One quarter ends.... another begins!

Since my last post, I've had sinus surgery (verdict is still out on whether or not it was successful), written a research paper on the gene that codes for alpha-1 antitrypsin, taken 2 final exams, and started my new quarter at UC.

The sinus surgery went well. The recovery was quick, which was all I was really hoping for. I'm still super congested and having headaches. The doc put me on a steroid rinse, so that hopefully will help with everything. Also on the health front, I went back to Cleveland for a checkup. All is well again. PFTs were actually a little bit higher, so the goal is to keep moving and maybe they'll go up some more! My white blood count was a little low when I was up there, so they had me re-check it a few weeks later, and it was back in normal range.

School went well. I was proud of how I did with my first quarter back. I got an A in anatomy, and a B in genetics. The B in genetics was the hardest B I've ever earned! But I think a lot of it had to do with the paper I wrote on alpha-1 antitrypsin. It was the hardest paper I've ever written due to the fact that I couldn't find information that was on my level of knowledge. Everything I found was written for people doing research on the gene. Definitely not meant for an undergrad genetics student! Somehow I made it work though and got a 100% - yay!

Had a good break and a wonderful holiday season. Spent a lot of time with family and a good amount of time catching up on sleep and relaxing with my poodle. During that time, a friend of the family, Tina, received her double lung transplant and is doing wonderful! She got out of the hospital in 10 days and is now back at home. AMAZING! I'm so proud of her and reading her story on her caringbridge site just brings back all of the emotions I had when I went through my transplant.

I started the winter quarter today, which so far is looking promising. I'm taking Topics in Literature (writings about travel in the romantic period - yawn), Cell Structure and Function (could be promising, but mostly boring so far) and Anatomy II (Getting more in depth on other systems we didn't cover last quarter) so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for straight As. We'll see.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and best of luck to everyone in 2011!!

Oh My...

So I just realized that it's been a LONG time since I've had a post. Most of that is due to the fact that I moved out of my parents' house.

Cameron and I bought a house in Westwood! :) It's already been a month since I've moved in and it has already been a lot of work. We haven't had to deal with yard work or any major repairs yet. Just little things, but it's still been a lot! The worst has been working on the kitchen sink, which despite our best efforts, is still leaking. I think it may be time to call in a plumber... or maybe a Daddy :)

The other thing that has been going on is I started school again! Yay! I'm only taking 2 classes, but it's 8 credit hours, which is a good amount considering it's been 3 years since I've been in school. Genetics and Anatomy I. Anatomy isn't too bad since I took it in high school, so a lot of it is review for me. Genetics on the other hand... wow, way more difficult than I was expecting! So far I'm doing OK in my classes. As and Bs, which I can't really ask for more since I'm re-learning how to learn.

On the health side, I've been having recurring sinus infections, so it's back for some sinus surgery for me! November 17th... and I'm going to have my dog vaccinated around then so he'll be at my parents' house for a week during that time. Figured it'd be best to have him out of the house while I'm recovering so I don't have to care for him while I'm trying to heal. It shouldn't be more than a day or two until I'm mobile, but it just times out well.

Hopefully I'll write more again when the quarter ends. Just don't have a ton of time right now!

Spoons - Revisited

I was talking to Cameron the other day about my blog and have come to realize that my favorite blog entry, the one I always get the most comments about, the one that was the most personal to me was the one where I referenced the spoon theory. I wrote it about a month before my lung transplant and I was re-reading it tonight. Wow, what a difference a new set of lungs makes!

I said that on average, I had 10 spoons a day. Now, I have an easy 20 on a bad day. A BAD day... I don't think I could even comprehend that when I wrote the original! A bad day for me is when I am not getting sleep because the meds have kept me awake, the meds have upset my stomach, exhausted because my EBV titers are high from the donor lungs, but all in all, I still can breathe, I can run up the stairs if I wanted to, and the amount of care that I need is next to none. The most help that I need to take care of myself now is the occasional preparring of meals or running upstairs for me to fetch something. And that really, is because I'm too lazy to do it myself, not because I can't do it.

