Doctor Day

When I checked in for doctor day, the lady at the front desk said, "Weren't you just here?" I call it a promotion when you get to stay away longer. Of course, it had only been a week so she was right. The good news is that my PFT scores are heading in the right direction versus the deep south. It also put the threat of the big house to rest. The scores have a way to go but something is helping. It was also good to get input from another doctor. The not so exciting news is that I am going to try a new medicine to help my stomach move food faster. The drug has some weird side effects so I am really hoping they don't appear. The thought is that it will help both my weight gain and that it might impact my lung function.

We did manage to put the issue of the port to rest for a little bit. I learned that it won't likely go in my left arm due to my blood clot hanging on from the fall. We will wait until I am done with my picc line and it will have to come out. The port works in a similar way but the end cap is sewn inside of your arm. It is threaded up your arm and into your vein in a similar fashion as the picc line but it has less risk of infection and can work much longer.

The other news of the day is that this doctor thinks I should do pulmonary rehab again. I did it last summer but he suspects things have changed enough that we should do it again when I am feeling better. It is held up half way between my house and the U so the drive isn't so bad. I do have to arrange for someone to hang out with my darling daughter but we have more flexibility in the summer.

One of the things about Doctor Day as it usually results in more to do rather than less. The latest thing to increase is checking my blood sugars more often. There is some concern whether the long acting insulin is really enough or if I need shots during the day again too. I used to count carbs and do shots when I ate but now I just do one shot in the morning. It is much easier for me but we will see what the numbers say. Both infection and Prednisone make your blood sugars go up even more than normal.

The highlights of Doctor Day included my friend who met me for lunch and some last minute calories before the weigh in. She took my daughter home because it is "boring" to go to the doctor. When I got home again, my house was clean and another friend arrived with dinner. I have been dreaming about chicken and she brought chicken from the very same place. She also brought lettuce salad, fruit salad, corn bread, and ice cream balls. She could really do this for a living. I have never in my life eaten so much corn bread. We are rationing the ice cream balls in hopes they last longer.

Blessings,

Cindy

Bake

I have this lofty dream of having weeks worth of menu plans with the coordinating grocery list. The idea is that you could just post it on the fridge and tell your family that this is week four so they know what to expect for dinner. You could also hand the coordinating grocery store to your spouse or some other generous soul heading for the grocery store. Well, my menu is slow this week because we have a first draft of the plan. I don't have the list to go with it but we are going to give it a try before we invest more time. We also have four spaces for an alternate choice so we can mix it up and try new recipes too. Some of you know that I am a little bit of a recipe addict. I like to think if you get enough of them, they will cook themselves. I also have a cookbook collection that grows despite my efforts to contain it. The plan for this week is below.

Monday-My favorite local place with popcorn while you wait for dinner
Tuesday-Meatloaf
Wednesday-Leftovers or pizza (usually a Friday meal)
Thursday-Lasagna
Friday-The food train (thanks to my very determined friend cooking on Doctor Day)

The highlight of yesterday was preschool conferences. My friend was kind enough to come early to watch my daughter as it is supposed to be only a parent. They talk about funny stuff like cutting a straight and curvy line. I asked about summer and was advised to do more crafts. I didn't know it was possible to do more crafts. When we arrived, my friend was waiting with banana bread in hand. The funny part is that it wasn't just one loaf. She had made four loaves so we would have some extras for the freezer. Baking is a great thing to do when you are working on calories and one of the first things to drop from the to do list when you aren't feeling so great.

I also had the opportunity to talk to someone who lives close to me with CF. We have the same nurse and she gave her permission to give me her number. She is 48 years old. (I remember thinking 20 was really old to have CF.) It is interesting to me how we have never met but know all the same people and have so many similar issues. It reminds me how I miss my friends with CF in IN. I didn't really know people my own age with CF until I moved to Indianapolis for graduate school. I haven't heard from one of them lately and that always makes me nervous.

Blessings,

Cindy