Here she is ... Mrs. Bachelor Girl

My friend and sister, Kelly of Bachelor Girl fame (soon to be Mrs. Bachelor Girl) got married last weekend! FINALLY! I have nothing to say, other than ...

Congratulations, KPP!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day:

Kandace Lynn Mullins

MULLINS, KANDACE LYNN, went to be with the Lord on November 28, 2009. Preceded in death by her father, Dewaine Mullins and grandparents. Surviving grandfather, Winford Mullins; fiancée, Seth Minter; mother, Ronda Anderson; stepfather, Bill Anderson; siblings, Brian and Teresa Mullins, Kade Anderson; and uncle, Gregg Williamson. There will be a Memorial Service December 3, 2009 at The Innerchange 22478 Bucksville Rd McCalla, AL 35111 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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Kandace was several years younger than I, but I can remember a few memorable hospital trips from Children's where she and I managed to talk ourselves out of trouble. After I moved to UAB in the first transition, our hospital visits never seemed to coincide and we lost touch.

I remember being thrilled the moment that I heard Kandace and Rocky G. were listed for transplant on the same day. But I will never forget the moment when we found out that they would be transplanted on the same day, as well.

Breathe easy, Kandace. It's been a long and winding road.

The Gift of Life

BREAKING NEWS:

Katey and I just got back from visiting our friend Tony at UAB Hospital. He looks and sounds absolutely fantastic.

Tony got the call last night that his double lung transplant was a go. After Katey and I had just had a conversation at dinner about UAB not having done any lung transplants this year, we got home to the news (on Facebook, nonetheless) that Tony was on his way to surgery. Our friend Rocky (CF, 2 years post-txp) traveled down and stayed at the hospital all night, keeping us posted. He went into surgery around 7 PM and by 2 AM was out of surgery and doing great. He was already off the vent by 10 AM today - less than 12 hours after surgery.

I can't even begin to say how amazing he looked. He'll be in CICU for another day or so, then on to HTICU (where all lung transplants go) and then after discharge he (and his family) will have to stay in Birmingham for another four weeks. Not to say this will be an easy road, but based on how great he looked today, my fingers (and toes) are crossed that he will continue his recovery without difficulty.

INSPIRED. What else is there to be?

Clinic Visit, 07/16/09

I meant to post yesterday with an update on my most recent clinic visit, but (as usual) never got around to doing it. However, since I'm spending a quiet Friday night at home with southern vampires to keep me company, I thought I'd go ahead and post the latest stats:

ENT: Sinuses are (and I qoute) "perfect!" I've tried to stay diligent about flushing at least twice a day and apparently doing what the doctor orders can actually make a difference.

CF: PFTs were OK, but not great. I blew a 40 / 34 (FVC / FEV1) and 44 / 41. Those numbers are about what I was at when I went in last time, but since I have so many upcoming events and I'm not feeling bad, I managed to get a reprieve. O2 Sats were my norm - 92.

I have been a little crackly and wheezy the past two days, but they are doing some work in my building and the dust has been flying. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. =) However, just to be on the safe side, I refilled my script of Levaquin and Bactrim, just to have on hand.

AND - most importantly - I got clearance for the CFRI conference at the end of this month! WOoT!!! Katey and I are getting together next Tuesday night to discuss all the important details (you know, like what to wear, what to do, etc.).

Tomorrow is hair day with Shawn. Stay tuned for a new look - I haven't yet decided what I want to do and I told Shawn to be creative. I am getting tired of the red, so we'll see wear the wind blows tomorrow.

It's also my friend, D.'s birthday and we are having a slip-n-slide party at her house tomorrow afternoon. And Sunday, I'm going to see Gone With The Wind at the Alabama. One of my favorite movies of all time and seeing it at the Alabama is magical.

Off to watch True Blood, Season 2. I'll post a Week(end) in Review sometime or another.

Eat Mor Chikin

Did you know yesterday was National Cow Appreciation Day? Chick-Fil-A did and was giving away free dinners to everybody that showed up dressed as a cow.


Never one to turn down a chance for a good laugh (or free food), A. and I decided we must partake in this event. Unfortunately for us, by the time we got there, the manager was sick of seeing wanna-be cows and didn't like our costumes. We still got a free entree, but had to pay for our drinks and fries. Total cost = $1.49. Not bad for dinner!

Oh well, either way, how many times can you say you got to drive through Birmingham dressed like a cow?

