas break! Yay! I'm home again and with my family. The brother/sisinlaw/niece from Austin are here for several days. It's been really great to see them and my precious niece! Yeah, it's picture time again.



Isn't she adorable?! *sigh* she has my heart.

That's about all that I can think of that's going on right now. The next several days will be spent with family and I'm pretty excited about it. My puppy is so tired though. She's working so hard to entertain the babies and avoid the big dogs while chasing the little dog. She's looked like this most of the time:



Oh, and with this little guy, we've hit a whole new level of fun: he's a pro at walking now. He's walking good, standing up by himself, chatty, and happy. He has my heart too, that precious little boy.



Oh, one more thing, I got an executive position in Sigma Kappa and I'm thrilled about it! I've been preparing to go back to school so I can perform my duties well. I just wanted to add that to the blog since it's about my life in general! :]

Until next time, have a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, and a fantastic winter holiday!!

-Andrea

The First Days of Summer

What have I done during my first day and 1/2 of summer? Hahah practically nothing. It's been great. Thursday night, I stayed up until about 2 talking a friend who was leaving for Germany the next day. I then slept until 11 the next morning. But after waking up I went to the den and stretched out on the couch for a few more hours. I was ready for the day around 3:00pm when Chris picked me up so we could run a few errands together. Unlike me, he hasn't gotten a chance to catch his breath because he's been so busy. Friday for him included packing for a boy scout national school camp thing, packing for a trip to help his sister move, and driving back to college to get new membered into Pi Kappa Phi, a fraternity he's joining. Saturday morning he left for the national school. I took on the job of sewing on some patches onto his boy scout uniform and they took foreeeeeever and I worked past midnight it. It was pretty easy to stay awake because Mom got this great... idea to watch the original Nightmare on Elm Street on Netflixs at like 8pm. I don't do horror films at night. I love horror films, just not when it's dark already. I stayed busy enough between the time the movie ended and when I went to bed because I didn't have nightmares.... thank goodness.

I've got a little while before I'm leaving home again, which is good. I don't think McKenzy (my puppy) has realized this because she still hasn't left my side for very long. I just got my right arm back from her so I could finish typing this but she's now an armrest for me. She's soooo warm...

This was us last night before bed. I wanted a new picture for Facebook and I wanted her in it. I set her down after this picture and she didn't budge. She was so sleepy!

Today... hmm... today I'm not doing much either. Today is graduation for my college and my high school friends! It was a year ago I was graduating.. how strange. How wonderful. It was an exciting time. A nervous time.

I guess I'll attack the millions of boxes/bags that I brought home from the apartment and figure out what can stay boxed up and what needs to be unpacked. I also think it's time to take a trashbag to my room. There are things I no longer need and I really can free some space up. *sigh* But I really don't want to yet!! I'm still being lazy. I guess I'll figure out a common group or something.

My boyfriend joined a frat. I know I mentioned that earlier, but this is me just thinking about it. How strange!! I love it, don't get me wrong, but he was as anti-frat as I was anti-sorority. Look what's happened to us. :] I'm excited for him.

I'm hungry. Food time (as if there was anything to eat in this house. We need to go grocery shopping!!!)

-Annie

Is it over yet?

Seriously. Make this week end. I'm so ready for Thursday after 9am or so. Then I can pack up, load up, play some mad scrabble with friends, and GO HOME. Currently, at 12:37am on Wednesday "morning", I have 2 finals remaining.

Please.

Let.

This.

End.

Very soon.

I miss my family, and real food, and my puppy. No, I'm not in a depressed mood, I'm just ready to be home. The sad part is Chris leaves Wednesday afternoon/evening to go back home then he's away more than home until early July. Then, the day after he gets back, I leave to work the Gear Up camp. So I won't see too much of him this summer, and that makes me sad, but it's part of life. He's busy, I'm busy, and unfortunately, we're not busy at the same time!

Ok. It's bed time. Ragan is coming by at 9am to study more. *yawn* here we gooooo

-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

Busy busy busy!

