Sorry-Here is an update

Sorry for the long time lapse since last posting. It's been a little busy around here. I'll give more details and catch you up on what's going on throughout the week.

But just briefly: I finished IV abx April 15. Luckily, i have not had to go back on IVs since then. I am though currently taking oral Cipro antibiotic.

I finished up the spring semester with B's. I actually start summer semester classes today-Monday the 23rd. I had a two week break.

Last Wed i went to the beach with some family. I got back yesterday (Sunday). The weather was beautiful, but very hot Saturday; no rain (which was nice), so i was able to enjoy being outside for 5 days. Definitely a relaxing trip. And i think the beach air really perked me up and i felt so much better. I'm still on Cipro for another week, and still using oxygen, Xopenex nebulizer and oxygen at night. However, my oxygen saturations have been a good bit better and I've been able to decrease the amount of oxygen i wear at night. So praying that i feel great this summer, since i have an extremely heavy load of classes.

Our local CF Great Strides Walk went extremely well! I will post about that later.

Hopefully you haven't given up on me blogging :) I still read your blogs, but hopefully I'll be more consistent with updating and posting interesting, fun things that are going on with me :)

More updates to come!

CF Great Strides Walk Survery

Have you completed the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Great Strides Walk Survey?

You walked the walk, now talk the talk!

As a part of Team CF, your input is very important to the National Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Tell them about your GREAT STRIDES experience by taking a brief survey.

It takes less than five minutes to complete the GREAT STRIDES survey. Your feedback helps us improve future events to better serve the CF community. I really want to encourage everyone who participated in a Great Strides Walk this year to complete this. So...take a few minutes right now to take this survey..... it is VERY SIMPLE, and literally, takes less than 5 minutes! Your feedback is important!!!

Also....as a huge advocate and volunteer with my local CF Foundation....I would love to hear your feedback as well on your local Great Strides Walk that you participated in. I would love to hear what activities you had, if any; what food was provided, if any. Did you have a team? What did you do to fundraise? to recruit team members? What works best for you? I find it beneficial knowing how other Great Strides Walks work in different parts of the country. It gives each of us ideas, that we may have never thought of. Or we might can help you come up with ideas for next year's Great Strides Walk. I love giving feedback, and helping wherever I can. Not only do I have my own team, but I've also worked on staff at our local CF Foundation and have experience "behind the scenes." I usually try to attend all of our chapter's walks if possible!! So feel free to share your experiences and feedback as comments to this post, or you can email me!!!

THANK YOU!!!

Brief Update

Just when you think your life has calmed down....it gets crazy again :) Sorry for no blog posts like I had intended to do during my 3.5 week break from school/classes. I was busy volunteering with our CFF Chapter, busy preparing for my walk team, babysitting like crazy and then just daily life stuff like sleeping and eating :) I volunteered at our last local CF Great Strides Walk on Sunday. It was a hot day...a fun day, but it flat wore me out.

We did get to go to the lake over Memorial Day Weekend. Despite rain off and on, we had a good time, and Monday ended up being a pretty good day....which included some tubing...in which I am still completely sore and back pain city. Oh well!

Anywho...classes for the summer semester started back last Wednesday. I have classes 4 days a week...which is a bummer. Usually you can schedule your lab and lecture class on the same day. However, they did not give us that option this semester. And since it is a shorter semester than the fall or spring, we have lab class 2 days a week, whereas during the other 2 semesters, it is only 1 day a week. So needless to say, I'm busy again and back into studying already. We have our 1st Microbiology Lecture Exam next Monday (a week from today). I have found that I don't like the Microscope very well in laboratory...not very talented at looking at things. Hopefully that will improve. In addition to my Microbiology classes, I have an online Developmental Psychology Course.

