Holy Moose hunter

So, can we talk about how fabulous Obama's acceptance speech was last night?  AMAZING.  He hit every point perfectly.  I can't help but agree with everything he says.  He is such a great man, with such potential to lead this country to a place where it needs to be.  Towards healing, world peace, energy reform, and regaining the trust and respect of the rest of the world.  Now, can we talk about the VP moose wrangler?  Who the hell is this woman Sarah Palin?  How is she going to come from podunk Alaska to take on the United States of America?  This just shows that John McCain is a complete idiot, to make a split decision like that?  He has met her twice?  How is she going to take care of her special needs downs-syndrome baby while being the VP?  It is a big job, how ridiculous. So, i think this is so stupid.  I hope, no I know, women are not so stupid as to vote for McCain just because he picked a woman VP.  Wow, talk about no experience..... 18 months in office?  comes from the PTA, I know the PTA is a rough and tumble place, but what?  hahaha..... it is just funny that he has made this choice.  Good going john.  My friends, I guess you will just have to vote OBAMA!

Hello out there in blog reader land....

I haven't posted the past two days.... you would not have wanted to hear from me. I have the "roid rage". I am on a high dose of prednisone, and it has made me nutty, with all the bad side effects. I am manic, (just like britney spears), irritable, angry, sad, happy, twitchy, jittery, insomnia, swollen, hungry, and bloated! Doesn't that sound like a fun combo? Well, it isn't fun for me, and it isn't fun for anyone around me. I am much better today since i came down a bit on the dose. So i can at least live inside my body. Yesterday it felt like I had an Anna monster inside. Well, i watched the convention yesterday, and didn't think that Hillary did a good job at all! But i feel she redeemed herself today, by helping to go above the rules of the convention, and declare Obama the Nomminee!!!! YAY FOR OBAMA DAY! I thought Bill's speech was fantastic. I thought he did a great job comparing McCain to Bush, and giving the perspective of the potentials of a young president. I thought it was absouletly great! Also, i think Joe Biden is a great man. I think they will be able to accomplish a lot of good things together. GO OBAMA and BIDEN! I can't wait for tomorrow's Obama speech. We will see what be brings...I don't doubt that it will be anything less than totally amazing. So, that is about it for me now..... I gotta go medicine up, treatment up, and put a new dressing on my new port. I am such high maitenance! I will be sure to update tomorrow, so everyone make sure to watch OBAMA!

What potential

Hello from the outside world!  I came home today at about 5.  It is amazing how long it takes to coordinate everything.  Anyways, I am out and doing well.  I got to watch the DNC convention with Michelle Obama's speech.  How beautiful.  She is such an amazing woman.  That family is beautiful inside and out.  I can't wait till they are the first family.  We must do all we can to help america seize it's potential.  I think i am going to have to be more active in volunteering for Obama, we can't miss this opportunity to have such an amazing man as our president.  I hope all of you will be able to watch him inspire this week.  Go OBAMA!

Sitting and Waiting...

I am still waiting to be discharged. It took so long to get the orders in to my homecare pharmacy that i had to wait here to do my afternoon doses. So my stay has been extended until 430-5ish. However, I got to spend the last hour with my bud Tom, and we got to sit out by the fountain in the nice air and chat. It is so wonderful to have other CF friends who understand what you are going through. Well, I will be watching the DNC convention in the hospital... at least there is something to watch.... I can't wait to sleep in a real bed tonight!

Fun Hospital times

My friend Tom is here with me! Poor Tom had to come in, but Yay for us because we got to hang out last night. Fun times of hanging out with friends, reminiscing, and sharing about hospital "issues". I am on the track to getting out of here today.... so wish me luck! Send Tom your good vibes, so he can get better fast too, and get out of the nuthouse!

Too many chickens

So last night, i found out that now I only have 2 enzymes ordered for meals. What the hell? I have been eating 4 with meals and 2 with snacks for my entire existence. I swear, I don't know how this hospital actually functions. I do what I want anyway, so i make things happen for myself, but why would someone change something like that? Maybe they think i am too fat and are putting me on the Alli diet. Did you all know that those new diet pills Alli are simply giving you a CF gut? It makes your body unable to digest fat, and it just comes right out of your butt... hence the warning for anal leakage, if you consume more fat than suggested. So maybe I am in for some fun anal leakage! just kidding....

