Adventures in the Park

On Memorial Day, we visited Dan Nicholas Park. It's only about a 30 minute drive from where we live, but I never knew it existed until last week when a friend asked if we wanted to go with them. What a beautiful place!!

We took a picnic lunch and then headed out to do the paddle boats. After "accidentally" playing bumper boats with them a few times, we finally became pros at steering them.. right when we had to take them back to the dock. Casey and her friend Michele were soaked to the core. Michele kept steering them under a waterfall and Casey's cell phone was wet, but thankfully not ruined. Jason decided he wanted to see if he could catch one of the geese on the lake.. I think that's what it was, but it could have been some other flipper water bird.. I can't tell them apart. So he starts paddling as fast as he can towards this poor thing and it's swimming as fast as IT can to get away from us. It finally looks back at us and gives us this horrible barking sound and we busted out laughing. Our friends saw all of this from across the lake and gave Jason a hard time about it, jokingly of course. I was afraid someone would call the humane society on us.. haha!

Anyway, we get off the paddle boats and head towards the train. We are thinking it's a big diesel train like they have at Tweetsie Railroad, but we get up to the place to pay for it and find out it's only $1 to ride. We were like.. "Wow, what a deal!!", so we go around the building to board the train and see that it's this tiny almost toddler size train (I guess I should have paid attention to the website). We all start laughing. Then we squeeeeeze into the train and around we go hoping to see some wildlife or other fun attraction. We go through a tunnel and see displays of dolls in 1800s costumes.. the conductor tells us about them, and then we go through another tunnel that features stuffed animals supposedly in a circus. We stop again as he tells us about it. We then realize that unless you have a child 5 years old or younger, you shouldn't go on the train at Dan Nicholas Park, but hey we were only out $1 each for it.

When we got back to our picnic area, we all became fascinated with the millions of ants that had found their way to the few potato chips on the ground. We literally watched them for about 30 minutes as more joined in the feast, and they carried pieces away to their ant hill. (They really can carry 10 to 20 times their body weight )

We ended the day with a carousel ride and a stroll around the lake. It was perfect weather, and just an awesome day all around.

Ahhhh... the simple things in life!!!!!!!!!

Insomnia Bobomnia

You might see a few changes today to my blog. I haven't slept all night. I can't complain though, I haven't had a sleepless night in a long time. I have been sleeping fairly well the past couple of months. I have been very nauseous and even threw up about 3 am, so that might have something to do with it. I think I'll take a Phenergan and lay back down. 

I am STILL working on the photo montage of Casey. It's just taking forever to scan all of her baby pics. Digital cameras are so much easier! I'm also learning how to use iMovie on my Mac, so it's taking awhile to figure that out too. I am also slowly working on a new design for my blog. There is a picture I have to get before I can finish it.. it's going to be pretty cute.. I hope you will like it!! Look for it late June probably!

Living with Cystic Fibrosis

Someone sent this to me... I thought it summed up CF pretty good. I'm thankful that because of my transplant, at least some of these don't apply to me anymore... whoo hoo! I want to thank all of my friends who have stood by me through thick and thin. Some of you have witnessed way too much, and yet you are still here.. I love you!!

You know you have CF when:

You know more medical terms by the age of ten than most people know their whole lives

You have your pharmacist, family doctor, CF doctor, respiratory therapist, your transplant doctor, your pulmonologist, your immunologist, the emergency room that you always use and your medical insurance company as numbers 1- 10 on your cell phone's speed dial


You have multiple scars from PICC lines, IV's and other 'experimentations' as the doctors like to call them. These are not counting the major surgeries you've had.

You are so used to getting blood drawn that you are the proverbial 'test dummy' for all the new nurse fresh out of college—you don't mind do ya?!

You flip out when someone has an open cut, puts peroxide on it and then blows on the peroxide because it stings--- HELLO—germs are in your mouth too!!

You get equally annoyed when someone lays a towel on that open cut and states- but it's a clean towel—did you disinfect it? NO!

You have antibacterial gel in your purse, in your car, on the kitchen counter, in the bathroom, in your friend's dorm, their car—everywhere!

You can smell smoke hundreds of feet away and go searching for the source so you can thump them upside their retarded heads!

You quite adamantly think that smokers are some of the dumbest people you know—I always love it when they walk up a flight of stairs huffing and then say they NEED a cigarette! WHAT?!

You laugh at those who complain for days about  a common cold or worse yet stay home because of it!

You are truly sad for those cute little lab mice who must suffer from experimentations so we can have medicines to help us live—for about 1 milli-second than you jump for glee because they came up with something to help you breathe!

