First Day at The Gym!

Well I joined the Gym and today was the official first day. I worked almost 10 hours so was pretty tired, but knew how great I'd feel once I stepped in the door. Right I was. I LOVED IT!!!!!!!! I did about 45 minutes today and to be honest It completely flew by (bonus!).

I started off on a really cook bike that felt more like a video game. I did a 10 minute course through the "woods" and boy did it feel real. When I got off the machine I had a flash back to how sore my legs felt when I played Volleyball in highschool. Whoa I'm going to feel that tomorrow ;)

I then went to the Treadmill which was my favorite part by far. I started off with a slow jog then realized I had to move quickly because I could. Guess all my running has really payed off. I decided to limit myself to about 10 minutes on the treadmill because I wanted to check out all the equipment. Well I looked down, I'd already run 13 minutes and well over a mile. I was so excited because I felt like I could have just kept going, going, and going some more. I made myself stop, how awesome is that!?

I cooled down with some weight training. I did a bicep machine, then a tricep machine, and finished up with some crunches. Feel burn? Oh yes I did!

I walked out of the gym after about 45 minutes and felt on top of the world. According to my FEV monitor my pre and post lung function increased by about .30!

So to sum it up I freaking loved the gym today and feel great! My 1 year of running has definitely made me see and feel a difference. It's nice now to have a ton of equipment at my hands to mix up my routine and make me push HARDER!

So what's the plan for tomorrow? THE GYM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Black Friday

Well 15 hours later from shopping and I am Home Sweet Home! I had a wonderful day out with my best friend Beth. The day started at 0400 am which is only 1/2 hour earlier than I'm usually up for work. We met up at Starbucks, then off to the races. Our day went like this...

Stood in line at Target, got the "Door Buster" deals! Totally worth it, and the line was fast!
Kohls and got a TON of things for my family. I did most of the buying here!
Bass Pro Shop (only because I love my Father) Otherwise I was a lost soul in that place!
Bed Bath and Beyond
LUNCH break at Baja Fresh, yum! Relax and Refuel.
Dollar Tree, who can resist the cheap cute Christmas stuff including gift bags?
Off to Columbia
Marshalls, ahh one of my favorite stores. Ok so I may have bought for myself here, shhh ;)
Back to Target for more goodies forgotten earlier
Marley Station Mall
Sears
Hot Topic to seach for cool Transformer Stuff
Bath and Body works, need my fill of Warm Vanilla Sugar soaps for the house this winter

Dropped Beth off at her Jeep to unload my Xterra which now weighs 500 pounds less, lol!

The day was filled with Christmas spirit, Christmas music, and lots of laughter. After this long, crazy, but so fun day I drove home like a zombie where I soon stuffed my face with a vat of Mac N Cheese. Unloaded the bags, which are neatly thrown upstairs....yeah I'll tackle the organization thing tomorrow ;)

What a successful shopping day! Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!!

My Thankfulness

There is so much I am thankful for, and I make a point every day to realize it. However on this day of giving thanks, I find it appropriate to put it in writing :)

My Husband- I know I have a great husband and how fortunate I am. Whether it's just his "aroundness" sometimes he's the only person I need or want to be around. He shows me every single day how much he loves me. Whether it's cleaning the house as a surprise, sending a sweet message to me, countless hugs and kisses, I am so lucky to have a real man who would do and does anything for me. I couldn't have found someone better as a support system for my CF too. I never imagined it could be this great. Someday I know he will be a great Father to our kids, he's my Best Friend, and for him I am grateful.

My Dogs- Hooper and Elektra are my babies. I can't even explain how much I love them. Nothing like coming home no matter what the day has brought and having their excitement. I adore them, and how their tails almost wag off for the love they have for us. They have my heart.

My Family and Friends- In a lot of ways I consider myself the "middle man" in our family. I like to keep everyone together and have people over, escentually keeping people together. I learned from my late Pop that we have to stick together and how important family is. When they drive you nuts, still, you know how important they are to you and how much you love them. I feel so honored to be so close to my family, and how my cousins are more like my siblings. For them, and the relationship we have I am truly grateful. My friends are some of the most important people in my life. They are the family we get to choose. They are simply extraordinary, wonderful, amazing and supportive. Fore each of you I am grateful.