What do you think?

Should i put out some slpenda in some nice cocaine rows on my bedside table, and complain to Larry the pharmacy guy that someone left drugs at my bedside, and I might be in danger? hehehe...

Ports at ease

Hello.. just reporting that the port is actually doing ok. It is to be expected that there is swelling inside, and with the whole of the needled that is in, it is likely to come out. Fortunately not a whole lot more has seeped out. Good news is that it appears I can cough better today. SO I am in for some workouts. Casey was sweet to me, and put me to bed before he left, even though I was grumpy and couldn't get comfy to sleep. Last night was one of those "typical" hospital nights. But maybe this benedryl i just took will knock me out ;)

Dana Carvey and Windy Wente

I was able to have a joyous night before coming into this nut house they call a hospital. Casey and I, with the accompaniment of his family attended the Dana Carvey show in Livermore at the Wente Vineyards. It was really nice. We dodged having too much traffic, got a nice ride on a golf cart, and had a delicious buffett dinner before the show. The food was Fantastic. Now, i was on prednisone already, but I don't htink it was just my orgasmic food experience of being on the "zone diet". Casey confirmed that the food was deliscious even when you were untainted by the oh so powerful prenisone. There were glazed nuts galore, breads of every type, delish light chicken breasts with balsamic reduction, seared ahi with soy sauce, some read meat(which i didn't eat), fantastic spinach salad with chicken and beautiful warm mushrooms, figs, strawberries, champagne grapes, oh so good! The dessert was great too. But first I pile my plate so high! I ate all of it, super fast. Then I went to get another entire plate of fruit. I ate too many figs...but it was sooo good. So we ate, then we watched the show, and man it was WINDY in Wente. But the show was really funny and i definately enjoyed a good belly laugh before the hospital. So thank you to the Martin family for taking us!

new port frustration already

Well, things aren't quite as happy as they were earlier in the day. I am a bit frustrated, only because the weekends are hard to deal with because if you have a question, the usual people are not around. So my port site seems to be leaking a bit of fluid. I had my dressing changed, and i did some coughing, and it is a little wet again. My nurse didn't have the expertise to make any decision, so they are calling in some other people, and i just have to sit and wait. It is really painful to have the dressing changed when it is fresh. It sticks so hard on the skin, and you get small rips in the skin, HOW FUN! Then on top of it, they put fresh alcohol to clean it... Yum, alcohol in a fresh wound. Anyways, I have to wait to be poked and proded again. At least my Casey is bringing me some good food to add to the zone diet. RIBS! Please think good thoughts, that this is normal and it is just healing. But the other half of my day was great. I slept 7 1/2 hours, and my sister, Lou, Mom and Linda came to visit. So we had a good time just hanging out. When Linda came she brought a fun goodie bag full of little toys. Hehehe.... She is the best. Just like make a wish every time i see her! Lou and Sara were great too. How nice for Lou to go out of his way to deal with the "sick sister". I really appriciated the visitors. I hope that anyone who is going to the massive concert in SF this weekend has fun! Say hi to Jack Johnson for me! Ok, done babbling... I will keep you all updated as i find out what is up with my port.

Port is Replaced!

Hello all... I am back and kickin! I went in this morning at 11am and got back about 245pm. My port surgery went WAY longer than expected. My port was covered in scar tissue. They had to even make another incision to pull out the catheter, which was also covered in scar tissue. I must say that it was crazy to be awake during a procedure like that. I remember everything. They kept me talking and engaged the whole time. The numbing med hurt like a mo fo. But i survived. When they were taking out the port it was gross, pulling and pulling. I am going to be very bruised. I have a really stick neck and my cough hurts my neck beacuse the blood pressure builds and hurts the incision into the vessel. I didn't know how long the surgery was, but I felt bad because my cousin, casey and mom were waiting for me for like 1 1/2 hours. But i hear they had a good time chatting. My cousin is in nursing school so we invited her to come and learn and see "the patient's perspective". It was nice that she was here. She is obviously in the right profession, she loved being here. Strange huh? My nurse is really cool too right now, so we are in a good space. I am getting my desenitization now, and on Bag 4 of 7 so I am just hanging out now. Mom and dad just brought dinner for themselves. Casey will bring me Kirk burgers in a while. So yay. Well, They didn't let me keep my old port, but i got to see it before we finished the surgery. He said it was completely clotted from the catheter to the well inside the port. How crazy, so that is a good thing. Anyways, I have been having a hard time getting posts up, it doesn't like this other one i tried to put up this morning, so hopefully this works! Check in for more hopefully.....