I am babysitting occasionally on Fridays and weekends...although it has slowed down a lot compared to when I was off from classes for a few weeks. I am teaching Vacation Bible School next week in the mornings...and then I will venture to classes shortly after the kids leave. Usually you have 2 Adults/teachers in each class. But due to limited volunteers, I am on the only adult/teacher for 6 lovely (hoping lovely) 1 year olds Monday-Wed, and 7 lovely 1 year olds Thursday and Friday. I will have 1 teenager helping me. So I have to prepare a lot more than I usually do this week. Usually I just kind of swing it...look at lesson plans, activities, etc., as we go throughout the day. Not this time. Most of the kids are 1 1/2 -2 yrs old, but not yet officially turned 2 yrs. I'm excited, but it will be a crazy week!!!

Ok..due to limited available blogging time and me really needing my sleep lately...that is about all I can share tonight....other than 2 more quick things!

First...if you don't follow me on facebook...then you haven't yet heard...I got accepted into Nursing School. So yes, lots of stuff to do for that this summer as well. Classes will start in August..but there will be lots of info sessions, meetings, and other stuff to complete this summer. Nevertheless, I am thrilled and so excited! Please pray that my body/health will cooperate throughout the nursing program!

And one more prayer request: I am still having issues with my Blood Pressure. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this or how much detail I have discussed? I went off the Norvasc, as apparently it was causing my body to retain fluid badly...and I mean seriously...I gained 7 lbs of fluid in my tummy and feet/ankles. It was awful. Upon determining that there was no more blood clots in my feet, the Norvasc was stopped, switched to HCTZ and Lasix for 3 days. I peed off the fluid eventually, but now the fluid is coming back into my tummy off and on. Last week, between Tuesday night and Wed night, I had gained another 4 lbs of fluid, but yet lost it at the end of the week...and the cycle continues. My BP has dropped somewhat, but I continue to have very high peaks (150s/100s) and on average, it is still running in the high 120s/mid 130s over 80s-90s, with the occasional peaks. Please pray that we can get this under control!

Off to bed and will hopefully post more soon. Sorry for the long post...but if I don't do it all at once, it won't get done.

CF Great Strides Walk

We had our local CF Great Strides Walk this past Saturday. The weather was beautiful and we had a great turnout. And more importantly, lots of money was raised to help find a cure for CF. My Miracles Team had a great time. Thank you to all who came out to the event and to those who supported CF via donations. My team did exceptional on the fundraising....and the fundraising is still going on. I originally set my team goal at $5,000. As the days and weeks passed, my team was doing so great, I increased my goal to $7,000. We have surpassed that. Our totals have not been added yet from what was turned in on walk day, but my guess is over $8,000....which is AWESOME. Go Team Miracles! I also exceeded my personal goal of $3,000 and are currently a little over $4,000....trying to reach $5,000!

I have a few extra Miracles Team t-shirts available if anyone is interested. Here are pictures. They are navy blue; Gildan Ultra Cotton/Pre-shrunk brand; Sizes available are: 3 Adult Smalls, 1 Adult Medium, and 1 Youth X-large. (The sizes run big....much bigger than in previous years. I usually wear an Adult Small, and actually wore a youth X-large this year instead). The t-shirts are $10 each (not including shipping). Let me know if you would like to purchase one. Your payment (with the exception of shipping costs) will be donated back to the CFF. Thanks!

I will post more pictures from the walk later this week!

Checking In....

So much for the idea of posting more often :) I've actually been pretty busy despite being on a break from school right now! I have had tons and tons of babysitting jobs, which has been great!!!

I thought I would share this interesting little bit of info....I woke up last Wednesday with a swollen right foot. And when I say swollen, I mean major swollen. You couldn't even see my ankle bone, nor feel it. It was swollen on the top of my foot, and on the left side and underneath of the leg. I was like, what is the heck is going on. I didn't think much of it til later that afternoon, when my Dad urged me to call my TX coordinator. So I did that, and she told me to watch it and call her the next day. And to keep it elevated as much as possible. Usually the causes of swelling are: infection, injury, or blood clot. So the next day, it was a lot better when I woke up, but got worse gradually throughout the day (after I had already called my coordinator). I was already going to the doc Friday morning for some lab work, and she had told me to call her when I was done with an update on the foot. I told her how it had gotten worse the day before and it was a lot worse Friday morning. So we opted to do a xray and ultrasound. We really didn't think it was an infection, because the swelling site wasn't red, and my WBC count was normal. It wasn't injury...and she didn't think it was a blood clot, but wanted to make sure. So after waiting for about 4.5 hrs, I finally got the ultrasound and xray.

