Andrew's first Thanksgiving

I know I've gotten really bad about updating my blog. What can I say, it's hard to do when you're busy :) and I like it that way :) but this is my late Thanksgiving entry.

I had today off work and didn't have any appointments, so I spent most of the morning catching up on my fellow CF blogs and forums. So much has happened with them, including a lot of CF deaths. It just hits on a deep level that is hard to describe. There's been a few CFers that have received their lung transplants, which always makes me smile. Then there's one cystic who's blog I've been following, she's #1 on her list right now. Maybe she'll get lungs by Christmas! Reading everyone's transplant journeys makes me remember my whole experience and I can't help but smile. While it was one of the hardest things I've ever done, the rewards I've received after have been wonderful!

It all reminds me of all that I have to be thankful for this year. I'm alive... above and beyond anything else, I AM ALIVE! Truth be told, I wasn't sure I was going to be here this year for Thanksgiving. So I leave this entry with just a simple thanks... Thank you to all of the organ donors (especially mine :) ), to all of the members of CF.com which have given me such support, and most of all, my family. Without them I wouldn't have had the strength to get through this last year.

Quick Updates

So not much to report on, which I'll take :D

I got my blood levels drawn yesterday and my magnesium has fallen, yet again. Right now we're just going to increase my oral Mg intake to 3 times a day. If that doesn't work (they'll re-check the levels Monday at Cleveland) we'll either change magnesium tablets to a different compound or do IV magnesium. No big deal, at least we have a plan.

Cleveland has also decided to cancel the broncoscopy for the time being since I'm on coumadin. It would just be more difficult to admit me in the hospital for the 5 days prior to do the IV heparin to do the bronch and then stay to get my coumadin levels back to where they need to be... sheesh. The alternative would be to switch me to heparin or lovenox injections, but my kidney function isn't where it should be in order for me to have this option.

So Mom and I will leave Sunday night and go up to Cleveland for our appointments on Monday. We'll be home Monday night hopefully by dinner... I know that's wishful thinking, but we'll see :)

Kelly's competition this past weekend went much better than the weekend before. She scored a 1st place with her solo and the group dances scored "ultimate victories" - it was a weird scoring system... but the group dances also placed overall in the age categories! I was so proud of her!!

That's it for now, I'll post again after we get home from Cleveland!

Rough Days

Is it just me, or is God calling a lot of the CFers back home lately? Every time I log into CF.com anymore there's at least one other post saying someone else has passed.

I found out yesterday that Jessica had passed away. My family met her husband in the ICU waiting area the night I was transplanted, she had received hers that morning. There were a lot of comlications after the surgery and they ended up having the trach her. Come to find out later that she had B. Cepacia which infected the new lungs. She passed away on March 8th.

I've heard of people having survivor's guilt after transplant but I always assumed it was for the donor. I never expected to have such guilt over hearing this news. There's a whole lot of fear attached to all of this too. I'm 6 weeks post tomorrow... Just 6 weeks. It's just hard to think, that could of been me.

On a brighter note, Kelly's competition went well this past weekend. Her team got several overall high scores and she got sterling silver with her solo. Not as good as she wanted it to be, but she did well and we were proud of her. Solos are hard and this is her first year doing them... and it's in lyrical, which in my opinion is the toughest to compete in! She has another competition this weekend, which I will be at again and I'm sure they'll do great like they always do :)