My Week in Updates

Such a busy week this week, that my blogging hasn't been up to speed. I want to keep track of my exercising, but can't decide to do a daily post on here, or post it on the CF boards? Decisions Decisions. So here is a random re-cap of everything going on here this week...

* I worked out all 4 days again this week, and feel great. I did over 12 miles this week, lifted a lot of weights, and really feel it in my muscles for sure. Loving the cardio.

*Had my clinic visit at Hopkins. Overall it really was a great visit and they said to just keep doing what I'm doing. Can't really ask for better news than that. I just get frustrated and hard on myself because I'm on Prednisone for a flare up, so my PFT's weren't my best. I'm pretty whezzy on exhalation which is annoying. I shouldn't harp on it, but it's easier said than done.

*I'm going to start AZLI as soon as the FDA gives their final approval. My Doctor was beaming about this which was very exciting. TOBI is making me lose my voice 100% and I told them I can't work like that anymore. We also discussed a lot of new meds coming out, new vitamins and minerals I'm going to start taking etc. Good stuff :)

*I finally rescheduled the big Colonoscopy for March 1st. It scared me a little bit because this week we had a patient who was only 31 that had a colon mass and it doesn't look good. Scary.

*The coworkers and I (and Scott) went to Happy Hour on Wednesday after a very stessful day. It was the perfect way to break up the week. We had so much fun, and I can't remember the last time we did a Happy Hour.

*I'm on the Prednisone until at least Monday now. I weaned off yesterday, but then got super wheezy again, so clearly not ready to be off of it. Boo hiss. I just hope being on an extended dose is what does the trick for me.

*I'm guessing it's the Prednisone, because I was super sensitive sally over the last few days which drives me crazy :/ The baby things hit me on Thursday and I just found myself wheeping. I've not gotten upset for a long time which is good. I just had a weak moment, need to stay positive, and work towards our goal.

*We went out into the city last night for a friends birthday party. Had a really nice time, and always great to spend time laughing with friends. You know you've had a good night when your face hurts from laughing :)

*So as I sit here and look out the window...IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to enjoy my coffee and see what the day brings....

Accomplishments

Today was a nice way to start of the week, with some small accomplishments. For starters I did an extra long, hard workout at the gym today. Man do I really love going there after work, and the HUGE senstation of accomplishment that follows it! My knee was giving me some pretty severe pain today while at work, so I decided not to run, but spin/or bike instead. It was awesome, and so intense! I did a coarse for 6.91 miles/39:55. I also lifted weights today too. I may not be as strong as those big guys on the "manly" side of the gym as I call it, but I'm doing it! I have to laugh at myself when I'm huffing and puffing because my little arms are shaking lifting these little 10 lb weights, while the giants could lift me in an arm ;)

I also made a new recipe tonight, Broccoli and Cheese soup, and thought it turned out Fantastic! I like to try to make something new each week, so definitely got that sense of accomplishment tonight from doing so. Will be making that again for sure!

I got the chance to get some things off my chest today...always a good thing.

And so far it looks like Scott is starting to feel better from his bad cold. Now If my immune system wards of this cold.....well that my friends will be a BIG Accomplishment! ;)

Goodbye Christmas

Oh you're thinking I must be confused, or just plain weird right? Ha ha, no, our Christmas tree and all Christmas decorations finally made their way back to the attic this weekend. The house actually feels big again! :) As much as I LOVE the Holidays more than anything, It's nice to have the house back to normal.

This weekend, had me very goal oriented to undertake cleaning and reorganizing to whole new level. I made a list up at work on Friday, and stuck to it completely. Poor Scott has a cold, so he spent most of the weekend being sick :( Although I have to give him credit for taking down tree for me, which almost killed him :P

So as I sit here on Sunday evening, I'm realizing this is the first time I think I've sat down all weekend. It's a wonderful sense of accomplishment for sure! I knocked things off of my to do list that I've been wanting to get done for maybe a year now.

So after 2 days, countless hours, tons of boxes, even more bags all to be donated, chili cooked, laundry done, this house is shining, and I'm calling it a night!

Hello Prednisone

I can't say I've missed Prednisone by any means, but I'm happy it's available and works wonders for me. We ripped out and re-installed a new front door last Saturday. I wore a mask, which I'm sure helped, but didn't protect me 100% from all the dust, sheet rock, etc that was kicked around. While I've worked out my usual 4 days a week, I've noticed that I'm more wheezy than normal. My FEV1 has stayed pretty high through all of this, just notice a couple lower meter readings here and there.

So today I decided to call Hopkins and give them a heads up. I've been doing my Albuterol nebs as needed every 6 hours, which is helping. However the final verdict is....Prednisone taper starting today. Yippee ;) We want to nip this thing now before it has a chance. That is fine with me, I'm all about being proactive. I go for my clinic visit next week, having been working out so much, have had great FEV1 #'s, so I'll do whatever it takes to maintain it.

