Maybe!! We'll see how cooperative blogger is! :) I'm going to bed now though. Hope all of you are doing well. Keep my friend Meghann in your prayers. She just got new lungs at UNC. Last I heard she came through the surgery well, but I haven't heard any new updates.
It's been a busy week with a new puppy, getting Casey ready to leave on a mission trip, Casey's last day of school, packing up the house getting it ready to sell, and oh yeah.. still fighting this infection.
I'm still fighting this C. Diff. It is definitely better on this new medicine, but it's not completely gone yet. I'm really hoping this med takes care of it, so I don't have to do IV's and go in the hospital.
Little Mia is the sweetest thing! She is so loving and cuddly. I think my maternal clock was ticking again, so I've (mostly) satisfied it with a new puppy who I can dress up in little pink bows and anything else I want.. haha. Casey rolls her eyes at this, but loves her pink collar and leash. Jason just tolerates. :) Balin still doesn't like Mia, but I'm hoping this will change as time goes by. I am trying to give a lot of attention to Balin too, but he just doesn't want to be around me when Mia is. At least he can still jump on things that she can't and get away from her. LOL.
Casey and her friends left for a mission trip for the week. I'll miss her so much, but am excited for her. Here are pics of Mia, and of Casey and her friends leaving for their trip. You can still see Casey's pink highlights some, but they really washed out a lot since I wouldn't let the hairdresser put bleach on her hair under the highlights. Oh well, I'd rather not start damaging her hair so early.
I just want all my friends to know that I am back to reading blogs even though I'm not commenting much. I love you all and am praying for you all!
Thanks to everyone who voted!!! Mia won with 18 votes out of 57. Somer I loved your suggestion. Sophie is too cute, but we've already started calling her Mia... it really does just fit! Carrie, I can't wait to see pics of your Chloe!!!! Cara, I'm the same way. I didn't have my first small dog until Casey started having allergies to the large ones with fur. Now, we have to have small ones, like poodles that have hair instead of fur. We used to raise Australian Shepherds years ago when we lived on a farm, and of course had labs too. :)
Now, we have 2 toy poodles. haha. Casey does have 3 labs at her dad's house, but they are on the bottom floor, and Casey's bedroom is on the top. The only dog on the top floor with her is... you guessed it a toy poodle.
Mia is adapting to Balin, but Balin isn't adapting to Mia. He runs away from her and she just stands at the bottom of the sofa and barks at him. It's so cute. He is so unsure of what to think of her yet. She does well in her kennel until about 6:00 am and then she wants to get in the bed with me. She goes right back to sleep snuggled in my arms. It's a match made in heaven. :)
Thanks again everyone!!
Christy, Jason, and Casey
We got a tiny toy poodle yesterday, and we don't know what to name her. Right now we are calling her 'Lil Ball 'o Fluff, but I don't think that will be appropriate for long term. :)
Balin is unsure of her right now. She tries to "bounce" after him, but he just runs from her. I'm sure they will be best friends in no time. 
POLL IS CLOSED. Thanks to all who voted.
FIrst I'll tell those who don't know (and I'm assuming most of you do since I have you on my FB, my mom talks to you, or you read my tweets) that I was diagnosed with C.Diff. on Wednesday night. I had been having some symptoms since I was in the middle of the last course of antibiotics that I took, but I always have intestinal symptoms on antibiotics, so I didn't think much about it. I had been off the antibiotic for about a week and I started having severe diarrhea, and a high fever (101 which is way high for someone who takes prednisone). I was feeling so bad that Jason took me to the ER Wednesday night around midnight.
The first thing I told the triage nurse was that I needed to be tested for C. Diff. After looking at my history, she agreed and sent me straight back. I have heard of so many people having this go misdiagnosed for way too long, and I didn't want to be one of those people. After about 5 hours in the ER, they informed me that I did have it and would start me on Flagyl for it (this is after talking to my transplant team at Duke, which he was way eager to do thank goodness). Of course being in the CF/transplant community I have heard horror stories regarding C. Diff. like not being able to get rid of it with Flagyl or the ONLY other drug that works on it.. Vancomycin, and one story I heard even involved removing a section of intestines to finally rid her body of it.
So, after having read "The Secret" and deciding that positive thinking goes a very long way, I decided right then and there that this Flagyl WILL take care of it, I will NEVER have anymore problems with it, and that will be that. :)
I will talk about something that some people think is taboo to talk about.. depression!!! I am an RN, so my thinking may be different than some of yours, but in my opinion, if you need to be treated for depression, get treatment. Don't "fight" it, don't think it's going to mysteriously disappear, DO something about it. Now there have been many times in my life that I have had what I call "situational depression", you know.. that depression that comes when some event in your or your family member's life just plain sucks and you feel helpless. A lot of those times, I'm all for waiting it out, looking for ways to change things, and talking it over with others. And believe me, I'm ALWAYS (no matter what the cause of depression is) for praying!!
Well, as I've told some of you, I've had some depression after my last transplant. Yes, it happened after my first one too, which required me to be medicated for it for about 6 months until things got back in order. So, I've been dealing with this depression for several months trying to work through it (not that it was a situational depression at all) by talking it through to others, praying, and trying to keep busy. The depression got worse!!!!!!! AND WORSE!!!!!! And finally to the point where I knew that I needed a mild anti-depressant to get over this hump. I started on one a couple of weeks ago and am already feeling more like a person again, and getting back in touch with those that I have withdrawn from.
