Fall Happening's

Fall is my absolute favorite season! I look forward to it all year long and really try to enjoy each and every day. We've had an eventful Fall thus far...

I had my Picc line in for 3 weeks which made me feel great!

Poor Scott got a nasty cold and was sick for over a week..

He then passed it to his lovely wife (ahem, me) and I'm anxiously awaiting it's departure ;)

We went to our local Renaissance festival and ate our hearts out

We have went to several Fall festivals in our area

Drank countless glasses of hot apple cider

Picked apples at an orchard

Went on a Hayride with my nieces

Tried apple fritters for the first time (YUM!)

Picked pumpkins off the vine at a pumpkin patch

Went to our favorite yard sale fall festival about an hour away and cleaned up

Made a few loaves of pumpkin bread

Enjoyed a band at our favorite local winery

Next up:

Carving Pumpkins

Dressing up for Halloween!!

The Blog lock-out is over

Yikes, for the life of me my blog has NOT let me sign in for about 2 weeks now. I've racked my brain for reasons why, but for some reason today it let me sign in. Great! It hasn't let me comment on other blogs either, so I do apologize for that. I have to say I'd just sit here and hit "Comment" after "Comment" and nothing. Here's hoping she's all fixed now :)

A lot has happened lately, so in my true to slacker-not-able-to-log-in-fashion, It's a list on the blog type of day..

-For starters the Picc is gone! Yay! It was removed yesterday at work, which was exactly 3 weeks from placement. Feeling good and hoping things continue in that direction.

-Our CF community lost a very near a dear person to me recently. Nicole lost her battle as did her little boy. It's been very difficult lately thinking about her and everything that happened. She is on my mind so very much.

-I officially entered the world of CFRD on August 30th. Been feeling it for a while now, so we decided I needed to keep track of my sugars. Sure enough I landed myself on a carb counting adventure with the help of a Novalog insulin pen. Her name is "Penny." ;)

-I've been trying very hard to enjoy every moment of my most favorite season, FALL! We went to a pumpkin patch, apple orchard, did a hay ride, and have been to 2 Fall festivals. Love this!

-I ran the 2nd annual "Out Run CF" race. I chose to do a 5K with the picc line in tow. It went well and I was so happy to have been able to do it.

-I've recently begun to start "couponing." Not crazy hoarding or anything, just watching for deals on the things that we actually need. So far so VERY good! It's pretty cool to see all the $ we can save.

-Being the crazy person I am, I've started getting some early Christmas shopping done. I've gotten all of my nieces and both of my Goddaughters finished already. Definitely a good feeling :D

-I continue to run at least 4 days a week and love it. There just isn't anything else that makes me feel so great.

That's it for now. Just coming off of IV's yesterday has officially made me feel like I've been hit by a mack truck. I can't remember the last time I felt this exhausted, or slept so deep. Shew. Back to relaxing :)

PICC time

On Thursday I woke up feeling pretty congested. I just chalked it up to the change in seasons, but still was on the look out during the day to see how I felt. I was getting a patient ready when I felt what I'd call a "jab" of pain in my left lower lung. It was enough to take my breath away. So I decided that definitely warranted a listen with the stethescope.

Sure enough my lungs sounded pretty gross in the lower and mid lobes. They had lots of crackles, gurgles, and tons of expiratory wheezing. I usually have clear lungs, so I knew something was up. I gave Hopkins a ring to see what they thought, and of course they wanted to see me and take a listen for themselves.

I didn't even do PFT's because of the shooting pain. The Dr. took a listen and basically said "So what kind of IV's have workded in the past?" Awesome. I was definitely open to having a PICC line right now. I don't want this to have a chance to turn into something awful. And because we are officially in flu season I want to be safe.

So I went to a new place yesterday for my PICC placement. Other areas couldn't get me in until next Wednesday. Or, I could get admitted. I'd rather not be in the hospital anyway because of germs, but even moreso because I don't feel bad, just playing it safe. So I'm PICC'd and ready to go. Bring on the drugs and "roto-rootering" I'm ready for these lungs to be happy again :)

I'm going to take a few days off from exercising. I think rest is important right now. But I ended this week with running 6.5 miles :)

Colonoscopy Day ;)

I started my day out with a lovely colonoscopy today. What a breeze! The worst part is definitely the day before being allowed only clear liquids since this girl LOVES to eat. The prep wasn't even a big deal. I did Miralax and Gatorade and since I like Gatorade and drink it frequently it was a piece of cake...ohh cake. Sorry side tracked ;)

I had to have the colonoscopy due to my history of bowel obstructions in the last 2 years. I had intussusception when I obstruced the last 2 times. So to be safe we did the procedure to make sure there wasn't something in there causing it (ex: Mass, huge polyp, lipoma, etc).

Good new is, no bad news. I did have 2 "tiny" polyps, so no biggie. I'll follow up with the doctor in about 2 weeks and we'll go from there. It was a great experience if I do say so myself. The sedation (Propofol) is wonderful! You literally fall asleep, and wake up in recovery. It doesn't get much better than that.

Being a GI nurse who does this all day long, I knew what to expect. In fact, I totally felt like I was a work. I was even taken care of by a nurse I went to nursing school with. Of course, it still makes you nervous, but I think that was because I was afraid something was going on in there. So overall, good day, great nap, good results :)

Think Before you Speak, pretty please.

Today was a rough one I have to admit. Work was going well, and I was taking care of my patients just moving right along. I was getting an older gentleman ready and he started to ask questions about me. After some chatting he asked me If I was married, yes...how long I was a Nurse, and so on....Then he asked me if I had any children. I replied No. He responded by telling me how I'm really missing out and that I'm really missing something not having children. I held back my tears (not for long) and told him I had lost a baby 2 years ago and have had a tough time ever since. Of course he felt terrible, but I don't care.

I composed myself long enough to finish his IV and get out the door. I could feel it brewing and one of my fellow Nurses asked me If I was ok, and bam the flood gates open. I couldn't hold the tears back any longer.

It's been a very long time since I've cried like this over pregnancy/miscarriage stuff. I think about it every single day, but today was difficult.

I just really really wish people would think before they speak. You never ever know what kind of battle someone is fighting on the inside...

I WON!!!

The results are in and I officially won the "Biggest Loser" well, "Biggest GAINER" challenge at work! I beat everyone in the office in percentages. I gained 6 lbs total, which for you CF'ers out there know is a BIG deal. I even got a lovely certificate as my prize. Woo Hoo!

Notice the pics of food on my award, especially the Mac-N-Cheese. Boy, do they know me or what? ;)

Swimming and a new 10K plan!

Yesterday we utilized our beach yet again, but this time not to lay around on the sand. Instead we decided to get in the water and swim! My goal was to swim a certain amount of laps, well that didn't happen, but I stayed in the water for 30 mintues swimming and doing different things. What a difference swimming is than running! Whoa, I actually feel out of shape when it comes to swimming. Crazy. It certainly worked me, but It felt awesome at the same time. I'm hoping to go swimming a few times a week while I can in between my running schedule.

Speaking of running, I signed up for the Outrun CF Fall edition yesterday. Super excited about it too! I've decided to kick my running plan up a notch. I found a running plan today for a "10K in 10 weeks" and I'm going for it. I figure I have 10 weeks as of Saturday until my next race so why not!?

Today was day 1 for me, and it was a 30 minute jog...done :) I like this plan because It's only 3 days a week of running which will allow me to do other things and take some classes at the gym.