My coordinator called me several times Friday afternoon....first with a report that nothing was wrong, and they would just do lasix to try and remove the fluid. Then she called me back after my TX doc had reviewed the report and said I did have a blood clot. However, it was a superficical blood clot and not a deep thrombosis, which are the ones that can travel to your lung and heart and block off blood supply. Thank goodness. It was in my right calf vein, and the treatment is warm compresses and elevation, but to also not be immobile...to resume normal activity. Because immobility is usually a cause (although I definitely had not been immobile). So anyway..the swelling is almost completely gone as of today. Hopefully it has dissolved for the most part. Just thought I would share that with you. I haven't had any swelling since right after my transplant, due to fluid buildup/steroids. SO....be careful, and if you ever get swelling like that all of a sudden....get it checked out!

Will post again soon!! I am staying busy gearing up for our Great Strides Walk this Saturday.

I hope everyone is having a great week. Please keep my friend Tony in your prayers, as he is fighting for his life. He is a CFer and was transplanted last July. He has been fighting a bad infection/bacteria since November, and has just taken a turn for he worse.

It's Over!

FINALLY!!! A break from school! I finished my last final Tuesday morning....and I am so ready for some rest. My body has never been so stressed in my life. Not just from school but a few other things too, such as back pain.

So I promise to post more often now! I don't start summer classes until June 1st. I will post more later..but here is a quick update of what's going on and what's to come:

My back is still continuing to give me major pain. I have a very high pain tolerance...so when I'm in pain to where I'm in tears, can't sleep, can hardly move sometimes...it's bad. So we are exploring some options. And I know some of it will get better now that all the studying is over for awhile (because I was spending 4-6 hours sometimes straight studying).

I had a transplant clinic follow-up appointment today. Everything looked good as far as lab work, chest xray, and PFT's. My PFT's were actually up quite a bit and they were very pleased. If I can just get the back pain under control (and having a few stomach issues), we will be good. The only bad thing is that my blood pressure has decide to sky-rocket! It's been fairly high..or rather, on the "edge" between normal and hypertensive probably for the last 6 months or so. I had mentioned it multiple times to the doctor; they didn't really seem too concerned, and it would sort of level off when I would start monitoring at home. But then over the last few months it has steady pretty high. At my neurology appt about 2 weeks ago is was 164/96...so it prompted me to start monitoring it at home again. It remained pretty high. Not as much for the systolic pressure (the top number) but for the diastolic (bottom number)...which is more concerning. And today at clinic, it was 183/115. So needless to say, I have started on blood pressure medicine.

I do have an update from my neurology appointment as well, that I will share in another post. The appointment was in regards to my excessive hand shaking.

I am supposed to find out in about 2 weeks if I have been accepted into nursing school.

I'm preparing for our upcoming local CF Great Strides Walk. We have almost met our team goal...just a little more to go....very exciting! I had plans on volunteering at a few the last few weekends, but was too tired, stressed, and in major pain...so had to miss out. But we have several others coming up, which I'm planning on attending.

I have another speaking opportunity next week as well.

So that is a brief update (although, i guess the length of the post wasn't really brief..lol).

More later...I hope everyone has been having a good week so far!

Easter Update

I'm finally posting a much overdue update!! This has been a crazy and stressful week! I had 2 major exams (1 in Physiology Lecture and the other in my Nutrition Class). After studying almost non-stop the majority of last week and weekend and every day and night this week until Thursday morning....I'm finally taking a day off! I never knew how much studying could exhaust you! Many late nights...too much information to learn. I didn't do as well on my Nutrition Exam as I wanted. The physiology lecture exam wasn't as bad as I expected. I won't know my grade until Tuesday! I'm really praying for a "B", but not completely sure! It is nearing the end of the semester....and it has definitely gone by extremely fast!

