Win-Win situation

Today, I walked into a hair salon to get my (really long) hair chopped off. "I'd like it gone, please." The lady washes my hair, wraps it in a towel, and sits me down in her hair-cutting chair. She combs it out, thinks for a minute, and asks me a question I wasn't expecting: "Do you want to donate to Locks of Love?" I reply with a question of my own: "How short would that make my hair?" She points to my shoulder. "Around here." "Cut it."

So today, I donated 10 inches of my long, brown hair so some child will have a wig. The nice lady evened out what was left of my hair after exclaiming "Wow! You still have a lot of hair left!" *HUGE sigh of relief*


I'll be honest, that moment when she was adjusting the ponytail to the right length, right before she cut it, I got nervous. "What am I going to look like?" "This is totally outside of my comfort zone!" "What if I look funny?!" Then, once she started cutting it and it was a no-going-back situation, my thoughts cleared and I realized that the kids who are getting my hair, the kids who go through Chemo, are asking the same questions and saying the same things. "What am I going to look like? "This is totally outside of my comfort zone!" "What if I look funny?!" Then I knew I had done the right thing, and whether I loved my hair or hat.ed it with a passion, I helped someone else.

Turns out I *LOVE* my hair. So we both win. :]

-Andrea


From a few inches longer than this....

......to this!! 11+ inches cut off!

Article day

This was a great, quick article. The sinus infection part made me laugh; me with chronic sinusitis. And the percentage of people who don't stay home when they're sick makes me FEEL sick.
LINK

5 Reasons Why It's a Good Idea to Call in Sick

Do you dread calling in sick? Whether it's the fear of a judgmental boss or just concerns about missing out on important happenings, health experts want to put you at ease. There are times when making the call is a must. Confused about whether staying home is a good idea? Here are five signs that a sick day is in order...

According to a recent Glamour.com poll, only 21 percent of readers say they make a point to stay home when they're sick. The rest of you do sometimes or not at all.

Guys! The world will not end if you stay home and a.) rest and recover so you can get well again, and b.) prevent the spread of your germs to others.

But, I know it can be confusing about whether a sick day is in order--especially at 6 a.m. Here are five signs, from the experts at WebMD, that you need to make the call to your boss and head back to bed:

1. If you wake up feel pretty icky with a sore throat and the sniffles (which weren't there yesterday). Health experts say that the first few hours/days of a virus tend to be the most contagious, so spare your co-workers your germs and keep your sneezy self at home until the following day.

2. If you're taking medications that may (even slightly) impair your ability to do a good job. Whether it's a prescription medication or just over-the-counter cold meds that makes you feel like a space cadet, if the medicine you're taking is impairing you in any way, it's best to stay home.

3. If you have a bad sinus infection. Experts say that sinus infections can cause yellow or green nasal discharge, jaw pain, facial pain, and headaches--all of which are a major blow to concentration. Your best bet? Stay home and use your neti pot, and maybe venture out, but only to see your doctor.

4. If you have pink eye. The majority of "pink eye" is viral and clears up on its own in about 24 to 48 hours. Other cases are bacterial pink eye, and you need antibiotic eye drops from your doc. Both, however, are extremely contagious, so unless you want dirty looks from your office mates, better stay home!

5. Bad back pain. You may feel like a wimp calling in sick because your back hurts, but don't! Experts say sitting at a desk all day can actually aggravate your back and make the pain worse. Instead, after a mega back spasm, spend the day at home taking it easy.

Do you abide by these "rules"? Or do you tend to dread calling in sick?

-Annie

A Concert Epiphany

I went and listened to the Cypress String Quartet yesterday when they visited my college. If you ever get the chance to hear them, do it. They are fantastic. That's not the point of this entry though. While I was listening to their concert, I did a bit of thinking too. Music does that too me. I contemplate. So as I'm sitting there, thinking about nothing in particular, I was hit with something big for me: I get to listen to this beautiful music. (Deep, right?) I started thinking of all the great things I get to experience in life: this music, soccer, friends/family, my puppy, sorority life, college, ETC.! Then I tried listing things I didn't get to do because CF held me back: very few soccer games, a few classes (OH DARN....), a birthday party here and there, Thanksgiving dinner one year...

When comparing the lists, I realized my life is not as affected by CF as I like to imagine it is during my pity parties. Like the reaction when I told one of my friends: "Oh no! I knew a girl who had that. She almost lived through her second lung transplant... she was 17 and a week from graduating high school..." Newsflash Andrea- that isn't you. At all. You're a few weeks away from being 19, in college, and are quite healthy!

This recently epiphany, the looming doctor's visit on Oct. 20, and a recent desire to work out have contributed to my recent good health. And I'm excited to announce that it should stay that way. I'm running, working out, piggin' out, sleeping lots (usually), and am overall pretty happy about life and the stuff that's in it. And a positive attitude is a large part of our overall health!! And it doesn't hurt that today is Friday.

-Andrea (Annie)

We can get away with mur.der....

So really, this probably shouldn't be funny, but I literally "LOL"ed, if you will.

From this article, came this quote: "A second man, cystic fibrosis sufferer Brian Shivers, 44, from Magherafelt, Co Derry, has also been charged with the killi.ngs. He was granted bail because of his condition."

I'm sorry? What was that last line? "granted bail because of his condition." BECAUSE the man has CF, he doesn't spend the rest of his life in jail (probably like his accomplice will) because of CF. Let's just make a list here of the good things about CF:

• most of us are encouraged to eat lots so we can gain weight
• some people get to skip out on gym classes in middle and high school (not me though)
• we can get away with mu.rder!
  

How crazy.
-Andrea

Nasal Vaccines

I heard a rumor awhile back that if someone gets the Nasal Vaccines for the flu/swine flu, that I (as a CF patient) cannot come in contact with them for ~2 weeks due to a risk of getting to flu. I know I'm not "allowed" to get the Nasal Vaccines myself, but I can't find evidence of the risk of getting it from someone else.

This is the best I've found so far:
"Can people receiving the nasal-spray flu vaccine LAIV (FluMist®) pass the vaccine viruses to others?

In clinical studies, transmission of vaccine viruses to close contacts has occurred only rarely. The current estimated risk of getting infected with vaccine virus after close contact with a person vaccinated with the nasal-spray flu vaccine is low (0.6%-2.4%). Because the viruses are weakened, infection is unlikely to result in influenza illness symptoms since the vaccine viruses have not been shown to mutate into typical or naturally occurring influenza viruses."

Source

Maybe Ronnie or CG can help me out on this?

Needless to say, I've gotten the regular flu shot and will be getting the H1N1 shot ASAP. But I'm just worried about everyone else putting me at a higher risk than I should be at.

-Annie