My Job and Career- If there is one thing on the earth I know, it's that I was meant to be a Nurse and take care of people. I absolutely love what I do and can't imagine doing anything else. My job is just as wonderful. It's rare (at least from my experience) to have such a physically and mentally demanding job and still love to come back the next day. I work for amazing doctors, whom over the last 6 years, are also like a family. For this I am grateful too.

My CF- Yes I am extremely grateful to have been born with this disease. Crazy? Maybe. However thanks to CF I live my life, and I mean I live it. Every goal or dream I've had thus far In my life I have accomplished. I am more motivated and don't take things for granted. I work very hard to take care of myself, and have CF to thank for this. Without CF I wouldn't have met such an amazing vast number of people who I consider close friends. I never knew it could be this good. I probably wouldn't make myself exercise and run my butt off everyday either. So thank you CF, I am actually grateful for you.

Our Home- I love where we live and I love our home. We've done a lot to this house and I can't imagine living anywhere else. When you can sit in your home and watch the seasons change, watch your dogs play, relax in your yard, enjoy the company of others whether it's a cook-out or just because, it's something worth being grateful for. To be able to walk a few steps outside and go to the beach, watch the boats go by, read a book, or pack a picnic. These are things I love about hour home....

Our Adventures- Whether it's hiking, going white water rafting, festivals, camping, enjoying a simple cup of coffee, or having a movie night in. I love exploring this life I have and living it up. I'm grateful to be this fortunate and this happy in my life. For this I am grateful.

So on this Thanksgiving I am grateful for the Abundace of daily blessings I get to endure.
Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving #2

Tonight I am hosting my Mom's side of the family for Thanksgiving. We've always done it on Wednesday night, but this is my first year having it at my house. I took off work today, which is nice in itself. Today the day will be spent cooking, hanging out with Mom, and getting ready for about 20 people around 7pm.

Yesterday was a sad day. Our friend Courtney with CF passed away. As sad as I am and was yesterday when I found out, I was relieved when I read her sisters blog on how it happened. Speechless. If you have a chance, you should read this amazing story. Just goes to show you that we have Angels around us all the time. I think because I was already an emotional wreck yesterday the whole baby thing hit me again. I've been doing so well too, and bam it all just fell on me. I had 2 vivid dreams this week that I was pregnant, or a Mom already. It's always boys that I have too. Just makes me realize how ready I am, and wish for it to happen again for us, but terrified of another miscarriage.

I'm also waiting on a call back from Hopkins. The Prednisone is helping, I stopped the HTS, and have been running a mile everyday. They may call in Antibiotics to have on hold since it's a long weekend, but don't think it's an infection. That's good news. :)

Hypertonic Saline Is Not My Friend apparently....

I'm feeling fine, running about a mile a day, and still am having chest tightness. To be honest, It's really getting on my nerves now. I've never had to be on Prednisone so many times in one year in my entire life. I think this is episode # 3 or 4. I stopped running outside, for fear that with the Fall weather I was breathing in molds, etc. Doesn't seem to be the case however. I've racked my brain today and I think I may have found it! The ONLY thing I've done different this year is start the Hypertonic Saline. Rewind...I was on it a few years ago but couldn't tolerate for forgotten reasons and now I think I remember why. The HTS really can exacerbate Asthmatic symptoms. Well Hello McFly, that's me! This has to be the reason I stopped it a few years back.

I started back on the HTS when I found out I was pregnant in April of this year. We had to do a ton of medicine rearranging because of the pregnancy. One of them was to stop TOBI and start HTS twice a day. I was on it for about a month, then boom, the chest tightness and Asthma flare up hits me. Granted I do whatever I have to do, no matter what. However I think I may have figured out what the problem is. After the miscarriage in May I stayed on the HTS only to have an Asthma exacerbation in June. We stopped it for a month or so, went back on for a month, then you guessed it, attack of the Asthma. Why haven't we ever put these pieces together before?

So now we're doing another tapering dose of Prednisone, and no more HTS. Also adding in Albuterol nebs to the mix to clear out this inflammation!

