Skip to main content

About Time: Breath of Life Gala

The Breath of Life Gala:

They are honoring Sara and Marie!!!! My nurses from Clinic! I had these two amazing women as my main nurses for over 21 years!

I shared my feelings/story for the MC to read at the Gala. I'm very happy and honored to be able to tell everyone how amazing they are and how much they mean to me and the other CFers! After the Gala (next weekend) I will tell you what I wrote and more details.

As many of you know, these two ladies did sooo much work over the years! Even while I was away at U of I, I would call them if I was sick and they would ask me questions over the phone, help me figure everything out, get ahold of the doctor, gets my prescriptions filled and sent, and check up on me! If I left a voicemail, within a few minutes they would call back. They were always willing to help and always WANTED to help!

At Clinic, I was always excited to see them and tell them everything that has happened! I always wanted to gain weight and see them smile when I stepped off the scale!

Even though I go to Dr. B now, it doesn't mean I have stopped thinking or caring about Sara and Marie. The fact is when I was debating switching clinics, it was the thought that I'd be leaving Sara and Marie that would make me sad. I couldn't imagine starting over with a new nurse, one who wouldn't ask me how life was, how the play I was in went, or if I was dating anyone. They weren't just my nurses, they were my friends. They really cared about me. They care about all of us CFers! But I knew they would want me to do what is best for me. So a in May 2011 I left Sara and Marie and joined Dr B's Clinic (private practice, he hates the term clinic) in Chicago.

Last Saturday proved me right. I saw them at the GreatStrides walk, I got soo excited to see them! When they saw how good I looked and I told them my lung function has gone up from the 30s to 60s and that I was 106-107 in weight, they looked like they were soo happy, they were going to cry. I also told them I did a 5K and that I'm really getting healthy, they were all smiles. Of course, which makes me smile, but also sad to realize I miss them!

I gave up two of the MOST amazing nurses to go to Dr. B! I was a tough decision, but in the last year I have done so well, I know I made the right choice and now, Sara and Marie are proud of me too!

I'm beyond happy that these two women are finally getting publicly recognized for their dedication to the CF community and their patients! And the Breath of Life Gala is a large fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis reasearch too, which is something they support in their spare time (going to galas, Cf walks, etc)!!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

CF isn't all tears and saddness. Get a Full Picture.

  CF and Laughing Cystic Fibrosis can bring sad times and times of tears (like losing a close friend with CF, etc) BUT, it can bring so much joy and love. I've noticed most people love to talk about the people they meet while traveling. This is usually, because they have learned something from the person. Or the person is considered unique to them. I can do the same thanks to my Cystic Fibrosis. I may not have traveled much in my life thus far, but I have learned mountains of lessons from my CF. [Picture right:  Me ready for surgery in 2nd grade!] Forgive my shoutouts (but I must recognize a few amazing people) I have met some of the most amazing doctors: Chatrath, Dr. B Nurses: Sara & Marie (from Clinic), Lizzard, Melody (best IV stick ever), Deb, and Kris (you know a nurse is amazing if you love her after putting tubes down your nose!) Respitory Therapists: Jeannette, Lanell, and Don (you da Man) And Cookie Marrow (Musical Therapist- She would sing to me a...

Video Blog: Life in the hospital (as a child)

The daily life in the hospital! Most people cringe at the idea of a hospital. However, when I was little I never minded going into the hospital. I usually would have at least one other friend with Cystic Fibrosis to hang out with there (before we knew about the "CF Bugs"). I didn't love being sick, but I loved my CF friends that I would hang out with. Also the hospital, nurses, and my parent's tried to make it a "normal" environment. I got up and put on cute clothes, "walked to school", flirted with a couple CF boys, did homework, came "home" (back to my room), my friends would ask my parent if I could go play with them. We'd hang out in the play room or go on a walk with one of my parents! My dad loved taking me on walks and I LOVED going on our walks! Here is a video blog of the route we took and bit of information on what is was like growing up (for a chunks at a time) in the hospital! (it is posted via youtube, let is dow...

How Fostering and CF impact my work

I haven't been on my blog much.... I think that is because most of my blogging is currently been done on Health Union's Cystic-Fibrosis.com (here is link to all my posts on their site: https://cystic-fibrosis.com/members/cherizkunkel/ ). I decided last fall to step away from real estate after 3 years in the business. It was tough to say good-bye, especially since I had tripled my volume and business in the last year. However, I didn't have time to add any new clients; I kept saying, maybe next week, next month I can fit more work into my schedule. The truth is fostering takes a lot of time. We have between 5-8 monthly visits at the agency, 1 court ate a month, 2 home visits from the caseworker a month, plus e have 2-3 doctors/specialist appointments for our current kiddo. We have lots of paperwork we fill out, gas mile logs, receipts to add, and more! Our kiddo also participates in gymnastics and dance two nights a week. We go to a fosterparent support group with our kid ...