So while things aren't terrible, I just want to be safe. The wheeze isn't worse, but it had gone away the other day for a while and then came back a bit. When I called my nurse today to tell her, she immediately said " yeah you have those asthmatic lungs"...yup sure do. Here we go prednisone, please do the trick!

Bye Bye Wheeze

The wheezing has gone away, hooray! My FEV1 is back at baseline according to my trusty little monitor. So glad I have "him" so I can track and compare symptoms to actual evidence. I guess it was just the dust and work from the front door installation. However today at work I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. Sort of like a little stomach bug or something? Nothing ever happened though, thankfully. I did leave work early and came home for a few hours to sleep. I woke up feeling 100% better.

I had to go to a viewing this evening for a dear friend of mine who's Grandfather passed away. Very sad, and I just hate the feeling of being helpless when you see others hurting so badly. I wasn't able to make it to the gym today as I'd hoped since I was feeling crummy. However tomorrow is a new day, and I hope it's a great one :)

Wheezy

And not as in the Jefferson's George and Weezy ha ha. We ripped out and installed a new front door yesterday. Thank goodness for a handy husband :) However all the work, of ripping out, cutting, drilling, and re-installing left me feeling super wheezy last night and today. I did wear a mask yesterday, trying to avoid this, however obviously it wasn't all the way effective.

My FEV1 monitor proved to me that I wasn't wrong either. My numbers weren't bad, but definitely reflective upon an asthmatic flare up. So I took my Fish oil, Ibuprofen, Fizzy NAC, Albuterol Nebs, and have rested all day long. It's actually been fantastic to do nothing all day but watch football.

I hope all of the dust from the project has settled now, and my lungs can be happy again :) Although I just did my FEV1 meter to check my progress, and things are looking up! Awesome!

Not a fan of Confrontation

I've got a lot on my mind this last week, and actually to say a lot is putting it mildly. Without getting into mega details, I've had to put this quote to use this week..... "Love someone enough to let them hate you." I don't like it, and I'm not happy about it, but I just hope that one day they will realize that I was only trying to help because I love them so much. It's not easy, and I want to pick up the phone so badly, but I can't. I don't like this confrontation thing, and this isn't me. All I can do is hope for the best....

It's been a pretty crazy week as far as busy goes. Tonight is the first night all week where I didn't have something scheduled. Yesterday was a 14 hour work day. Now I remember why I don't miss my days of 12 hour shifts anymore. However I am officially recertified in ACLS. I always hope I don't have to use it, but better safe :)

Is it the weekend yet?

Cystic Life

Check it out today!!! I think this is going to be an amazing way to connect with Cyster, Fibros, Family members, and those that connect with CF in some way. I'm looking forward to meeting many others in the future.

Look at it today! :)

P.S.- today is officially the start to my LAST month of being in my 20's! Gah!!!!!!!!!! ;)

Do Or Do Not..There Is No Try!

Well I know this quote is popular, and by no means new, but I LOVE IT!!! I went to the gym today, and to my surprise my beloved treadmill (and all others) were being used. I guess there are a lot more people there now since the New Year. Anyway so I decided to do the bike today as my entire workout. Whoa momma I am SORE, but I love it. I rode the bike today for 25 insanely tough and sweaty minutes, totaling 4.1 miles. I went through a virtual mountain course and I really felt like I was on a mountain, wow.

So as I'm biking there are little motivational quotes that were scrolling on the screen. And right when I thought I literally couldn't move another muscle...."DO OR DO NOT THERE IS NO TRY" scrolls past me in bright yellow letters. It may have well said "Jess did you read that!?" So I followed my quotes advice and pushed it to the limit! I'm happy to say that I did not stop pedaling that bike for the entire 25 mintues, and there are parts of me that are sore that I didn't know existed :P

So in honor of this quote, I'd like to say Thank you!!

P.S.- My FEV1 monitor gave me a surprise reading today, 2.42!! :)

Week's End Mileage

Well I am happy to report for one that it's Friday, and two that I had a great workout week. I went all 4 days as scheduled (goal) and loved it. Each day at the gym is at least 30 minutes of cardio. Here are my totals:

Monday: 2.21 miles
Tuesday: 2.30 miles
Thursday: 3 miles
Friday: 2.5 miles

Totaling: 10.01 miles

New FEV1 reading today of: 2.39!!!

Have a Great Weekend!!

Monitor Says What!?

Well I remembered to take my FEV1 monitor to the gym today. Hooray for my brain working at 440 in the morning! I was VERY EXCITED over my numbers today. I took my "Fizzy NAC" at about 9:30 am, and went to the gym around 12:30 on my lunch break. After a total of 3 miles in 30 minutes....*Drum Roll Please*....

