Breathing Deeply: My Life With Cystic Fibrosis

Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen.













Here in San Diego we don't experience the joys of winter weather in quite the same way that other parts of the country do. As a coastal region, the temperature doesn't fluctuate much, which is generally a good thing for my health. Today however, I'm struggling with my allergies thanks to the windy weather.

During the night it rained a bit, and Brad told me that even for awhile this morning it was raining. Now it's blowing like crazy and doing so quite loudly! I thought there was something weird going on with the traffic on the street in front of our home. I looked out the window expecting to see a big piece of construction equipment or something, but all I saw was all the trees nearly bent in half under the force from the wind.

The screens are rattling fiercely against the windows and the rain gutters are shivering violently too. It's creating quite a racket. They sound like an empty flatbed diesel truck struggling to drive uphill through gravel. Really. It's that loud. Fortunately, I have a sturdy set of earplugs that will come in handy when I decide to take another nap (which is probably in the next hour or so.)

Healthwise I'm still not doing much of anything spectacular. I'm still trying to take it easy on my stomach so that I don't scare it. I'm adding Scandical to just about everything so that I can boost my caloric intake even though my appetite is slim. I did come up with a good smoothie recipe yesterday. I call it the "Soothing Smoothie". It's 2 containers of Yoplait strawberry yogurt, 4 tablespoons of Scandical (120 extra calories), and 3/4 cup of Dole Pine Orange Banana juice. The whole thing fit nicely in the Magic Bullet and I drank a nice tall glass of it. I also snacked on a slice of banana bread, liberally spread with real butter. If that's not a high calorie snack, I don't know what is.

My concentration is slowly improving too. Ever since I was admitted to the hospital back in November, I've been so out of it that I couldn't even focus enough to read a book. I got some good books for Christmas that I'm looking forward to finishing at some point. Last night was the first time in quite awhile that I spent time reading. I got through almost an entire chapter of "Sisterchicks in Gondolas" (by Robin Jones Gunn) before my brain got tired. I think I'll give it another shot this afternoon.

Other books on my reading list during my recuperation include The Proof by Austin Boyd (I strongly recommend his work for any of you who like realistic science fiction) and Paradise Lost by Milton. Yes, I know, that last one is a bit heavy, but I think it will be good creative writing fodder. We live just a block away from the local library, so I know I won't be hurting for literary stimulation over the next while.

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a nice toasty electric blanket all warmed up for me. It would be a shame to let it go to waste on such a day!