Now there are some people who think you can pray your way out of depression. My question to those people is... can you pray your way out of Cystic Fibrosis, Diabetes, Cancer, or any other disease? I mean don't get me wrong, I do pray, and I do ask people to pray for me, but in addition to prayer, I take my insulin, I take my CF drugs, if I had cancer, I would definitely take the treatment. What's the difference with depression? As a nurse, I learned there is none. If I don't try to make myself healthier by treating this depression, then I may as well stop taking my anti-rejection meds too. The body is a "whole system". It's not just dictated by one bodily part or one system, it works by being healthy as a "whole", and believe me, mental health is a VERY big part of that WHOLE!
I know that some people are influenced by what their parents told them, and THEIR parents told THEM, etc. AND some people may even be influenced by Tom Cruise himself, LOL. But please, I beg of you, if you think you might need to be treated for depression, get help.. just like you would get help if you had diabetes or any other illness. It's NO different.
Well, missing from blogger world at least. Things have been pretty busy here. We've been getting our house ready to put up for sale. It seems when we think we are getting close, there is more to do. Jason is putting up new fixtures outside today. I didn't realize how bad the old ones looked. We did manage to get quite a bit of furniture moved out to a storage building, so the rooms look larger now.
Most of our plans for the summer consist of getting this house on the market. Casey is going on a mission trip, so I'm happy for her. We won't be taking a big vacation this year. I'm ok with that! My dear friend Lori is coming for a visit in a couple of weeks. I can't wait! We have a lot of catching up to do.
Please keep my friend Sara in your thoughts and prayers. She got new lungs in 08, and is experiencing some rejection right now. She had a major treatment yesterday that completely knocked out her immune system, so I'm hoping she doesn't have too many side effects from that. She's the one I've blogged about before who ran a 1/2 marathon only 8 months after her double lung transplant!!!
Yesterday we went to my SIL's house for her youngest son's 1st birthday party. Her boys are a delight to photograph. She has a 1 year old and a 6 year old. After taking pics yesterday, I realized more than ever how bad I need a new lens for my camera. The more photography you do, the pickier you get I guess. I've been busy part of the day cropping feet out of photos.. haha! When you take pics of a toddler on the floor at a party, you tend to get a lot of feet in the background. Here are some of the pics. I love the one of Jason's sister and her sweet little boy.
We visited the Biltmore Estate on Saturday. The 250 room home is the largest in the U.S. It took 6 years to build and it opened in 1895. George Vanderbilt lived there with his wife and daughter. It still belongs to his daughter's family, but of course is open to the public now. The estate originally consisted of 125,000 acres, but now is 8,000. They have a winery and gardens. You can read more about the history here.
If you have ever seen the movie "Hannibal", it was Mason Verger's house. Much of that movie was filmed in Asheville, where the Biltmore is located.
Here are some pics from Saturday. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the home itself:
is going to win American Idol? Or do you care??? :)
Even though my daughter disagrees with me, I really love to hear Adam Lambert sing. I think he has an awesome voice, and I am a huge fan of rock! My daughter wants Kris Allen to win. I think all 3 of the finalists are awesome singers.. no doubt.
Just curious who you think is going to win, and who you want to win. I am usually NOT one to follow the crowd at all. I don't pick someone just because the majority thinks he/she is good, but I really do think Adam is insanely talented.
The exotic animal drive-thru park that we went to on Saturday was so much fun. Casey and I have been several times before, but Jason had never been before this weekend.
Yesterday, we went to church and then had lunch with Jason's parents. Casey and I spent the rest of the day catching up on DVRed shows, playing games, and watching old episodes of our favorite shows on hulu.com. It was a really good Mother's Day. We were supposed to go to my sister's house last night, but I wasn't feeling well. I haven't been sleeping well, and I have a lot of swelling in my feet and ankles, so I have to go get blood work tomorrow to check out my kidney function.
I just want to say what a wonderful Mom I have. She's not only given me life 3 times, but is always there for me, is very loving and patient, and puts her children and grandchildren first. I love her so much and am so proud to call her my mom!
I am so proud to be Casey's mom too! Instead of giving me a gift this year, she gave all of the money she had saved up to help a friend of ours pay his medical bills. I was so proud of her for doing that. :) She drew me this beautiful picture of a butterfly and a flower, and waited on me all day yesterday. It was awesome!!
I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's Day!
Here are some pics from Saturday...
We had a great time today and took tons of pics, but I haven't had time to really look at them yet, so I thought I'd give you a preview of what's to come. :)
TO ALL MOTHER'S: Have a blessed, wonderful, joy-filled day tomorrow. You all deserve it!!
My niece Caroline will be 12 tomorrow. I can't believe it! It seems like yesterday when we were waiting (not so) patiently in the waiting room for her to be born. Casey was 18 months old at the time and running around the hospital in the middle of the night. I thought Caroline was going to be a boy. We were pleasantly surprised when my mom came out of the delivery room to tell Casey that she had a new baby cousin named Caroline. :)
She had her birthday party last night, and Casey and I were recruited to do hair and make-up. I was too busy to get before and after pictures, but I did manage to get one of Caroline's hair after I straightened it. Caroline has very thick, very curly hair, and it has never been straightened before. I thought she looked beautiful! It took me an hour to straighten it. Here are the results...
And here are more pics from the party...
Today we are headed to an exotic animal drive thru park. I'm hoping to have plenty of photo opportunities!
