Cheriz: My life with Cystic Fibrosis

     Please Read : Okay, so first off I want to say that this post is tough. It's tough to think about and write. However, it is extremely important and a huge topic in the CF Community, and is VERY NEAR AND DEAR to MY HEART!  First I want to ask you... What if I told you I needed a Transplant. That I needed to reach a certain weight, get my kindeys functioning better, get a higher pain tolerance, and get off a couple medications I take right now. What if I said I couldn't receive a 2nd chance at life unless I reached these goals and I raised a certain amount of money that seems impossible to raise. What if I had been in and out of the hospital off and on for the last year, with many surgeries, had multiple infections and my lung function dropped from 40s to the teens and now is slowly dropping still. What if I was starting to wonder if my decision to go through the grueling Transplant tests was worth it. What if I start to get down about my cf and wondering why even fight an

     Workin Out: It can be hard to motivate yourself to workout! I struggle with this a lot. I love dancing and performing, but if I'm not on a stage, its hard to get me to move. I'm active, don't get me wrong. I don't sit around all day. I work, take classes, shop, dance, clean, run errands, etc. By no means do I stand still long. However, I'm not building muscle this way. I decided to start working towards gaining muscle and getting healthier. I didn't want to do too much right away and end up getting burnt out. So for the first week I just did more activities like more cleaning, working around the house, and during my tv shows and during my nebulizers I would stretch.  I struggle a lot with flexibility and stretching. I was born 10-12 weeks premature (docs weren't exactly sure) and because of my premature birth I had cerebral palsy. I was also informed the other day that at birth I had no eyelashes, nails, and was still fury. Mom claims I was beautiful,

  The Sledgehammer That Saved Me: Yesterday started out quite normal. I got some cleaning and stuff done around the apartment before I had to head to my clinic appointment. I get outside, take quite a while to scrape off my car. I hate scraping off my car. I know...nobody likes it. But I'm really short, so when I brush off the snow on the top it always lands on me, I can barely reach the middle of the windshield, and the cold air in the winter really hurts my lungs, which typically results in my having a huge asthma attack. Well, yesterday, was 10 degrees. I only wore my nylon type dance pants, a t-shirt, my regular coat and only one pair of socks. But, I figured I'd only be outside long enough to walk into Clinic and back out... ha. ha. ha. Good news, my car didn't take that long scraping. I got two really nice scrapers for Christmas. My Dad got me one that has a blue type swifer looking bottom that screws on but I just leave mine on and it lies across my backseat floor.

   Clinical Trial and Food (& recipes!):      Today was my 4th clinical trial visit, 4th out of 9... 5 more months to go! I was excited to see my Cipro (oral antibiotics) helped. My lung function was up from last month!  Read about my past Clinical Trials HERE in these 3 Posts!  It has been a roller coaster, but finally my lung function is going in the right direction. It was 58% today! Which is up from 50%..so YAY! Cipro is definitely working.And I'm almost done with it, so then hopefully no other antibiotics for a LONG TIME!  During this Clinical Trial we can't change my medical routine or do anything majorly different. So my plan (I hope it works!!!) is to prove I can keep my weight up without my use of my stomach tube and then get it taken out after the trial is over. I haven't used it in a couple months, so far so good. My weight at the appointment was 108 lbs. I need to stay above 105 at all times (even when ill) and try to maintain around 109 -111.     Which i

   Gaining Weight Off the Low-Cal Menu: Sitting Steadily between 105-109 lbs. YAY!      I'm gaining weight by eating off the Low-Calorie Menu's. How? Crazy, huh. Well, here is why. When I used to go out to eat, I would purposely order the highest calorie items, even when they didn't really strike my fancy. Side Note: I love spinach, fruit, soups, lighter meals, fish, seafood, grilled chicken. I'd pick those over pasta, burgers, fries, or anything greasy. It's just my taste buds prefer lower calorie food. Go figure. I love grapefruit the most! So how can I gain weight like this? Well, follow my taste buds advise.     When I ordered the high calorie food, even though I wasn't excited about it, I wouldn't eat a lot of the meal. I'd pick at it and say "Oh, I'll take it home and it eat it tomorrow." It sits in my fridge...I may pick at it, but never really eat it. So I never get all those "amazing calories" anyway. One day at Appleb

  Updates and Evaluating     I realize I have a lot of different topics that  I have been discussing lately and should probably let you know how each are going. So much has happened, let's see... I got sick a lot, 2 trips into the hospital in October, a month of Gastrointestinal Issues in November, Colonoscopy in December, My CFer Bestie Laura was admitted with low lung function/was put on 24-7 oxygen and starting fighting for a Transplant in December. I also have decided to focus on getting my lung function back, but since it has been slow paced and I have been doing more crafting and cooking lately! Well let's begin the updating: 1. School: I had to withdraw from last semester (my first semester of Grad School) and I'm currently hoping to start a new program in the summer! And my tuition appeal is still being processed, I emailed them yesterday to make sure they didn't forget :-) ( Read About Why I had to withdraw from school HERE) 2.Gastrointestinal Issues:

This Weekend Was a Bit Unpredictable:      Andrew and I went to see Hello Dolly at Drury Lane on Saturday. It was cold out, but roads were drivable. I love Hello Dolly, it is my favorite show! It was absolutely amazing! The lady who played Dolly did a great job. Andrew and I met in Show Choir and through theatre. We were in a show together in the spring and we look forward to directing/producing together in the future! He had never seen Hello Dolly, but I always talked about it. His parents got us tickets to Hello Dolly for Christmas! I was beyond excited! Hopefully, we will see a couple more shows while we live in Chicago.  I had never been to Drury Lane, it was beautiful inside. Loved the huge Christmas Tree (pictured below to the left) Definitely want to take advantage of where we live and see more shows!       We went to the Mall beforehand and used some Starbucks Gift cards to get some Apple Cider drinks and one of my favorite stores was going out of business (sad), but

Need a Budget Friendly Chirstmas: Never know what to buy for presents? End up spending more than you should on gifts? Don't understand where your money goes around the holidays?   Well, here is my advise and tips on how to have a budget friendly and yet still memorable holiday experience!!! Each year, I spent an entire paycheck in December on gifts alone. That didn't include wrapping, cards, food, and travel for the parties. I finally realized I could still have the same great Christmas, but save money doing it. We (My boyfriend and I) decided to be smart about how much we  spent at Christmas in 2013. We are sticking to a budget and there is no reason Christmas can't be reasonable too. I know it's tacky to discuss actual numbers when it comes to money. But I'm not embarrased to share. I want everyone to think about how much they spend. It really adds up. Showing the acutual numbers is the easiest way. Here's the Breakdown on the difference in what I spent