I blew a 2.27!!!!!!!!!! Here's the reason why the excitement with this number. When I had pnemonia back in October and was on IV's for 2 weeks I blew a 2.21 on the day my PICC came out. So with a combination of going to the Gym 4 days a week, and starting my Fizzy NAC this week, I blew even higher than when on IV's! Let's keep this UP!

I can't believe it!!!!!!!!!!! :)

RUN! You Won't Regret It!!

Feel the burn!!! And oh believe me I do! I thought I Ran hard yesterday? Well today I kicked it up a notch, and not even intentionally which is cool. I would sprint for 2 minutes, then jog for 2 minutes. I did a total of 28 minutes, then a 2 minute cool down. I again shaved 1:30 off of my mile, and the grand total of mileage today is 2.30 miles. Woo!

I've also started to take "N- acetylcysteine" aka "Fizzy NAC." I learned that alot of my fellow Cysters and Fibros were taking it. So I did my research and gave it a whirl. Can I just say that I LOVE IT!!!! I honestly feel a positive difference and think it's amazing. I do remember doing Mucomyst as a kid sometimes, which is basically what NAC is. I'm just not sure why it's never been brought up before by the docs to use as an adult?

I keep forgetting to take my FEV1 monitor to the gym with me to track my PFT's. At any rate, when I did the monitor on Saturday in the midst of a non exercising 2 weeks, I had great numbers. So I'll have to remember to take it with me so I can track the NAC and exercising benefits :)

RUN!! You won't regret it!

My friend the Gym

So today, after taking a 2 week vacation from the real world, I reunited with my friend the gym. I have to say It felt AMAZING!!! I pushed myself very hard today, and wanted to see how/if I'd lost anything over the past 2 weeks. The verdict is: I didn't lose anything and even improved my mile times! Woo Hoo! I ran on the treadmill for 27 minutes with a 3 minute cool down for a total of about 2.2 miles.

I also got to put the new iPOD to test today, and she rocked. Well actually I got to rock out thanks to her ;)

I feel great, my lungs feel great, and I'm happy to be Running Again! Thank you, my dear friend Gym, you're awesome ;)

Back to Reality tomorrow

I have to say this has been one of the longest breaks I've had from work for the holidays, well ever. Being a nurse we usually don't get time off like this. Somehow this year we did, and I've absolutely LOVED it! I can honestly say I haven't been able to relax and lounge like this for a long time. I am honestly kind of sad it's over because it has been the best.

However tomorrow is back to the grind and the real world if you will. Starting at 0440, it's up for work and time to be a Nurse again :) After work means back at the GYM full force. I did take a mini vacation from it for about 2 weeks for the holidays. However I have been keeping very active, and am very excited to get back to the grind. I even have a new iPOD that Santa brought me to use! ;) It's even got a pedometer so I can keep track of mileage etc. How cool is that!?

So goodbye wonderfully awesome Holiday break, you were very good to me. And of course........GO RAVENS!!!!!!!!!

New Year's Theory

My friend/co-worker has a theory about New Years celebrations. She says that whatever you do for New Years Eve/Day determines how good or bad you new year will be. I think it's just kind of a fun theory, nothing I'd swear by. But If that's the case I'll take it :)

New Years Eve (as mentioned previously) was spent surrounded by family, friends, kids, laughter, and happy times. New Years Day was very relaxing as well. That evening brought us a great time with again, family, friends, my Goddaughter, laughter, fun, and games.

Looks good to me!! :)

Expectations of 2010

2009 is gone, and so a new year begins. I could look at 2009 and dislike several major things that happened. But instead, I'd rather turn them around and learn from them and give it a different perspective. For starters I had another bowel obstruction. Good thing is, it didn't require any surgery, and we've pretty much discovered why I am getting them (besides the obvious CF stuff) and the verdict is...dehydration. I had a miscarriage in May which has crushed me. However I know that I am able to get pregnant and things happened for a reason. I got a PICC line and had my first adult CF hospital admission. Thanks to that PICC and medications, I've gotten my highest FEV1 I've ever seen (as an adult). I'm proud to say that 2009 also brought me to a year where I decided to exercise full force and haven't stopped yet :) Infact I'm now a gym member and go at least 4 times a week.

So now 2010 begins, and for me it means a lot of things. My biggest goal this year is to continue into year 2 of my exercise program. I'd like to try and increase my FEV1 by 10% :) Look out GYM! I'd like to also explore my lovely state of Maryland more. I know there is so much out there right here in my state that I haven't seen yet. I will continue to be positive and know that things will happen for us. I'll continue to be surrounded by wonderful family and friends. Continue to care for my patients and love my job. Work on our home and be proud of all that we accomplish. I will LIVE in every sense of the word, and continue to appreciate the little things, and do what makes me smile.

So here's to a new start, not really new resolutions, just a continuation of being healthy and happy :)