I submit my nursing school application in 2 weeks. And I have a lot to do on that! I need to edit my resume. Our university has an online option where you can submit your resume to the career services center and they will critique it for you. That have specific people that know how a nursing resume needs to look and say. So I plan on submitting it to them by Wednesday of this coming week. I also have to write a 1 page essay on why I think I would be a good nurse and why the School of Nursing should accept me. I would really appreciate the prayers these next few weeks as I prepare my application, and then more importantly, that I will be accepted.

On to news other than school.....I've been doing a lot of stuff with our local CF Foundation. I have a more detailed post with this, as I don't want to make this post too long that you won't want to read it! Basically, I've been doing a LOT of speeches and have been really involved in our CF Great Strides Walks that start this month!

Tomorrow I plan on attending church for Easter Sunday. I'm really excited, especially since I have not yet been able to get back to church and Sunday school due to school/studying and/or needing to sleep. We will be having Easter lunch at my Aunt's house tomorrow afternoon. I'm definitely looking forward to that and spending time with family! Last year, I had an extremely bad case of Vertigo, and had to miss out on Easter lunch and the entire weekend in general!

Unfortunately, after Easter activities tomorrow, I will be back into studying and doing school work. I have a online quiz due Monday. I have to listen to an online lecture in order to well on the quiz. I also have a Physiology Lab Quiz on Thursday, which I will need to begin studying for!

That is really all I have to update on! I'm extremely blessed to be celebrating Easter and are truly thankful to Jesus for dying on the cross and rising again! I received my transplant 6 years ago on Ash Wednesday (which that year was February 24th). I never knew that until my wonderful CF doctor pointed that out. Easter is a wonderful season for miracles. And I'm praying that some of you awaiting that miracle of new lungs, gets a wonderful gift SOON!

Brief Health Update: overall I'm still feeling ok. The stress from school the last week or two hasn't been the best, as I've been extra tired. I am coughing a little and are having some chest pain. I can start the TOBI inhaled antibiotic this coming Monday. So I plan on starting it at least sometime next week, and hopefully that will keep any infections at brew away! I will probably go to transplant clinic the 2nd to last week or the last week in April, depending on how I am feeling. My back is hanging in there too. I have my bad days and my good! My shaking is out of control, and I have asked to reschedule the neurology appointment.

I hope everyone has a blessed Easter and a great weekend.

Another Weekend-Wrap Up

Once again, I haven't had much time for blogging. Therefore, I'm doing a wrap-up post, updating from the last week or so.

This week was my spring break. I had 2 goals: catch-up/get ahead on my school work, and do some scrapbooking. Unfortunately, #2 goal didn't happen. The first goal was partly accomplished. This week flew by so quickly, and I wish I was so much more ahead in my school work/studying.

I did several CFF volunteer stuff this past week as well. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday involved meetings regarding CF Great Strides. Friday also included speaking at our Children's Hospital Child Life Services Retreat. Myself and our local CFF director presented at this retreat. Then afterwards, we met and discussed more on Great Strides. I also attended a bridal tea on Saturday, and babysat multiple times since last weekend. So all-in-all, it has been a busy last few weeks.

Time is definitely flying by, and the end of the semester is drawing near....which means one thing: I better get on a roll and study my heart out so I can do really well on the last few remaining exams. YIKES!

A Health Update: things have been going pretty well. This weekend hasn't been the best however. I'm really hoping I'm not getting sick. I'm only 2 weeks out from my TOBI, so my only option would be to start the inhaled Colistin. I'm going to give it a few more days and see how I feel. My back pain has been going back and forth. I also started exercising...YAY! I'm really trying my best to keep it up. I've also been making myself drink water, as I don't really put forth much effort to accomplish that on a daily basis. I know my body needs lots and lots of it, so I'm trying extra hard to drink 1 bottle per day (I use to drink 1 bottle per 2 weeks). I did get in some good sleep this week, which as helped my energy level some.

In other news...my curtains (valences) are finally up in my room!!! Also, the manufacturing company that makes the decorative stool I bought at Home Goods is willing to ship me one from their warehouse in California. She is charging me the same retail price plus shipping. I was surprised she offered that to me, since they are a wholesale company. She checked all the local stores and no one carried the product nor had ordered on the next shipping cycle. So I think I'm going to accept her offer! I will post a picture soon that shows the valences and everything together (my bed isn't made currently...lol).

