Hello? Hello? Anybody out there?

It's been a while. My apologies for playing least in the sight the past few months, but I've had a serious lack of motivation to write - which is unusual for me. I hesitate to write when I have nothing new to report and (fortunately) life has been pretty routine lately (you know the drill - work, sleep, play, hospital {rinse & repeat}).

I survived another 20-day visit to Club Med in December and made it home just in time for the holidays. Spent lots of time with the fam, which was fabulous and started back to le job two days after Christmas. Since then I've been absorbed in work and trying to stay well.

Today was my one-month post-hospital clinic visit. Not exactly a stellar report, but it's been a pretty sub-par month for me. I haven't been Sick (in my world there's "Sick" (which equates to hospital time) and "sick" (which means I don't feel great, but not bad enough that I'm willing to do anything about it). I've had a stomach bug and some other infection that I couldn't really pinpoint (but I knew my body was fighting something because my lymph nodes were swollen to about the size of a nickel for about a week & a half).

So today, my FEV1 was down 7% from discharge, which was Not. Cool. The nurse threatened me with another round of IV abx but I managed to sweet talk my way into two weeks of oral abx (Levaquin & Bactrim).

It also appears that Cayston and I are going to have to part ways. After six days of SOB & wheezing and three days of hemoptysis, I decided to take a break. Determined to give it the old college try, I waited three days and decided to go one more round. Cayston = 2, Brandi = 0. Based on that, the docs recommended stopping the Cayston for now. If we have to bring it back into the arsenal later, we'll see if I can tolerate it then.

In other news, I'm very excited about an opportunity that I've received at work. Beginning Monday, I'll be shadowing a new manager and will begin learning how to do Compliance Monitoring (reviews). I'm very excited because this keeps me with the same team that I've been working with, but allows me to move outside the world of official complaints. Seeing as how I've been working with complaints in some form or fashion for the past seven years, I'm really looking forward to the change. It will also be a great opportunity to learn each regulation more in-depth which will be a huge bonus when I start studying for my CRCM (Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager) next year.

That's all for now, folks. Catch ya on the flip side!

Fiddle-Dee-Dee!

What a month it's been. I'm EXHAUSTED. And, I must admit, I am looking forward to a weekend of doing absolutely nothing. Since the end of June I've helped redecorate a kitchen, spent a long weekend in Virginia, hosted a pool party, and took a quick trip to Atlanta. Last week I spent the latter part of the week & the weekend with my family celebrating my cousin's graduation. In between, I've attended board meetings and birthday parties. And, lest I forget, I've worked at the real job. You know, the one that pays the bills.

I'm finishing up my first full month of Cayston. Great stuff. I'm almost three months out of a tune up (August 7) and still feeling decent. Not great, but decent. I truly am exhausted by the end of the day and typically go home and catch some zzz's before tackling any chores around the house. And, although the kittehs are enjoying the extra snuggle time, it's really cutting into the few hours I have each evening to get things accomplished.

About two weeks ago, we got an early start and headed over to the ATL.  We spent Saturday afternoon exploring Margaret Mitchell's apartment (affectionately referred to as "The Dump").  This is where she spent several years writing Gone With The Wind. Later that evening, we had a fabulous dinner at Nakato Japanese Restaurant and then journeyed over to the Fox Theatre to see Phantom of the Opera.

We had a few newbies with us, which is always fun.  I know that they enjoyed the show but I don't think they were quite as enthralled as my aunt, cousin & I are! According to my Playbill, this is the final season for the US Tour. It will still be showing in London, New York, and Las Vegas. What a tragedy! Actually, it just gives me that much more desire to get my tail over to England see a performance at Her Majesty's Theatre.

On Sunday we grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel (cold cereal, anyone?) and then scurried over to the Georgia Aquarium. My favorite exhibit? The penguins, of course! Actually, all of the exhibits were fascinating and I really enjoyed seeing the beluga whales, the sea otters, and the sharks. They have a swim or dive program where you actually have the opportunity to swim with thousands of fish, sharks, and rays. It's a fairly shallow dive and I'm thinking about asking my Dr. if he thinks my lungs could handle it. I would love to learn how to scuba dive.

LA! That's all for now ... must get back to work so that I can pay the bills.

Oh, before I sign off, I'm ecstatic to hear that CysticGal finally got a new set of breathers.  At last report she was already off the vent and trying to talk.  Go Beth!!!

ENT Update

Yesterday I went back to UAB ... on the schedule, a CT scan and another appointment with ENT.

The verdict?  CT Scan was a hot mess. It's about what Dr. W. expected ... scar tissue and polyps. I'm going to start the Pulmicort flushes and he is going to try and revise some of the scar tissue in the office on March 9th. Not that I'm looking forward to having him dig around in my head for a few hours (it will be numbed with Pentacaine, which is like a super-duper Lidocaine), but it's better than going back to the OR. Anesthesia does not make the lungs happy.

I did not sign up for this.

In other news, I talked to C.Fred about starting Cayston.  She said there is still a study ongoing at UAB that I can possibly participate in.  Meaning that I won't have to wait for the actual release (even though that is only about two weeks away).  Yay!  I am more than willing to try ANYTHING that may keep me away from Club Med.

Still trying to appeal BCBS's denial of being genotyped.  I did find out that my company has no specific exclusions for genotyping, so it is simply a matter of convincing the insurance company that being genotyped is important for all CF patients ... it's value is not just in diagnostic or pre-pregnancy / newborn screening.

But, hey, if all I need to do is tell them that I'm thinking about getting knocked up, then it might be worth it.  Just jokes.