Humpty Dumpty

January 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Humpty DumptyThat’s exactly how I feel.  I’ve gotten myself into a huge mess with all of this allergy crap.  I was okay with all the life changes at first, but now it’s just getting old.  I wish I could just go back to my favorite, easy meals that we were used to having.

I don’t think I ever would have tried this elimination diet if I knew that I would never be able to go back.  Now that I have been avoiding all of these foods for several months now, I find that I am getting more and more sensitive when I do have them.  I mentioned that to the doctor, and she that can happen… I wish she told me that before.  I used to bring a sandwich to work for lunch almost every day.  Now even the smallest amount of anything with wheat and I feel awful.

The new plan is to (very) slowly start adding the foods back into my diet.  I don’t need to eat these things everyday, but I would really like to be able to tolerate going out to eat or having a piece of cake at a party.  I’ve gotten a lot of cooking practice over the last couple of months.  We’ve tried new foods that I would actually want to keep in my diet.  But it sure would be nice to fall back on our favorite mac ‘n cheese on busy, tired nights like before.

So many social things are centered around food, and I want to be able to go out more or eat with friends like before.  Plus we have a few travel plans coming up later this year.  There is no way that I can eat like this while traveling.  I know it will take some time to get my body readjusted, but I just have to get put back together!

Filed Under: Allergies

This Year

December 31, 2010 By 1 Comment

This year has been full of great blessings and great challenges!

This year started while we were in the middle of trying to find a new home church.  We were looking for a new church partly because we had moved and were now a lot further from church, and partly because there were not many people to connect with that were our age group at our church.  After months of trying several churches closer to home, we realized that we were really missing our old church.  The first Sunday we went back we were invited to a small group study that was just starting, full of other people our age.  That pretty much sealed the deal for us to want to start coming back to our church, we were thrilled to be more involved with people again.

This year Jesse decided to get even more serious about kicking CF’s butt.  After needing IV’s in February, he was determined to do everything he could to not have IV’s again as long as possible… and so far he hasn’t needed them again!  He ordered a new, better Vest and tried extra hard to never skip his aerosols.  But the expense was totally worth it.  His work has been paying off big time!!

This year Jesse achieved his long time goal of graduating.  It took a lot of work and sacrifice, from both of us.  But it was all worth it to see him walk across that stage and get his diploma.  It was so exciting to see how happy he was with himself.  We celebrated with a small surprise party, and he loved every minute of it.

This year we had one of our best family vacations ever.  With all three of us kids going our separate ways, living our lives, we aren’t sure how many more chances we will have to do all together family vacations like that.  Dad rented an awesome cabin in the Smokey Mountains for a week.  Jesse and I thoroughly enjoying every minute of it.

This year I experienced how hard it is to be a patient.  I had never had any medical issues before, and all of a sudden my allergies were causing me a lot of troubles.  Just as we recovered from all of Jesse’s medical expenses at the beginning of the year, I started adding my own bills to the mix.  I saw several doctors trying to find the source of my stomach pain and nausea.  Finally, I was diagnosed with food, and many other, allergies.  It has been a real challenge to have to change almost everything in our diet.

This year has ended wonderfully.  It has been the first year we were able to celebrate Christmas with both of our parents.  We had one big Christmas morning with everyone together.  We have very much enjoyed our relaxing Christmas vacation.  We haven’t done all that much… which is perfect.  We are always so busy, that sometimes it’s nice to know that we don’t have anything planned.

This year has gone by very quickly and is now over.  I can’t wait to see what 2011 has in store for us.  Happy New Year!!

Filed Under: General

Philips Respironics for Sleep Apnea

December 30, 2010 By 2 Comments

About a month ago, I wrote about Jesse having to get an AutoPAP for his sleep apnea. I was worried that the machine noise would keep me awake at night, and I would never get a good night’s sleep again. I’m so glad I was wrong about that… I love the machine now!

AutoPap

Not only does he sleep much better, but he sleeps so soundly that he never wakes me up anymore. I was not realizing how much his non-sleeping was affecting my sleep quality and quantity. He coughs less, and when he does cough it’s quieter with the mask over his mouth. He also used to move around a lot in his sleep and now he is perfectly still. I’m never woken up in the night anymore, and I am able to sleep in longer in the mornings!

If you’re interested, you can find more information on this machine here.

Filed Under: Cystic Fibrosis, Food Reviews Tagged With: ,