Breathing Deeply: My Life With Cystic Fibrosis

I haven't updated in awhile again, mostly because I haven't quite felt my best. My doctor appointment last week revealed that my PFTs have dropped again (below 60%, ugh) and my weight is still wimpy. I also seem to be working on a lovely little sinus infection, which explains the headaches and the melodious whistling of my nose. I'm on a nice hefty dose of Levaquin for the infection, and I think it's already making a difference.

It's very strange to me that my FEV1 is down, especially since I'm still able to play my horn. I guess I must have trained myself over the years to direct that air flow in such a specific way as to produce sound in spite of overall lung volume. *shrug* Who knows. At any rate, I'm quite certain that if it hadn't been for the horn playing, my lungs would have been far worse than they are. The doc also recommended that I do some cardio to help my lung function.

My mom and I went out yesterday to price some treadmills, but they all looked so huge and cumbersome--even the "under the bed" models. I tried to envision myself folding and unfolding such a thing, and the mental image I got was that of Cousin Ernie Ford being folded up in the rollaway bed in an "I Love Lucy" episode. I barely have enough weight on me to keep a movie theatre seat down, so the folding athletic equipment was a bit frightening! Our efforts were not unfruitful, however. We found an exceptionally well-discounted (albeit all assembly required) rowing machine type thing. It's a nice size for me, and has tension bands that can be used to adjust the resistance. It works arms and legs, which is cool. The instructional video is horribly outdated. Brad says the woman on it has a patronizing tone, but I say it's a soothing one.

Yesterday we finally got the Honda fixed up too. New radiator, fixed the oil leak, replaced a cracked something or other, and put the hoodad in the wikiwiki. Good thing that didn't cost much because today on my way to caffeinate myself, the front passenger tire blew out on the Prius. We're not talking about a little puncture wound that could be fixed with fix-a-flat. We're talking instant "Ka-POW, what-the-jalapeno just happened to my car?" flat. God was merciful and I was 1/8 of a mile away from Firestone Tires.

So, that's the extent of my life yesterday and today, and a little from last week. I'll try to do better with the updates now that I'm feeling a bit more spry. In the meantime, I'll be snarfing down snacks as I try desperately to gain some weight. I keep you posted on the cardio too! I'm sure that as I build up some tone in my muscles that will put on weight as well.