Cheriz: My life with Cystic Fibrosis

I Spy With Silly Eye: "Silly eye" is an understatement. As you all know (probably) I have mild cerebral palsy, which affects my right side.  I was diagnosed at around age 2-3. I had glasses since I was a year old, but it wasn't until I started walking funny on the outside of my right foot and talking out of one side of my mouth that my parents knew anything was wrong. After many years of physical therapy, barely anyone could tell I even have CP. I said goodbye to my leg brace at age 10, goodbye to glasses at 12 years old, and kept getting stronger! (picture: doing physical therapy at home) I was very fortunate to have such a mild case. I still catch myself holding my arm stiff (t-rex style as I call it) and I have trouble with tying shoes, cutting food, doing buttons, etc. Sometimes my right hand just drops items, and overall my right side is super weak. I try very hard to work out and keep it's strength up, and overall it has gone pretty well.  I have no r...

Weekend Luck: Doctor's offices are open Monday through Friday. Yet I always start feeling sick on Fridays. Luckily, I don't get "sick" too often. Which is pretty lucky considering my pathetic immune system. My immune system can't fight anything and even a simple cold could become more serious and life threatening. For example:  I had to break down and call Doc's after office hours (this morning) to figure out what to do, thanks to a simple cold sore, AGAIN! Yep, you heard me right. Again, thanks to a cold sore. Not sure if you remember in 2013. In 2013:  I had a cold sore that turned my  mouth and lips full of cankers, sore, and lesions. My jaw/mouth was so swollen that I couldn;t talk (which is really funny if you know me, since I gab all the time) or barely swallow liquid. My throat and tongue covered in bacteria and fungi (my tongue was covered in pure white - it was thrush). My fever reached 104 and my pulsox dropped into 80s, Andrew took me to...

Our Story : Andrew and I met in a show choir. I graduated from the University of Illinois in 2010 and decided to return to the local community college to take a few courses, before jumping into graduate school. I wanted to be a social worker at a medical facility, and also have my real estate license. Andrew had graduated with his culinary degree, but decided working in a restaurant wasn't exactly what he wanted. So he decided to return to the community college and find a new path... (picture on right, from November 2012, school field trip with friends- Conklin's Barn Dinner Theatre.) We met in August of 2012, that fall, at the 1st show choir practice. He was really sweet and nice, but I wasn't really looking to date anyone. I had been engaged in the past (2009), then followed that relationship up with 2 bad relationships. But Andrew had different plans for me. He was sweet and asked about my CF. In fact, he had told me he was following my blog. So I knew he underst...

Why Do I Blog? I thought I'd share why I started blogging in honor of my blog's 4th year! There are lots of reasons why I blog. It started when I did Stand-Up Comedy on the BigTen Network. My Stand-Up comedy is all about my Cystic Fibrosis. If you want to watch a clip of it, it's here  (I start about 10 minutes into it- this was my 2nd time ever doing stand up, I was NERVOUS! lol)!  It was pretty rewarding though being able to spread awareness via jokes on TV! Please, understand that I didn't make jokes directly about CF. Having CF itself, is not funny. However, CF can get you into some funny situations and we need to have a good outlook on life. Why be negative and sad all the time? PLUS, Why not share mine and raise awareness?!?! I graduated that semester from college (Fall 2010) and moved back to my hometown. I felt like I wasn't doing enough for the CF Community. Nobody in my hometown, really had CF (those who did had already passed away), and our town d...

Road Block: Hit an Obstacle:  If you are new to my blog you may want to read about my past GI specialist appointments, colonoscopies, and weird diets they put me on HERE , since that has been my biggest obstacle to getting healthy. Post Christmas and all through January I was doing really well! Weight up to 107.8 lbs, lung function even around 55% again- up from 36%. Finally working out and eating right! And then BAM! GI problems all over again.  All of the issues are back. The diarrhea, bloating, but the worst is the intense stomach pains/cramps I get (that they say are my colon spasming). I've been having these issues really bad off and on for a couple years, but got worse when I had my g-tube taken out. Not sure if that is related or they just kept escalating and it was a coincidence. But either way, it is interfering way too much.  They tested for Celiacs and Crohns in the past, both negative. So the GI doc said it was my diet. So he told me "don't...