This coming week includes a project due for my Nutrition Class, classes, another CF speech, another CFF meeting for Great Strides, an Auburn Singers Concert for my cousin, and 2 PT appointments for my back.

A few more things....today is Brandi's birthday....so head on over to her blog and give her some birthday love!

Have you voted for Jada Bug? Click here to vote! Only 8 days left! And you can vote once each day!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Once again, here is an update post from the last week or so. I promise I will get back into frequent posts, it has just been a little crazy, especially with school.

A lot of my "free time" has been spent studying. I had two more exams last week. My next exams are in about 3 weeks. I also have a project due in 2 weeks for my Nutrition course.

An update on my health: things have been pretty stable lately. The only thing really bothering me is energy level and just being really tired. I'm hoping to get back into exercising soon, now that my back pain has subsided some. I finish my TOBI inhaled antibiotic on Monday. I will give myself probably a week or so to see how I feel before approaching the subject of starting inhaled Colistin. I am hoping some of my lab values have returned to normal from the last clinic appointment back on February 10th. My transplant coordinator has not made me come back to get them recheck. She is just going based on my symptoms. I will probably go to clinic for a follow up appointment in April, if all goes well the remainder of this month.

In about 2 weeks, my 2nd most busiest time of the year will begin. April and May are always insanely busy. One reason is because I'm taking classes again. Also, we have all of our CF Great Strides Walks within those 2 months as well. And I always try to volunteer at as many as possible. I also have 1 wedding in March in Louisiana, and another one for a cousin here in April. Then there are several birthday parties, Easter, bridal tea, etc. Also, I am continuing to speak for the UAB Benevolent Fund, which coordinates and controls which charity organizations UAB supports. I spoke the last week in February. I'm speaking again this coming Tuesday, then again on the 24th and 30th of March .

I have also had a few babysitting jobs recently, and have a few more coming up. I hope those continue, as its my only source of income :)

I'm still finalizing a few decorations in my room. I changed out my light switch plate on the wall. It was the basic bright white standard plate. I bought a bronze metal finish one at Target yesterday. It matches my decorative accents in my room as well as the wall color better than the stark white.

I'm hoping to get my curtains (Valences) up tomorrow as well, but I need my Mom's help on that one. I also bought a decorative ottoman-like stool for the end of my bed. I wanted something to put there that I could use to set clothes out one, etc. In my former room upstairs, I used my big, nice chair for stuff like that. But now my chair is out in the den, because there wasn't enough room in the bedroom. I love this stool...it matches my room perfectly (especially my wall art above my bed). I wanted two of them, but HomeGoods only had 1. I've been checking back frequently to see if any more come in stock. One of the ladies that work there said they should get some more in...so I'm really hoping they do. The company that makes this particular decorative furnishing is only a wholesale businesses and I can't find any online stores that carry their products. We only have 2 HomeGoods stores in Alabama. So if any of you ever see a duplicate to this...let me know :) I really want a 2nd one!!

The design matches my wall art almost perfectly!!!! And the material of the stool is suede-like just like my comforter on my bed!!!

If any of my blog followers are local and are not participating in a CF Great Strides Walk currently, I highly encourage you to do so! You can click on the Great Strides Widget at the top right of this blog for a link to my personal team. Or you can send me an email! SUPPORT CF!!

I think that is about it...not much to report.

Tuesday Tid-bits

Sorry for the lack of posting this past week. It's been very very busy. So once again, this is sort of a "catch-up" post.

*Tomorrow I have my follow-up transplant clinic appointment from being in the hospital. Hoping to get good results....really have no idea how things are going to turn out since I'm still fighting the pseudomonas.

*School is busy...I had a physiology lab exam last Thursday and an exam in my nutrition and health course today. It was pretty hard, so not sure how I did. I do feel pretty good about my lab exam though, but won't get my grade until this Thursday night.