Oh Larry the pharmacy guy

So I am in the hospital now. It has been going well thus far. I am planned to get my port placed tomorrow about 10 am ish... but that is hospital time, so we will see what really happens. The good news is that i am not very sick at all, this is a kind of "get it before it gets me" tune up with the IV antibiotics. So I am very optimistic. Also, I have more energy than normal when I am in here, so i am much able to deal with all the complications of getting all of the orders straight. So everything has gone well, and i have almost all my meds ordered. So that is great. I like to have my own insulin when I am in here, because it is difficult to get the insulin when you need it, so I like to keep it bedside... this is where LARRY the pharmacy guy comes in. I have to have the insulin approved, and I have never had any issue with this before, but he comes in and gives me a speech about their protocol and how they do not in no instance leave the meds by the bedside. As he says, "you never know, you might get confused and give yourself two doses, or swallow the WHOLE pill bottle." I was trying not to snicker... if you were to take the WHOLE bottle of enzymes, i promise you would never ever make that mistake again... you would probably need more golytly and miralax, more than they have in the hospital. Anyways, after a few more lectures about how if he left it at the bedside, it would be a sin worse than anything you could think of. Then he spouted out something about an email going out about how Larry made a boo boo by leaving it out, and EVERYONE would get the email, and we wouldn't want that would we? It was quite comical, but at the same time VERY irritating. I am at more risk not getting my insulin when needed, than overdosing myself. But ANYWAY... he is such a condesending guy it was funny. After he left we did a treatment and I heard all about his reputation around here... and he will stand up to a resident and say "shhhhh" and put his hand up as to be saying , "talk to the hand" and will go on about the chemical make up of medicines, just to show off his knowledge. I don't know if you all think this is as funny/ridiculous as I do... but i have to find some things in this joint to entertain me. Then right after dinner I had convinced my nurse to let me have my enzymes and insulin by my bed until I go to bed... my mom went out of my room, and came back in and said, "QUICK hide the meds! LARRY is outside!" so we hid the contraband and ran out of the room so he wouldn't check on me. I think i dodged him for now. i am scared he is going to check my "lock box" and find that my insulin isn't in there, and come hunt me down! Anyways, that is the entertainment for the day. The good thing is that my FAVROITE respiratory therapist is here, and he is giving me GREAT treatments, so I can get all cleared out for my surgery. That is enough CF talk for now... I have more to post, about last night but I will do that later... you will have to stay tuned!

The little things in life....

Today started out with a normal routine, but I got to have a massage at the chiropractic office. I have had a few massages in my day, and I must admit that they were never quite as good as I could have hoped. My head is always a tiny bit weird in the head rest, my sinuses stuff up because of the positioning, and i feel like the masseuse isn't getting it just right. But today, MAN OH MAN. I had the most amazing massage. I didn't even realize how comfortable i was until I tried to get up. I was in such bliss... it lasted through the drive home, and through lunch. I figured i better get to the pool, to continue this day of relaxation. It put me in a trance like state. I don't know if should have driven home, but I had no care in the world. It felt fantastic. The best thing was, she didn't jip me 10 minutes, she did the complete one hour! FANTASTIC. Now my body is all loosened up for surgery. I don't have much else to report, just continuing to get ready for the end of the week, and the weeks ahead. We had Tacos for dinner last night, and we have left overs for tonight. I have decided that when i make tacos, they are one of my favorite meals. I always prepare black beans and corn on the cob to go with it. YUMMMMY! The big bummer of the thing though, was that the new taco shells i bought were kinda stale, so today i took them back to get better ones, so hopefully tonight the meal if terriffic. Also, we have my mom's homemade apple sauce to go with, so you can't get much better than that!!!!! Yummm, i am drooling all over the keyboard. I learned that one from Sara's (my sister's) Cat, Moooey. She also drools all over the keyboard when you are typing. One of the funniest memories i have is a few years ago I was "im-ing" my dad, and he typed, "Mooey just drooled on my D key". I don't think i will ever forget it, i just fell out of my chair laughing. Oh the little things in life.....