*Fingers crossed that I've finally figured out this mystery!*

Thanksgiving #1 of 3

Is it just me or is it hard to believe that Thanksgiving is already here!? Wow. We spent our first Thanksgiving today at Scott's parents house with everyone. It was a nice time, good food, and always nice to be around family :) I'm not sure what the highlight of the day was for me....1. My nephew sitting with me and out of his bag of gummy bears he picked out my favorites ones and gave them to me. Too Cute for words. Or.....#2, My niece gave me a poster of Robert Pattinson aka Edward Cullen! Woo Hoo!!! Wonder if Scott will mind If I plaster that bad boy in our bedroom ;)

I also did my part of Ronnie's challenge and ran for 24 minutes today. It was a killer run, and I'm so glad I did it! I set the resistance up, so on the Eliptical it was only a mile, but whoa mamma it was a good run!

My Nephew and I :)

Sad, Productive, Happy, and Tired

Yes all of those emotions are playing on me today big time. I've been on the emotional roller coaster on this beautiful fall Saturday.

Sad because we are losing a Cyster Courtney. She has decided to go home to God now. Courtney has fought such an amazing corageous battle these last several months. As saddened I am with the news, I am so proud of her bravery to do things on her terms and respect her decision immensely. Her sister started a blog for all of us to follow her journey, and I thank her for letting us share this time with them. Courtney will be missed so much, but I am happy for her to now be an Angel. We Love you Cyster....

Productive because I started and finished painting our upstairs hallway today. Did the upper half above the chair rail a dark cream color, and below a Mocha color. Looks awesome! I even did some touch ups to the Dining Room and Bathroom moulding. I started this morning around 10, after my mandatory coffee run ;) I finished this evening around 7. T.I.R.E.D. but productive!

I'm Happy because tomorrow starts the first of 3 Thanksgivings for us. We always celebrate Thanksgiving the Sunday before with Scott's family. I can't believe it's this time of year already, but It's my favorite and I'm trying to savor each moment.

I'm Tired because of the crying, emotions, physical labor, and running today. I'm following Ronnie's challenge while he is in the hospital. Deal is you have to either match his walking time, or a running time he gives you for each day while he's in the hospital. What a motivating thing to do! So today I completed a 23 minute run for us! After this day, I sure am beat! Night all.

Friday Fill Ins

1. We need a Cure for CF, too many of my fellow CF friends are very sick right now.

2. I had several patients tell me today how gentle I am at doing their IV's, and it made me smile.

3. If you want to receive, then ask and believe.

4. I'm happy because I have great people in my life.

5. Massachusetts has a proposed 5% sales tax on elective cosmetic surgery; I think I live in Maryland, so.....

6. Family togetherness and traditions makes for a happy holiday.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Happy Hour and NEW MOON, tomorrow my plans include painting our hallway 2 different colors, and Sunday, I want to go to my inlaws to celebrate our Thanksgiving!

Official Gym Member

That right, as of today I am officially a member of World Gym :) Yay. It's right by where I work, and as Nursing employees, we got a great discount of $20 a month! (Granted the people I joined with are the same people who fell off the running wagon with me, but it never stopped me, I'm staying positive!) That includes all classes, everything. Woo Hoo! I couldn't be happier for several reasons.

1. I'm afraid that running outside may do more harm than good, especially when it gets to be freezing here and snowing.

2. I can now run inside in the heat :)

3. I've always wanted to do a Spinning class and/or cardio kickboxing, and now I can.

4. Instead of just doing the Eliptical I have EVERYTHING! :)

5. It's literally steps from work, so off with the scrubs, on with the gym clothes, work out, then home. How easy and convenient is that!?

6. As we all know exercise has huge benefits for CF!

So excited!!! I want to keep this FEV1 on the increase, and I'm GOING TO DO IT!

Exhaustion after IV's?

The best way to describe me for the last 2 weeks is EXHAUSTED. I don't know if it's coming off of the IV's, or what but that's how it's been. I pretty much have come home each day after working at least 9 hours this week and took at least a 2 hour nap. Obviously my body is tired, so I'm listening and resting.

However this exhaustion thing has bummed me out, having no energy means not a lot of running. That is not me at all! And quite frankly it sucks and I hate it :( Maybe I'm being too hard on myself (no surprise there). It also means I've been a blogging slacker too. I'm not sure If coming off IV's does this to people or what? It feels like the energy has been sucked right out of me.

Last night was our first night out in a while, and it was so needed! We had plans that got messed up, but decided to still have a fun night. We went up to an old historic city near us and did a Ghost tour. Pretty cool to do on Friday the 13th. We also had dinner, and went to a haunted bar for a drink. It was a much needed fun night out for sure.