*I had a great birthday weekend. I can't believe I'm 25 yrs old...yikes ;)
My parents took me out to dinner Friday night.....and I had some really really good food. My mom and I went to get some ice cream afterwards at Coldstone Creamery. Brandi and I ate lunch out on Sunday. We had a good time and she was sweet to treat me to some good Chinese food. Sunday night we did cake and ice cream at home. And the birthday celebration will continue this week as my parents will give me my gifts probably this weekend. So it's been a stretched-out birthday....kinda nice. My brother's birthday is the 19th!

*All of my wall art/hangings are finally up in my new room...yay!! The last thing to do is put up my valences on the windows. The scrapbook room is completely done...now if I can just get some time to actually scrapbook. Here are some pictures of it:

*It is freaking COLD COLD here, especially the last few days...and will continue throughout the week. Maybe some snow flurries this weekend???

*I have been given an opportunity to speak to a group of people about CF/transplant at UAB next week...very excited about that.

*I am hoping to make some progress on my Great Strides Team this weekend...as far as writing my letter, sending emails, etc. The walk will be here before I know it.

*I have been busy babysitting the last 2 weeks....4 jobs in 1.5 weeks...pretty good. Now, if I can just keep that up, i would be good. I'm hoping to get one or two Valentine's jobs this weekend, but I'm not entirely sure if it will happen or not.

*I can't believe Alli from The Batchelor TV Show chose her job over taking a risk and staying for Jake. I don't normally watch this show, but for some reason have been hooked to it this season. I'm rooting for Tinsley now :)

Well, I think that about wraps things up! I will post tomorrow with a clinic report. I hope everyone is having a great week.

Great Strides

I have posted the Great Strides Widget on the left of my website. I never removed the widget, but it has been updated and linked to my 2010 Great Strides Miracles Team. I know most of my followers are CFers or CF caregivers and form their own individual Great Strides Teams. If any of my followers do not have a direct connection to CF or are not dedicated to donating to a particular team, feel free to make a donation to my Miracles Team.

Great Strides is the CF Foundation's most successful fundraiser of the year. Great Strides Walks happen all over the country! We use these donations (and all donations from other events as well) to fund clinical trials and research to find a cure for CF. We have made so many advances over the last year towards finding that cure....and now are extremely close. But we cannot continue making these advancements without your help...physically and monetary. So I highly recommend making a donation to CF to help make this happen. All donations are tax deductible and you will have the wonderful feeling that you are truly making a difference in the lives of those with Cystic Fibrosis.

I have had a Great Strides team for many many years, and are very excited to see what 2010 has in store for our local Chapter walks. Clicking on the Great Strides widget to the right will take you directly to my Great Strides Home Page, where you can make a donation and/or sign up to participate in the walk-May 22nd for Birmingham, Alabama.

Thank you in advance for your support. And thank you to all of the CF families that have created a Great Strides Team....we really appreciate your effort and support.

Friday Fragments

Ok...so the title of this post may sound a little childish...but I had to think of something catchy. I wanted to do a post with little updates (similar to Tuesday Tid-Bits and other catchy blog memes). So here it goes...

1. Classes went ok this week. I ended up missing classes yesterday morning due to feeling sick and running a low grade fever. But I managed to attend my lab class last night, and it wasn't all that bad. My professor decided to deduct 20 points off my grade (not happy about that) for missing the 1st class, which I missed the first 2 lab "experiments." But from what I've been told, the class is not all that hard, and I should be fine. Keeping my fingers crossed.

2. ENT Appointment yesterday: Sinuses evidently look good (despite them being the culprit of last pneumonia and causing havoc the last few months). Doc took a culture to make sure nothing is growing. If so, I will start on an antibiotic. He gave me a script for bactroban topical cream steroid and wants me to mix it in with my sinus Neil Med Rinse....not too sure about that...lol). Oh..and my deaf right ear I've been having is due to fluid. So he told me to try and pop my ears 3-4 times a day and it should resolve...who knew???

3. The moving of "me" downstairs is coming along and I hope to be moved in this weekend. If not then, the next weekend for sure. We have to have a little "brotherly" help moving some of the furniture pieces!! I will post pictures soon!