This MLK day break will be nice tomorrow (already is nice, seeing as I'm normally in bed by this time) because it's going to be a super busy week!

Monday: finish my Kines 290 project, finish studying for my Kines 292 test (both due Tuesday)

Tuesday: Present project and take test. SLEEP. Go to the lab between 3:30-6:30 to run another test, soccer game that night at 7.

Wednesday: Go to biology at 8, drive home, eat lunch, go to the doctor (GET A GOOD REPORT), visit Casey's new puppy, head back to college-town, mandatory self-defense class at 7. Study for bio test Friday

Thursday: Soccer game at 6. SLEEP MORE. Study for bio test Friday

Friday: Bio test. Sleep a whole lot more. Busy weekend ahead!

WHEW!!! I've got to be careful with my time-management this week so I can get ample amount of sleep for all the running around I'm doing. I live a crazy life! (Take THAT, CF!)

I finally went to the "big church" service at the church I've been attending. Before, I had only gone to the college Sunday school and college worship. I found out last week what time the real service started and made a point to go today. So I spend from 9-12; 3:45-5 at the church now (I joined the choir too, so that second chunk is singing!). That really makes me happy. I had been missing that greatly and I adore my church here in college-town. I feel at home. :]

When I have time to take a breath, I'll give the report on my doctor's appt. from Wednesday. Cross your fingers, your legs, and your heart that it's a good report. My January resolution was a bust, but I'm hoping my PFTs will still be good enough!

-Annie

Last couple of days

Shame on me for not posting, but I have been really busy. My excuse for the weekend: I didn't take Lappy home. My excuse for Monday/Tuesday: I've been super busy! But here I am again!

This weekend was a good friend's birthday, so I drove home to go celebrate it with him. We were going to celebrate here in college-town but his parents wanted him home. So home it was. We had a nice little double-date dinner/movie outing on Saturday. On Sunday, I drove my friend Tiff to college-town so she could catch another ride to the next city over to pick up her car. Legal hitch-hiking.

Monday is my busy school day. I have my biology in the morning and then bio lab that afternoon. In between, I'm doing homework. That evening, I had to prepare for my community group (college bible study) because I was teaching Chapter 10 of the book "Crazy Love." I spent a large chunk of time preparing, went to community group, and then hung out with the boyfriend for a little while.

Tuesday was one of the best days I've had in a while. I went to my first kines class but not to the second. Instead, one of my very best friends from high school came to visit! He goes to college in Vermont so I don't see him often. Him and his friend drove over to see me and one other friend from high school. We spent about 5 hours just talking, baking, and hanging out. I had a ton of fun. Then, I did more homework and played soccer that evening!! Sigma Kappa played Temple Baptist... battle of the roommates. Yep, my roomie is on the Temple indoor soccer team (along with a few other of my good friends) and we played each other last night. And, to make it EVEN BETTER, more good friends from high school (one goes to Texas A&M and one goes to LSU) that I don't see often came to visit other friends! So they were at the soccer game last night. My evening ended with those 2 friends from the soccer game, my roomie, and another friend hung out in my apartment for a while. It was great. We all went to high school/church together so it was a nice reunion.

Wow, that probably got really complicated, but I understand it. lol!

-Annie

HOME! HOME!

Yes! Finally, a blog post from my own desk! I'm home!!!

As far as the medical junk goes, PFTs were down, weight is down, but pneumonia is starting to clear up. BUT I still got to have my PICC line pulled so my arm is free once again. But man, it HURT to have this one pulled. It didn't help that while my sweet nurse was trying to cut my stitches, she had someone standing over her saying "oh no no. Not like that!" That did not help anything. However, once she cut both stictches, the only pain left was just the "after-throb."

Glad to be home,
Andrea

Homeward-Bound

Finally! I'm on the afternoon dosage of my antibiotics right now and then I'm going home! :D I'll miss the nurses here, but I'll be glad to be home. No more Room 521!

-Annie