Breathing Deeply: My Life With Cystic Fibrosis

Laughing helps. It's like jogging on the inside. --anon



You know those "ups and downs" that are part of life? It seems I've finally come to an "up"! I can't remember the last time I felt like this. I'm not perfect, I realize that. I'm still underweight and I still cough a bit first thing in the morning, but wonder of wonder, I've gotten a lot of my energy, enthusiasm and stamina back.

I've been doing a lot lately to prepare for the CF Spring Gala, which is coming up on Saturday. I've rehearsed my speech, practiced my horn, and have provided the CFF with a handful of photos of me to use as a slide show while I'm speaking. I'm excited about the whole thing.

Something else fun on the horizon is that Brad and I get to be part of a video about what it's like to be married to someone with CF. The video is part of a larger project that's going to be part of CForward.net, an internet resource for people whose lives are touched by CF in some way. I've heard that Ana and Isa Stenzel (CF adult sisters, each of whom are about 10 years my senior, and wonderful athletes!) are part of the same project. I've been reading about this impressive duo for years now, and I'm honored to be part of something with the likes of them. In my mind, I pretty much regard them as celebrities.

In other news, I may be having my portacath removed and/or replaced next week. The poor thing just celebrated its 10th birthday, and I think it's finally ready to retire. It has been acting up lately, and within the last week has been giving me more problems than usual. Last Thursday I ended up taking myself to the emergency room to have the darn thing accessed because I couldn't do it, and it was hurting--which is atypical. In all honesty, the whole thing was really a predicament more than a true emergency, but hospitals don't have "predicament rooms," only ERs.

All in all, life is good. God is always a part of it, which always makes things bearable. He has been teaching me a lot lately about how to align my heart to be more rightly aligned to worship and adore him at every turn. As a result, I'm experiencing a great deal of peace and calm, both of which have been a LONG time in coming. I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but I know that no matter what, God's in charge and fully capable of doing more than I could even imagine.