Breathing Deeply: My Life With Cystic Fibrosis

She's so skinny, she has to run around in the shower to get wet. --Anonymous

I've been making an effort to soak up some additional calories here and there. I finally found a salad dressing that I like and have eaten salad with my dinners several days in a row now. My absorption seems to be back on track. Usually I avoid weighing myself because it's depressing that so much effort to eat rarely avails much. There are already plenty of things that mess with my head and can throw me off into an OCD pattern, and I don't want my weight to be one of them.

This morning, I felt brave. I stepped on the scale and watched the dial go from 110...112...115...118...119! WOO HOOO!!! So now I'm not so much a toothpick as I am a coffee stirrer. Still slim, but not in a starving model sort of way.

Normally, a gal in her mid-twenties wouldn't be so thrilled to gain a couple of pounds, but for me this is wonderful. The best part is, I think I'm getting a handle on which foods I can eat and absorb well. Brad and I really enjoy eating out, but quite often I can prepare the same type of food at home and get a lot more out of it nutrient-wise because it's not too greasy or covered in MSG. For example, last night I was really tempted to ask Brad if we could go to Black Angus or Red Lobster for dinner. The more I thought about it, the more I realized with a little effort on my part, I could make surf&turf food at home.

We had strip steak, popcorn shrimp, baked potatoes, and salad. The total amount of preparation was only about 20 minutes. Not bad! The bonus was that I was able to vacuum the living room and dinette while dinner baked in the oven.

Next on my list of things to conquer...sorting out my craft supplies.