4. I renewed my CF Great Strides Team this past week. Excited to get started on that as well as helping out with all of the other walks our Chapter hosts!

5. Wednesday I had the opportunity to eat lunch with our CFF staff, which included our new executive director.....like her very much and excited to have her join our chapter.

6. Looking into buying a mini laptop (Netbook). Need one for those times in the hospital and to use on vacations, etc. I think my Mom and I are going to split the cost, so she can use it for work as well. But this is just an inexpensive purchase....not like when I customized my awesome desktop from Dell. We basically just want Internet access and then need something like Microsoft Office so I can download school documents and my Mom can download work documents into Word, Excel, etc. Any suggestions though? I really want to stick with a Dell or HP!

7. Prayer Requests:

Brandi, who is in the hospital and unfortunately, not seeing much improvement, if any. Please pray that the doctor's will get her on the right regime of meds and whatever else needs to be done to get her feeling better! Click here to visit her blog!

Guy (name will remain anonymous): Post transplant-CFer (was transplanted in July), currently suffering from pneumonia since late November/early December; continues to have fevers (and HIGH fevers) for several months; He has been hospitalized and completed home IV abx multiple times and the fevers still remain, as well as some other symptoms. He has been treated for a fungal infection, just in case. He underwent a surgical biopsy this past week and most cultures have come back negative, with the exception for pneumonia with pseudomonas as the bacteria causing agent. They are still awaiting more culture results. Please pray for ANSWERS, so he can be rid of the pneumonia, fever, and other symptoms. It's almost like his body is not responding to meds, despite all the cultures and sensitivity testing.

Emily, who is currently fighting pneumonia again, and was put back on the ventilator yesterday. She has definitely been going through a rough time and can't seem to fight these infections. Visit her blog for more info and prayer requests.

Ok...so I think that is the end of my "Friday Fragments." I thought maybe I had more things to share...and more "fragments"...not necessarily paragraphs...oh well!!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

CF Shirts For Sell

I have several t-shirts left over from my 2008 CF Great Strides Team! I really have no use for them, and they have just been hanging in my closet! So I thought I would try and sell them, in which 100% of the proceeds will go towards my 2009 CF Great Strides Miracles Team!

I have 4 SMALLS available for sell. I have included pictures of the shirts below. (I apologize for the wrinkles in the shirts). They are Gildan brand t-shirts, 100% cotton, and in a BEAUTIFUL Indigo Blue Color! I do realize there is a picture on the back, so let me give a brief explanation. Obviously, the middle person is me. The picture was actually taken in December of 2006...not my favorite picture :) The other two people (Adam on the right and Amy on the left), are CFers who have also had double lung transplants. They are really good friends of mine; we are all the same age and were a big support system for each other as we went through our transplants. We all 3 had our transplants within a year of each other, with me being the last. Adam had his transplant on Christmas Day of 2003! All 3 of us love our Lord and Savior and are walking testimonies to His wonderful and powerful Grace!!

Also, the design on the front as well as part of the back graphics were designed by my friend Shaun, who passed away this year. So this is very special to me!

And of course my favorite quote is on the back of the shirts! If you are interested in purchasing one, please leave a comment or send me an email. The shirts are $10!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

Great Strides Walk Pics!!!

Here are some pictures from our Birmingham Great Strides Walk. This is the walk where I had my own team. I know some of you are confused and think I had a team for other walks...but I only had a team for this walk. I worked/volunteered at the others! And like I said...it was a rainy day, but a successful day!

Our Miracles Team!

"Jam" (yes, that's her name) warming everyone up with some 'crunk fitness'

One of the little boys on my team!

Another CF/transplanter with his wife!

This picture is just to show you the big pavilion we had and we fit about 300 people under it!

One of the families I babysit!

One of our CF/Transplant doctors and family!

Me with one of my former CF docs youngest child!

The Home Depot Kids Corner

The Cheerleaders made a sign!

Me Speaking

Our wet sign and wet tent!!

Part of my team eating...and a good shot of the back of our shirts!