Cheriz: My life with Cystic Fibrosis

  COMPLIANCE: This is a huge topic in the CF community. Lots of people (including myself) keep track of how long they have been 100% compliant (days without skipping a single pill, treatment or vest). Its such a difficult topic. Lots of studies have been done showing low numbers for compliance. I just read one the other day that a fellow CFers posted on Facebook and it got me thinking about how difficult compiance is for me. And I bet there are other CFers are there with just as difficult situations too. I'm going to give my two sense about the whole topic! A lot goes into doing meds, my daily routine, etc, so I'll fill you in. Compliance: is it important?  Why Keep Track? Um, yes. Of course it is. You are prescribed those meds and nebulizers for a reason. Try to find something to help keep you on track. I now for lots of people this is keeping record of how many days in a row they have been compliant. I know I keep track as motivation to get me to do all of my meds. I

RESULTS, LOTS OF RESULTS! FIRST, Hope everyone had a Great EASTER! I had to work, but I got off early and Andrew surprised me with a lil pink stuffed bunny hugging this rose, some candy, AND I even got off work in time for us to eat out for dinner (before I had to start fasting for my Diabetes test)! I got Andrew some candy for Easter and made some Minion Easter Eggs (out of yellow and Blue plastic eggs) to put the candy in, lol. This Easter was different, considering it is the first Easter I have ever had without seeing my parents or sister. But, overall it was still pretty nice day (regardless of working and not eating any night time snacks). So where to start:  Okay,  As you know in the last couple weeks I had some petechiae problems, which completely freaked me out, considering my mom's past health issues (read about the freak out I had over this  HERE- it brought back some memories) . Along with petechiae appearing on my face and neck, I had some tests done recently. Doc

Moving Again! So many exciting things have been happening lately. First off, It's now offically Great Strides Season and the Cf Walks have started for the year! My team's first walk site is in Champaign on May 3rd! (pic: My first Walk Team in Champaign: Sarah, Stacey, Alex, and myself) I'm so excited about this walk and seeing some friends from U of I. Right now, I only have 3-4 team members signed up for this walk. However, Alex ( the guy pictured above) lives in Champaign still and is throwing a fundraising/walker recruitment party the night before at a pizza place. He's suppyling the pizza (well I sent him the donation letter, so the restaurant could donate the pizza or give him a discount-since its tax deductable). Guests pay for their own drinks and are asked to donate to our walk team and/or join us the next day at the walk (suggested donation he's asking for is $10 a person). He just started inviting people last night. He invited quite a few and alread

Yep, Roller Coaster Week: Overall, the week had been great. I've been having lots of positive things happening lately and I was even home last weekend for my birthday ( Read about my FABULOUS Birthday HERE) . Andrew did a lot of planning  for my birthday, I had clinical trial Thurs, which went fairly decent. Lots of good things had been happening and then bam, saw those spots. Well... Whew, thank goodness those spots faded a lot over the weekend! I was really worried about those petehciae. A lot of it had to do with the memories of my mom being really sick in the past. ( Read about why I was worried HERE)  So Saturday, Andrew and I drove to the hospital to get the blood work. Doc understood I had a wedding I really wanted to attend, so he rushed the results. So here Andrew and I were sitting in the car waiting for the call from Doc. Doc was going to tell me if I was Anemic, or if anything else concerning showed up. If so, I'd miss the wedding and have to come see doc. But

Freakin Out, Yep I was: I just had a clinical trial yesterday and I blogged about it below. However, today a lot happened and I have a lot to say. So here it goes... I had to work today 2-9pm. I went in and it was sooo slow today. I was thinking "yay! Today we will get a lot done and then it should pick up in an hour or two."  It didn't pick up, so bad news we had 3 people scheduled and only needed 1, but good news I got to go home at 7:00pm. 2 hours early. Why is this sooo good? Well. 3 reasons 1.) I had cleaning, etc to get done before Andrew got home 2.) Needed to pack (because we have a wedding to go to tomorrow) 3.) I didn't feel well. Like really didn't feel well. I had drank all my gatorade by 4pm and had nothing to drink for the other 3 hours on my shift. It was 78 degress in the store and I was sweating like a pig. I know attractive, but I have CF and I sweat more than the average person... So needless to say I was a little dehydrated by the time I got

7th Clinical Trial and Results: I had my 7th (out of 9) clinical trial today. Glad it is almost done, once it is over I can change some of my meds around. It's hard to believe I've been doing this clinical trial since October! This trial has kept me on my toes. I've been keeping up with my meds and have been compliant with them. With my work schedule it can be a little tought working around the different hours, but overall it has been working out okay. Today, at the appointment, they put me in a different room. I was in the exercise room, where doc does all the exercise type tests. Looks pretty cool huh. So now for the results. I'm kinda disappointed that my lung function didn't change. What a bummer, but I guess at least it didn't go down. Doc always says stable is good. But I don't want to think that the 50s is my baseline. But sadly, I think the 50s are my baseline. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to keep working extra hard to see if I c

Birthday Weekend: That's right, weekend!  Andrew asked me to take off Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday this weekend.!!!! Friday:  We went home friday afternoon! I went to my appointment to get that bone density scan done. Whew, so that Dexascan is done!!! I'll find out the results next appointment I see doctor B. And I got us tickets to see Footloose at Putnum County High School (a month or so ago), so Andrew and I could see my cousin Kazia perform! I'm very excited she has decided to do theatre! She looked like she really enjoyed it and I'm very proud of her. Footloose is very fun show and I'm glad I got to see her perform! Saturday: Then Saturday morning I met some girlfriends for donuts at "Nuts for Donuts" YUM! I had a maple and bacon donut! Afterwards I went to Jillians and got my hair trimmed (just a little), I'm growing it back out for a while. We'll see how long that lasts though... However, then Andrew told me to change into t