A Month Full Of Thankfulness & Gratefulness -February Style

Every month, I will be challenging myself to create a post of what I am thankful and grateful for in life.  This will allow me to reflect on all the POSITIVE that is happening in my life.  As we all know you get nowhere when you focus on the negatives in life.

I have seen a few people on blogger update on a weekly basis but I am going to be taking baby steps and doing this monthly.  As we all know, life is always BUSY but we need to slow down sometimes and take a step back and reflect on all the good that is around us. Everyone has POSITIVE things happening in life and we should be thankful we have the opportunity to be in these situations.  So here is my list for the month of February.

• February is the “official” month for lovers as we celebrate Valentine ’s Day. This day to me is more than just a card holiday or a flower or chocolate day.  It is a reminder for all of us to acknowledge the true gift of being in love.  Maria has been nothing but a gift in my life.  Most/some people find love in their life but I think I have found my soul mate in life. I know as cliché as it sounds I really do believe Maria is my soul mate. As the song sung by Blake Shelton says “God Gave Me You”!  She has shown me nothing but unconditional love every day we have been together.  She has taught me the power of tackling everything in life as a couple and not anyone of us is in this as an individual.  Everything we do is as a COUPLE!! WE celebrate our success and WE feel the pain when the other is suffering.  I am so thankful to have my soul mate by my side every day I get out of bed.  Love you Maria!!  

• If you haven’t read the post about Alayna hitting the 4 month mark here it is Alayna 4 months! Just thinking about our little miracle gives me goose bumps.  She is such a joy and blessing to have in our life.  I was just going over a timeline of “events” that took place in the last 2 years with a friend and I cannot believe some of this stuff that has happened. Yes, it has been a two year journey to get where we are today with our miracle baby!  But they say god only gives you what you can handle.  I guess this family can handle a couple knockout punches and still get back on our two feet. I still cannot believe Alayna is now over 4 months old.  Time is really really flying by.  I feel like she will be walking and eating with us at the dinner table really soon. 

•  If any of you have read my blog in the past few months you would have read that Maria is still not 100% back to herself since the delivery.  That does still seem to be the case unfortunately.  But I am thankful to say that my wife is more determined than ever to get to the bottom of this. She has set a great example in never letting the ball drop when it has come to her health.  It does seem like there is a plan of action now.  Sometimes in life its all about making the baby steps count.  I know soon you will be feeling back to 100% Maria! 

•  This month I had my CF clinic appointment.  Here is the post CF Clinic  To be honest, I was nervous for this appointment because I haven’t gone to my clinic since late October.  I usually like to get my butt in there every 8-10 weeks.  The reason I do this is to stay on top of any bugs that I am culturing.  This way if something new is in there and I have an exacerbation we can get started on an antibiotic right away.  Also, I only do a PFT test every other visit and I was due for a test this visit.  My last PFT was in August.  So we are talking almost 6 months since my last PFT test.  In August, I blew a FEV1 of 74 and an FEVC of 96.  I blew a FEV1 of 70 and an FEVC of 93 at my visit in February.  Basically, this showed me that my lungs have been mostly stable since August, Woooo hooo!! I have also been PA free since April and have not been on any inhaled antibiotics in about a year.  Another Wooo hooo!! My Dr. said keep doing what you are doing! Another Woo hoo!!  Oh and I am participating in a research study. So looks like I have a lot to be thankful for from my appointment!!

• Lately, I have seen CF really taking a toll on some of my cysters and fibros.  They are getting sick needing a hospital stay or a PICC line at home.  I have also seen a few individuals being added to the transplant list. Ok so where is the thankfulness in this bullet point.  My thankfulness stems from my own gratefulness of my health.  I always knew I have been a pretty healthy CFer but sometimes I take it for granted how healthy I really am.  But everyday I get out of bed I put my game face on and attack that mucus in my lungs.  Mucus and me have a hate relationship all the way! 

•  I am thankful for social media.  My reasons are endless on this though.  I have basically just started to use facebook.  Ok I know I must be one of the last ones to jump on the bandwagon but oh well.  In fact, I took Maria’s account over haha. She still uses it but its mostly all me on there.  I post a picture every day of little Alayna growing up in front of our eyes. I know I probably have overdone it on her pictures but oh well.  More of them will be coming to a facebook near you. 

•   Staying on the topic of social media, it has allowed me to interact with some of you in the CF community and I am so grateful WE have a way to communicate.  Whether that is through blogger, facebook, or a forum.  I love the fact that I have access to make an impact on some of you directly by sharing our IVF story, talking about my love for HTS, sending a positive message, or just checking in to say hello.  But its not just that, I think I have also "helped" in my opinion some individuals on forums who are really struggling with this disease or accepting CF.  I am trying to put a positive spin as much as I can when talking about this disease.  

• I am thankful for a month full of compliance and then some on my pills and airway treatments.  I have not missed a single treatment all month!! There are some nights I fall asleep and wake up to find myself not getting that treatment in but I get my butt out of bed and head to my vest even if its 1 am.  I know its not ideal but I know that in the back of my head its better to vest than not vest at all.  Just this past week,  I have added a new regiment to my treatment schedule.  I am very proud of this! As soon as I come home from work,  I take Alayna and I throw my vest on for 10 minutes when I get home.  I figured I better start doing this since I am slacking in the exercise department.  I have noticed in this short span of 4 days that my lungs are thanking me for that extra 10 minutes of vesting.  I also feel so much cleaner lung wise and this will motivate me to continue this trend.  I am averaging almost an hour a day hooked up to my little vest.  Woo hoo take that CF! In looking how long I have been hooked up to this little boom box it has been over 200 hours now! I finally got the new boom box vest but I am not sure the exact date I received the machine.  I replaced the old massive one that weighed like 50 pounds but I forgot to look how long I was hooked up to that machine.  I had big bertha for almost 10 years!! Oh well, I will continue to track the hourly number on my new machine to see how much time I am putting in kicking CF butt!

I just realized how long this list is…………and I forgot to even mention a few things that I am thankful for.  These items are the big ones though.  It looks like I may have to do this type of thankful post twice a month.  So take a minute to step back from your busy life and think of what you are thankful for.  I know that everyone has at least one thing they can be thankful for.  

 

 

 

4 months!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reminds Me of Maria!!