Breathing Deeply: My Life With Cystic Fibrosis

Today was the best day I've had in a long time; I feel really good today. I haven't needed a nap, my arthritis is finally under control, and I have more energy than I've had in quite awhile. I'm really eager to see what my lung function test shows on Tuesday. I'm praying that it's a dramatic enough improvement to send me home on IVs. I know that's a long shot, but that's what I'm hoping for. The real difference between this hospitalization and the last one is that this time I'm getting tobramycin antibiotic. I wish we had used that one in the first place. We could have avoided so much grief. Oh well. Can't change the past.

My dad came by for a visit in the middle of the day. I always like it when he comes. Our conversations usually cover topics from silly to sacred and back again. Today's topic d'jour was the John McCain interview that was televised last night. I hadn't watched more than 5 or 10 minutes of it, so Dad filled me in and gave his impressions and opinions.

After Dad left Brad arrived with some contraband for me. Banana cream pie and a Frappuccino. Boy oh boy did those taste good. At this rate I'll put the weight back on in no time!

Brad and I played cards *gasp! on a Sunday!* "Thirteen" is one of the games we play together most often. With each hand you're dealt progressively more cards. You start with 3 and the final round is, you guessed it, 13. The object is to be the first one in each hand to combine your cards in runs and straights that use up all the cards. Okay, so perhaps that's not the best description. When we got sick of that game we played "Speed." After Speed we played Egyptian War. Egyptian War is sort of like Slap Jack and War combined. It's relatively brainless and takes awhile to play.

This afternoon I had some visitors from church. Our elder, John and his wife came by. We enjoyed talking with them and helping them understand what exactly goes on when I come to the hospital for a tune-up.

This tune-up is actually going really well. My oxygen saturation has stayed at 95 or better the entire time. I did have a small episode of hemoptysis (coughing up blood) this afternoon, but it seemed to resolve itself. I think maybe my afternoon physical therapy shook me just a little bit too hard and that's what caused it. Just to be safe, I took it easy on the PT this evening. The respiratory therapist thought that was wise.

Perhaps the most interesting part of my day was when my door opened and a man who looked a lot like Woody Allen wandered in being led by a dog. It took me a few full seconds to register that 1) this man was blind , and 2) there was a dog in my room. I was dumbstruck. Finally I found my voice and said "You're in the wrong room." It turned out he had the right room number but the wrong floor. Poor guy. I hope he wasn't too embarrassed by the situation. It just goes to show you never really know what to expect when you check into a hospital.