My Casey is home!

My Casey came home today from a week vacation in Tahoe. I missed him a lot, but I got to have some good "me" time. It is nice that he is home, but for some reason, the house keeps getting messy. There is all of a sudden clutter everywhere... but he is being good, trying to keep it to a minimum. I must say it is nice to have so many hugs today!!! And, I went to the pool again today. Keeping the dream alive.... ;)

Visiting the Sister

Yay, today I am going to visit my sister. I am definitely going to miss her when she goes to study aboard this next quarter. Only 2ish weeks left till she leaves I think. Well, we gotta make this one count! I love you Sary!!!!
... Well, I am back from the adventure in Santa Cruz. My sister is the coolest. We went out to eat at her favorite restaurant, Cafe Brasil, and we got an Acai bowl, which I was forced into ;) but it was delish. It was a smoothy of Acai berries with granola on top and strawberries and bananas. Yum. we had a little bit of a distraction because when we were waiting to sit, my blood sugar dropped to 57 and Sara had to go get me some juice ASAP. But i was able to eat protient with eggs and avacado, so i was good the rest of the day. We went shopping in downtown Santa Cruz, and went to this store that has tshirts for 5 bucks!!!! I tried on a bunch of things, but the thing about fashion is that things are wierd, and they make me look pregnant with my big old CF belly. So most things got the heave ho, but i came away with two shirts, and a camisole thingy.
We almost died twice today, by cars, but we survived. So that was a positive take on the day. We also went into a fun candy store and i had to face the hardest decision of my life!!!! Do i do the cotton candy or the carmel apple?????????? AHHHHHH, it was so hard to decide. But Drumroll please....... we chose to share the carmel apple. It was not the best i have ever had, but it was something fun and different. I had a huge glass of milk with it at the candy store, and I was sooo full. So we had fun. I will miss our jounts when she is gone. But she will be back and we will play. So that was my day with my sis.... it ended up with no beach, but the shopping was fun. I am not such a fan of shopping, but a few stores in a downtown are fun, everyonce in a while. Tomorrow I am going to stick to my pool everyday till surgery routine.... so wish me luck in the sun! Hope everyone has a FUN and carefree weekend!

Things I learned at Retreat

Last week was one of the most important weeks of my life. Every first week in August is the most important week of my year. It is when we have our CFRI CF teen and adult retreat. It was so fabulous to see my great friends of so many years. Seeing my friends who i only get to see once a year is the best thing. I have been going to CF camp or retreat for 18 years! It has been a staple in my life. I was thinking about how Retreat is so educational, (not necessarily always about CF, but also about life) so i thought it would be fun to list some things I learned at retreat ..... Beware, humor is to follow......

1. Everyone has a Wenis
2. You can purchase a foldable neckrest for sunbathing... and it helps to combat Irritable neck syndrome....
3. I have a group of friends who are so real, so awesome, so wise, and teach me so much about life and myself
4. I have the most supportive significant other I could ever hope for
5. The memorial service never ever gets easier
6. Ana and Isa invented the answer to global warming and it with the use of recycled pill bottles
7. There is a book called, "greiving for dummies" We all met the author!
8. rectal transplants tremendously help the affliction called Critical Farting
9. I am a bunny whisperer, because I pet the wild bunny
10. My people are awesome!

My life as I know it

Hello to those who want to check out my blog. This is my first post, as you can see.... I guess I will talk about what is going on for me now. Many things keep me busy, especially my journey with my CF. The newest is that my wonderful port, which has kept my IVs, as conflict free as possible, has come to its end of life. I am scheduled to get a new one on Friday, August 22. Inorder to do this well, my plan is to go into the hospital on the 21, and begin IV antibiotics after the surgery. So I will be in the nut house for a few days, but I will be able to deal. I just took some me time, which was most needed, and spent time at the pool, all by myself, no one else there. How wonderful. So My day of serenity, will be complimented by a crazy week next week. My goal is to go to the pool each day between now and hospital day, because after the port surgery it will be a while before i want to go back to the pool, and then summer will be over! So I am here, soaking up rays and prepping for what will be an interesting few weeks ahead....