On that note I've decided to get back on track, tired or not. So I went for a great 20 minute run today and it felt nothing short of AWESOMELY GREAT!!!!! I also decided to have a fresh start, and on Wednesday got a mega haircut. At least 6 inches cut off to be exact. My hair is just above my shoulders now. I was scared, but I'm ready for a change and so I put my big girl pants on and did it :) Thanks to my Best Friend who took me there and made me do this!!

The pneumonia has been a HUGE motivator for me, well except for the tired stuff ;) I'm kicking it into high gear today! I've cleaned the house, did all the laundry over the past 2 weeks, put the Halloween decorations away (could you hear Scott cry from where you live? ;) tackled miscellaneous tasks like cleaning out old papers, getting rid of the huge boxes from the IV meds, re-organized the pantry, etc. I'm on a roll! And I made a loaf of Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter bread, and am working on Pumpkin Bisque too.

Goodbye Exhaustion, please be gone for good! And Hello back to normal!

Tuesday Ten (Playing Catch-Up)

There's been so much going on lately that I haven't had too much of a chance to do my usual blogging. So I'm cheating and throwing all of it into a Tuesday Ten...or more :P

1. I'm officially PICC free as of Friday at 6pm :) I'm so thankful that the antibiotics did their job and for how lucky I am. I know that the pneumonia could have been or gotten way worse, all things considered. My FEV has even gotten as high as 2.34 :) Couldn't be happier!

2. My nebulizer decided to break last night. I was right in the middle of my TOBI and bam, it sounded like a crunchy grinding sound. :/ That can't be good! So I'm supposed to have one on it's way to me this evening, thankfully.

3. I was able to get the H1N1 vaccine at Hopkins on Thursday. I was completely not expecting it at all, so it was a nice surprise. I'm wondering though If I'm feeling it's effects now. The last 2 days I've had occasional chills and a low grade temp. I feel fine though, weird.

4. Had a great time In NYC with my 2 girlfriends on Saturday. I was able to get all of the Christmas shopping done that I had on my list for New York.

5. We had our annual Football party on Sunday. Too bad the Ravens lost, but we had a great time. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to have all the friends/family that I love all in our house at the same time.

6. I've been so very exhausted these last few days. I think it's just because we had so much going on these last 2 weeks with the pneumonia, PICC, lack of sleep with the IV's, Scott's Grandfather dying, it's just been a little insane. I'm desperately trying to catch up on sleep! Needless to say my to-do list isn't getting any shorter...

7. I'm doing something HUGE tomorrow...I'm getting my hair cut off!! Ahh!! It's overdue, and I haven't had it short for at least 4 years now. Yikes, I'm so nervous, but excited at the same time.

8. I'm joining a Gym! I've never belonged to a gym before so I'm super excited to do so. One of our offices @ work just moved next door to a gym. We're being offered a deal of $20 a month, classes included. I can't wait! It will be such a nice alternative to running :)

9. I can't believe how fast the Holidays are approaching us. This is my absolute favorite time of year. However, I can't believe that when I was out shopping recently they are already playing Christmas music!? Why does Thanksgiving have to get ripped off?

10. I have a lot of my fellow CF'ers on my mind. Those that aren't doing so well, fighting Swine Flu, in the hospital, awaiting transplant, recovering from transplant....please keep them in your prayers too.

Well that's my update over the last few weeks. It's good to be back, and just about back to normal. Now if we can just get some sleep into the mix, I'll be very very :)

Record Breaking

We've had an insanely chaotic few weeks, both sad and celebratory. We buried Scotts grandfather yesterday, sad, but I got the PICC pulled, happy :)

Went to Hopkins on Thursday and blew record breaking PFT's :) 70% which I haven't seen In a long time. SO exciting! I'm glad I showed pneumonia who's boss ;) I can't explain how grateful I am that the IV's did their job and I feel so much better!

Well I'm on my way to NYC today with some of my friends to do some early Christmas shopping. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Its great to be back to being me again :)

Sad News

Scott's Grandfather passed away last night :( So things are a little insane around here right now for sure. I'm taking a few day mini break but will be back ASAP. I go to Hopkins on Thursday to follow up and do PFT's....the PICC may come out then too, we shall see :)

Have a great week everyone! Hope everyone had a great Halloween!