I know my blog posts have lately been all about our labor experience and our beautiful daughter Alayna and why would they be anything else. But I would like to inform all of you about my CF status. So here it is…………..
Over the last couple of months, I have been feeling really great! I think I need to give credit where credit is due and that credit goes directly to my friend Mr. Salt. I have blogged about it before but I LOVE HTS!!! If you are not using HTS as a part of airway clearance I suggest next time you are at your CF clinic to ask about trying HTS for a month. I guess I could be a sales rep for this drug :) I never regret trying HTS at all! This stuff makes me feel like a million bucks and I noticed it when I was staying in the hospital with Maria and Alayna.
I spent every second at the hospital. So that meant I brought every single thing I needed to the hospital. Maria said it looked like I was moving into the hospital with all the stuff I brought with us. I had way more stuff than Maria packed and she was the one who was going to deliver a baby. But that is what happens when you go somewhere with a CFer. Your CF never leaves your side!! So guess what, I lugged my portable VEST, my nebulizer machine, my HTS, and my flutter to the hospital. Plus not to mention all the pills I would need for a few days. I give credit to Maria for packing all the pills. She did a great job and I had plenty of pills to last me a few days. Isn’t it great knowing that your spouse knows all the meds you take??? I love it!
In my prior post, about our labor experience you can see how stressful things were for us. I hardly slept for over 2 days in the hospital due to the excitement of our baby girl and just being overly busy with everything. Oh and not to forget this the bed they had for me was like sleeping literally on springs. I actually laid pillows across the supposed bed to get some comfort. I was exhausted and my treatments suffered from it. I missed a few treatments in a row which was ultimately foolish. I felt like I had a massive weight placed on my chest and I knew it was from not being compliant with treatments. The junk that was down in my lungs wasn’t coming up either.
I asked myself what good are you to your family if you are not feeling 100% and why would I bring my VEST and HTS if I didn’t plan on using it??? I started using the HTS with my VEST one morning and noticed a complete difference. My lungs opened up and I coughed up this gross plug. That was probably down there for who knows how long. I learned that I cannot miss a single treatment or I will pay for it. But mind you I am one to never miss a treatment. Compliant is my middle name I would say. But I had to adjust to a major life change and incorporate my airway clearance into this new life.
Once we got home I was still coughing. I would get woken up at night by my cough. I didn’t know if I was coming down with something from the hospital. Let me let a little frustration out…………So you would think that if you are a nurse in labor/delivery or maternity care that you would stay home if you were sick because you work with babies?!?!? The answer to that question is NO. I couldn’t believe it! It seemed like literally every nurse there had some sort of cough. Luckily we only had one nurse that had a cough and she was only with us a short time. I chalked my cough up to the hospital and blamed them for it. I think though to be honest all the coughing I experienced was due to my lack of compliance on my airway clearance.
I called my CF doctor to get on some antibiotics just to be safe that I wouldn’t transfer anything to Alayna. I even wore a face mask around her to insure she wouldn’t get any of my air droplets!!! The doctor put me on a course of Bacterium. I started taking the pills and within a few days I started feeling better. As I write this today, I hardly ever cough now. To be honest I think it has to be a mix of being more compliant to my VEST and HTS and the Bacterium.
In other CF news, I returned my e flow machine back to IV Solutions because the company requested me to do so. Apparently, I haven’t used any inhaled antibiotics in over 8 months!!!! Yippee!! This is some great news and I again credit the biggest reason for me not needing any aerosolized antibiotics to my friend Mr. Salt!
I will be going to the CF clinic sometime this month to get my flu shot and have a PFT test done as well as the usual culture check. I am hoping that my PFT is still at baseline or has slightly improved. I promise to report back in a post soon.
I hope everyone had a great weekend!!!
Lastly, I have to post a picture of my beauty! This will be a theme throughout my posts in the future a picture of Alayna. I know I am obsessed but I am one proud Dad!
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