Breathing Deeply: My Life With Cystic Fibrosis

Last night I had my first CF Clinic visit since my hospitalization in April. I have been feeling so good lately that I wasn't too worried about it. Mostly I was curious about how my lung function test would turn out. I was so glad to see my FEV1 up over 1.8L. The last time my LFTs were done I only got 1.54L. For those of you who keep track of percentages and not volume, that means my lungs had been functioning at a mere 47% but has now jumped up to 56%. I'm really pleased with that number. I'm hoping that if I keep up with my gym routine I can bring that number even higher.

It was good news all around last night. The dietitian was happy with my weight since my BMI is now at 21, which means I'm normal for my height. Studies have shown that the closer a CFer's BMI is to 22, the better lung function they have. I'm happy with where I'm at. All of the folks from the clinic who came to check on me commented on how good I looked. I should say so! The last time they saw me I was on oxygen. I don't even need that at night anymore. I've come a long way in just two months. I'm hoping I can continue to do this well for quite awhile yet.

*Changing the subject*

Last night Brad and I discovered that my aquarium was leaking. Ugh. The carpet around the area was damp so I tried sopping it up with towels. Fortunately the majority of the water was absorbed by a blanket I had kept in the aquarium cabinet (which is open on the back). Even so, dealing with the moisture has not been fun. I spent some time last night on my hands and knees with a hair dryer trying to spot treat the carpet.

I found the source of the problem. Fortunately the structural integrity of the aquarium itself is fine. It's the filter unit that was causing the problem. It kept spilling up over the top of the filter. I ended up getting a new filtration system for the aquarium and ditching the old one. Still the problem of the damp carpet remained, so I headed over to Home Depot to invest in a small wet/dry shop vac.

Once I got the shop vac put together it was back to my hands and knees to work on the carpet. I sucked up as much moisture as possible by using the vacuum and following behind it with the hair dryer. That seemed to work great until I blew a fuse from having so much power being used at once. Luckily I was able to easily find the right breaker switch in the garage to get things up and running again.