After that, we came back to A.'s place and re-arranged her living room five hundred times. But, it looks REALLY good. I love the new layout that we came up with. We then celebrated our hard work (and A.'s super-ninja, bug-killing skills) with a few bottles of wine.

A. and I are going shopping today (I think), going to see Bruno tonight, and tomorrow is our pool-drink all the beer in the fridge-party. Should be a fun weekend!!!

Weekend Update

Wow, I can't believe how quickly this week has gone by. I've finished up my first full week back at work and things have definitely been busy in the Compliance world. Fortunately I'm not doing any testing right now and I'm back to work writing and re-writing responses to the Federal Reserve and State Banking Dept. This week I had a case where a guy was asking us to try to find accounts that he had TWENTY-TWO years ago that were held with a bank that has since merged four times (most recently when State National and Compass came together in 2008). I also got to work on my first complaint dealing with Reg H (Flood).

This looks to be a fun, but busy, weekend. Last night Katey and I had dinner at The Melting Pot in Birmingham. It was the first time for both of us and it was really good. I think we had the "Signature for Two" meal which basically gave us a combo plate of chicken, teriyaki steak, filet mignon, white shrimp and tuna. Everything was really good except the tuna ... I don't think I was cooking it right because I just wasn't impressed. The mushroom caps with a cream cheese sauce were to die for! Both the cheese fondue and salad that I had were really, really good. I even went so far as to dip a (small) piece of Granny Smith apple in the cheese fondue and try it. Can't say much for the apple, but cheese makes everything taste better. =)

After dinner last night, I met up with Angela and Julie at Black Market Bar for a few drinks. Seriously, this place has the frostiest beers I have ever seen in my life and they were tres excellent, given how hot and muggy (it was still in the 90's) when I got there after nine. My highlight of the night was Angela's "lighter-on-a-leash."

I plan on hanging around the house most of today and then tonight I'll be meeting up with several of my friends in Alabaster to have dinner and then see Pride & Prejudice at South City Theatre. I'm really looking forward to it.

Tomorrow is Father's Day. I think I'm going to the Pancake House in 5 Points with Dad tomorrow morning and then Angela, Julie, Katey and I are going to enjoy the afternoon at the pool. Tomorrow night is still up in the air, I am trying to find out if we are doing something over at ND and Papa's house. Either way, there is so much going on this weekend that I am afraid it is going to go by far to fast!

Katey and I are also trying to concoct a plan so that we can fly to San Francisco and participate in the CFRI CF Conference. This year's conference is titled "The Power of New Possibilities: Growing Stronger and Living Longer with cystic fibrosis." One of our doctors is presenting and there are several sessions that look interesting. And I've never been to San Fran, so this would be a chance to see a new place. It's all going to hinge on whether or not I can get a couple of (unpaid) days off at the end of July. We shall see! I am really excited about the opportunity and have my fingers crossed that everything will work out.

Whew! This has turned into the little update that could. Sorry that it is so long and if you've made it this far, then CONGRATS.

Laters ~

Weekend Wrapup

Just a quick post to update my exercise journal. I walked on the treadmill three times this week, for 30 minutes each. The first day I did a manual program, just to kind of get used to the new treadmill. The second two sessions, I successfully (almost!) completed Program 2. The only part of the program that I have difficulty with is when the speed jumps up to 4.0 mph. So far, I have only managed a slow run @ 4.0 for one minute each time. I did bump up the O2 to 4L/per minute, just to keep my oxygen levels in the low-mid 90's (89 - 94). I feel like I was able to work harder and wasn't quite so tired at the end. Of course, doing a Ventolin aerosol right before I worked out helped too!

On Saturday, I also added some strength training exercises to my routine. I completed two sets of crunches, wall push-ups, forward lunges, lying leg lifts, isometric shoulder work, and modified planks. My goal is to work back up to going an hour or more of yoga at least twice a week.

I also got about three hours of study time in Saturday afternoon. My grandfather helped me out with a few of the math problems that I repeatedly get stuck on (usually those with geometry), but unfortunately the section that I worked on yesterday didn't have a lot of geometry in it. But, we worked through about twenty or thirty other math problems. One thing I noticed is that we tended to try and make things harder than they actually were. The hardest thing about the GRE math questions is the phrasing. And I've discovered that I. HATE. QUANT COMP. PROBLEMS. Quant Comp = Quantitative Computations, for those of you not in the ETS know.

That's all folks. Catch ya on the flip side. Katey - glad you are out of the hospital!!!