I called my nurse today and asked for the obligatory 3rd week of IVs. 14 days never seems to get me over the hump. Although, I would love to be needle free tomorrow, that will have to wait another 7 days. Continue reading
Tag Archives: lungs
Waiting…
When you have a chronic illness waiting is part of life. Waiting to get better, waiting/holding steady or waiting to die. Yep, I said it. It’s a part of my reality and when I have friends waiting for lungs and others who are not candidates for transplant or don’t want to go that route who are basically waiting to die. Maybe you could call it “living to die.” Whatever it may be, it is life. Continue reading
Thank you for all of my donors!
This is what a $500 battery for my POC (portable oxygen concentrator) looks like. Yep $500!!!! I have to have 2 of these for the trip to Hawaii. Per FAA regulations, you have to have 150% of battery life compared to your flight/layover time. I had to be approved by Delta to fly with my oxygen. Then they dropped the bomb that I needed 2 double batteries (a total of $1,000) OR a double battery and 2 single batteries ($500 + ($325×2) = $1,150). One double battery gives me about 8-8.5 hours at 2 liters. One single battery (which is what came with my POC) gives about 4-4.5 hours of 2 liters. Thank you to everyone who donated to the lung fund for allowing us the means to buy $1,000 worth of freaking batteries.
If you would like to donate we would greatly appreciated it.
You can donate to http://www.gofund.me/shannonigans or to http://www.paypal.me/shannonigans.
Thank you to you all for all of your love and support!!
Until next time….
CF Clinic day
I managed to get myself up and out the door for 2 doctor appointments. I had a very hard day yesterday, emotionally and physically. I finished my Effexor taper the day before which brought on the emotional bad day of crying spells out of nowhere, rages, screaming/yelling out of frustration, brain zaps, can’t find the right words for things, wobbly, dizzy, etc. Physical symptoms are non productive cough which sucks. I can’t sleep for more than an hour at a time it seems. I can’t get comfortable. My anxiety is through the roof. Yada yada yada yada. Continue reading
A bunch of jumbled thoughts
I hope I can write this and let it make sense because it is all jumbled in my head…. It feels like a game of ping pong with my thoughts in my head. Hmmmm let me divide it into topics….hahahaha Continue reading
3rd times a charm hopefully
/shannonigansToday I had my third set of intercostal blocks in my back for the rib pain. As you know, I have a broken rib that is taking forever to heal due to the fact that I can’t take a break from breathing, coughing or sneezing to give it time to heal. The pain is better than when it first began back in February, 5 and a half months ago so for that I’m glad but there is still a little bit to go to be pain free. Yes, I hope to be pain free. Yes, I’m asking for a lot. Yes, I’m stubborn. hahaha. I have a follow up appointment with the pain clinic August 10th to talk about this set injections hoping to be done with the pain clinic. Continue reading
CF Clinic/Follow up from the hospital
Today’s clinic visit was a follow up from my last admission. Ya know, the one where I kept coughing up blood, yeah that one. The visit was short and “sweet” because I had so many other things I had to get done today so I put them on a deadline of when I needed to be out of there. hahaha Continue reading
Determination letter received
I received my letter of determination from my lung transplant evaluation….
- “This letter is in regards to your recent lung transplant evaluation at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO. Based on the results of you evaluation, we feel like you may be a suitable candidate for lung transplant in our program. However, there are some program requirements that must be met before you can be listed with the United Network of Organ Sharing at our hospital. Therefore, you have not been listed with the UNOS at this time. Attached is a letter from your Nurse Coordinator outlining the requirements that must be successfully completed prior to listing for lung transplant.”
If I didn’t have CF
What if I didn’t have CF? That is one open-ended question. This topic for this post has been on my mind for a while now. I just didn’t know how to go about writing it and then there was the whole coughing up blood thing that got in the way.
The “what if I didn’t have CF” question/statement goes way back to childhood. I think I am just going to start to list things and elaborate when needed. Continue reading
Coughing up blood is no good
Well today didn’t turn out the way I planned at all! I woke up around 3am coughing up blood. It was a few tablespoons or a little more. It finally tapered off after about 30 min. Back to sleep for me, not good sleep but some sleep.
Then my day started off with a fantastic visit with a great friend. Then it was time for all of my errands. First stop of weekly labs at UT. I have to have labs 2-3 times a week when I’m on IV antibiotics to monitor my kidney levels, liver levels, blood counts, etc. Then it was on to my errands. First stop was Staples to pick up more Shannonigans flyers and donation letters! Then of course I had to stop by Sun Tan City to get tanning points because they went on sale today! They are for when I’m off of IVs…Hopefully that is sooner rather than later. Next stop, Target for a few things.