It's an amazing feeling to take a look back and see how far I've come. I've come so far that I'm getting ready to move out on my own... something that I wasn't sure if it was possible pre-tx. I'm making plans to travel down to Knoxville to visit my college roommate, Stefanie. Plans that are WEEKS in the future, not DAYS. I was always so scarred to make plans before. I never knew how I would be feeling, if I'd be on IVs again, plus... having to lug all of that equipment around. Seesh! Even when I went to Cameron's family reunion, I only had a duffle back and another small extra bag for toiletries - leave it to being a girl to add bags to my packing :)

Anyway, for those who would like to know... a typical day for me:

I wake up at 8am and take my morning pills. Sometimes I fall back asleep, but most days I'm up for the day. I sit around, sometimes do some house work (or, atleast I did until my dad lost his job and took those over to keep himself busy).

Come lunch time, either Dad or I make lunch for the both of us. Right now we've been trying to sit outside with the dogs and eat it if it's not too hot.

Then I run my erronds or do some more sitting around or sometimes, exercise... depending on how the weather is.

Then comes dinner and hanging out with the family and Cameron. 8pm I take my evening pills. Then I hang out with everyone until it's time to go to bed.

Once a month I do an inhaled antibiotic in the afternoon, but that's the only extra medical thing I do.

That's it... that's my post-transplant living. You have to admmit, compared to all that I had to go through on a daily basis before, it's pretty sweet living :)

A whole lot of Normal

So my life has been busy and boring, all at the same time!

Not a lot going on since my last post. Just the basics, a few doctors appointments, hanging out with friends, having a good time, and then there's the trying to find a home for Cameron and I, as well as starting to freak out a little about school.

Cameron and I had found a house, and we both were head of heels in love with it. Then the mold inspection came back... oh boy... so now we're heart-broken and shopping again for houses. Unfortunately, all of the buffered time we had before I started school again is gone, so we're under a deadline to find a house now. The last thing in the world that I want to be doing is moving while trying to get use to going to school again. ick.

And while I'm talking about school, I am about as nervous as one can be about going back. I've been out of school for about, oh... 3 years now. And it's not like I was out of school and working during that time, well.. I was working, but in a completely different sense of the word. My job was taking care of myself and that was almost too much of a job for me to do by myself. Thank God for great families :) But anyway, I can already feel the anxiety building with school approaching. I have 2 months left before I start still... and my personality is to take the next 2 months and fret over it until the week before, and then I go into full panic mode. After I get through my first day, I know I'll be fine... but it's just getting through that first day. blah.

But that's all that's been going on. As soon as I have anything else going on, I'll be sure to post it, but until then.... <3

Just a normal update

I really am going to try and post more often. It helps keep me a little more sane :).
So since my last update post, I've been busy! Mid-April Cam and I went to Indianapolis for the midwest CF consortium for social workers and nutritionalist. I was part of the panel discussion and got to meet some really cool CFers. We were all post transplant and I am finding, the further out I get from transplant, that I am starting to crave talking to others who are in the transplant know. I also got to meet Tiffany Christenson who wrote the book "sick girl speaks!" Which is fabulous! The book is neither about CF nor transplant, but references them both throughout.

I also met Sam, a fellow Cincinnatian, and her parents. All were so nice, and I felt honored to be on the panel with each of them.

Next was the CF walk. My team wasn't as successful as years past, but I walked most of it this year, and that's what really mattered to me!! It was a beautiful day and Sam got to cut the ribbon. I was so excited for her. Her dad took a picture of the two of us, and I'm axiously waiting for them to put it on facebook :)

Finally, Cameron and I are house shopping, so I've been a little busy! It's a fine balance betweeen what we can afford and what we're willing to put into a house. A lot of the houses we've looked at have been "handyman specials" which is kind of frightening :).

Oh! And I saw Dr. Trapnell last week and my lung function is at 70% - the highest it's been post-transplant! I figure if I really start trying to work out, I can get it higher. Maybe this is the motivation I've needed all along, especially since dance is coming to an end this weekend. Come see me in the recital if you can! :).