When leaving Sun Tan City I started coughing at 12:30pm, I started coughing up blood again. I drove to my next destination, Target, while coughing up blood. I sat in the car coughing and hacking up blood for a good 30 minutes. It finally subsided enough to streaks so I could “run” (we all know I am not running anywhere) into Target to get 2 polo shirts for the teenager. He goes to his moms for the summer and they will be doing family pics so he needed something nicer. Next up was a run through the bank, a stop at the pet store for dog food and then Hobby Lobby for a quick tour. Did some window shopping and took pictures of what I liked for the teenagers room makeover this summer (it’s a surprise). His room has been the same for 5 plus years. I don’t usually talk about the kids for their privacy and out of respect for their mom. This has been a monumental month….the teenager turned 16 and is now street legal in his new car. He is doing decent on his own so for. The young adult child is going great in college and getting her first apartment. She is growing up and adulting!! We all are very proud of them both, myself,their dad and their mom.
On my way home I realized that I still needed to get a watering can for plants and to dilute the boys (dogs) pee so they will stop killing grass and plants by peeling on them. Hahaha
I got home and was taking care of all of office stuff and once again the blood mama pouring out! This was at 3:30pm. I texted my husband and asked him to come home. I made the dreaded phone call to my nurse and she called back in about 8 minutes. She said my doc wanted me to go to the ER and that he had already called all the people he needed to to let them know I was on my way and what was up. He had already requested a bed for me and all. He also had written down what he wanted them to do for/with me. All together I coughed up probably 3-5 ounces. Heck a little bit is enough for me to not be a fan of it.
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- Bright red blood from my crappy lungs (this was the 2nd bleed of the 3)
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- This is what pure blood from the lungs looks like
I got checked in and triaged quickly, then the wait was on for an ER room. Then off to chest CT for a scan with contrast (thank God for ‘Pollie’ my power port). The scan didn’t show any active bleeds at that moment. After the scan, I was whisked away to my room. I am in the CVICU (cardio vascular ICU) for monitoring due to the massive blood espisodes. I will hopefully see my CF doc tomorrow. I’m hoping it’s one of the duckling doc I know and like. It makes my life in here easier. I am on IV Zosyn (just like I was at home every 6 hours), IV Colistin (every 12 hours IV push) and staying on the oral high dose Bactrim (1600mg three times a day).
I have no idea how long I will be in lock up. My husband seems to think it will be a short stay but we shall see. I am NPO after midnight just in case they need to perform a procedure of some sort like a bronchoscopy or exploration in IR (Interventional Radiology). I just stuffed my face with a cheese burger and Mac and cheese?
The plus is, I got all of my errands run. The negative is, I didn’t get all the phone calls Made, or the laundry done, or office stuff organized…. Oh and I was short of breath all day AND I coughed up blood 3 times. The day started off good even with the middle of the night blood situation. It was a beautiful day in East TN and now I’m in lock up! Ugh
REMINDERS:
5/24: Tomorrow is the Texas Hold’em tournament, silent auction and 50/50 raffle!! It is at Tanners in Lenexa at 7pm. Invite your friends even if it’s just to hang out. It is being held in my moms memory and to raise funds for the Shannonigans Lung Fund Texas Hold’em Tournament, silent auction and 50/50 Raffle
6/5: The deadline for Shannonigns Gear online sale!!!! Please try to budget it in for your last paycheck of May. I REALLY don’t want anyone to miss out in this fabulous design. Http://design.goteez.com/Shannonigan_strong Ready, set, shop……
Shannonigan Strong online sale
9/17: 2nd Annual Shannonigans Cornhole Tournament held at the Casual Pint-Northshore at 2pm. Lots of raffle items including a custom set of cornhole boards! 2 Annual Shannonigans Cornhole Tournament
To make a direct donation to the Shannonigans Lung Fung, there are 3 ways:
http://www.gofund.me/shannonigans
http://www.paypal.me/shannonigans
Personal (non rubber) check made out to myself.
I am super tired. I’m off of here and I hope I didn’t forget anything. I’ll update tomorrow when we have a news worthy update.
Until next time….
Our time in the ER and getting settled in my room. I look thrilled huh?
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- And we wait…but the people watching was great
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- My OCD went into overdrive with all these stupid twisted cords
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- Finally in my bed, snuggled up with my mama’s Sherpa and my pillow from home. Oh and of course this guy watching over me 24/7.
CF Happens 