You can instruct the nurses how to work the IV machine at the hospital

Some of the most memorable times with your friends is hanging out and wasting time at the hospital

You have also learned who your real friends are because most people can't take the pressure of being around a person who has CF

You make people wince on a daily basis because of the sound of your cough

The checkout lady at Wal-Mart has confidently told you that she just got over what ever I have and Theraflu worked for her, which you calmly and sarcastically say—I will make sure to tell my doctors.


You can sleep through anything—you perfected the skill by being shaken by your vest all of these years

You are a multi-tasker by need. While doing you're vest you MUST eat breakfast, do your nebulizers, homework, make-up, straighten your hair and have a conversation with your mother about your most current ache in your chest all at once or it would never get done.


You learn by the age of 15 that life is a gift and most people don't see it's pretty paper!


Many adults have commented to you that you are very wise for your age—yippee!

You really did have a midlife crisis at the age of 18—what do I do now?  I wasn't suppose to make it this far!

If Albuterol and Xopenex were living things you would marry them because according to you they were sent from heaven by God to us CFers for a little help in the breathing department—I heart Albuterol!

You laugh at your friends and their newest drama—hah! Don't we all wish it was THAT easy!

You get angry at people who don't put yes as organ donors on their driver's license—what the heck are you going to do with them when you're dead, huh?!

You make peace with God at an early age.


You feel as if there is ALWAYS someone worse off than you somewhere.

You are constantly on the go, realizing that time stands still for no one.


You grew up thinking that everyone in your class does machines, nebulizers, inhalers, sprays and pills for an hour or two each morning before they came to school and an hour or two after.


You are more scared of losing your loved ones, family and friends then you are of dying your self.


You truly feel that God gave you this for a reason and you're going to make Him proud!

You realize at an extremely young age that you can buy everything but time and as a CFer that is the one thing you would love to have!

Some of you will understand it all but most won't-- this is mostly for all the CFer's out there living and working each day to breathe -- my prayers are with all of you

Bowling fun...

Christy's Crawlers

The Lake Norman Great Strides Walk to benefit Cystic Fibrosis was a huge success, raising over $54,000 for CF research. This was only the 2nd year that Lake Norman has sponsored a Great Strides event. Here are some pics of the walk.. enjoy!

Let's get started.. Jetton Park on beautiful Lake Norman!

Some of Christy's Crawlers!

My girls (Casey, her friend Michele, and my neice Caroline) and me

Taking a break!

A beautiful view of the lake!

Casey and Caroline after the walk!

General facts about lung transplantation

Casey and me at her 6th birthday party... about 10 days before my double lung transplant.

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has some great information about lung transplantation if you are interested in reading. Click here for answers to your questions.

Happy Mother's Day.. two days late

To all of you wonderful mothers out there... HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! I spent the day with my beautiful daughter. She makes me the most wonderful cards. I hope that never stops. I was able to visit with my mom, my sister, and my mother-in-law some, and then I took Casey to see her step-mom and wish her a Happy Mother's Day. We had to stay there awhile, because there was a tornado warning for a nearby county and we wanted to make sure we were safe before heading out. We went to church that night.. just Casey and me, b/c Jason had to work, and came home and watched an episode of Moonlight before Casey went to bed... it's our 3rd favorite show... nothing tops House and Psych.

I hope all of you had a great day with your moms or children or both. 

A whole lotta pills

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, this is one day's worth of medication. All other days, I take two less than this. Once a week, I have one additional shot to take. It's a lot of meds, but soooo much better than nebulizers, IV's and oxygen (life before transplant).

My House episode...

Jason and I are in the middle of writing an episode for House. I have always loved to write, but never finished the books that I started writing. I seemed to get writer's block all too easily. Jason is helping me, and I try leaving most of the "House-isms" to him. If you watch house, you know what those are.. the sarcastic remarks thrown up at every moment possible. I'm taking care of the medical stuff, and most of the plot. This is really fun for Jason and me.. something we can do together. 

House is my absolute favorite show.. 1. because Hugh Laurie is my fav actor (have you seen him in the show "A Bit of Fry and Laurie"? His British humor keeps you in stitches), 2. because I am a nurse and know a lot of the medical terminology and illnesses (even though some of them go completely over my head), and 3. because one of my previous doctors was so much like House it's scary... brilliant, but a jerk (although I don't think he used a cane) LOL.

I'm writing it for a site called fanfiction, but of course I'll post it here when we are finished for all of you interested.

The best hot dogs in the world

We drove 2 1/2 hours yesterday to get hot dogs. Casey had the day off from school, and we wanted hot dogs! Bowling Hot Dogs in Rocky Mount, VA is a hole-in-the-wall place that looks more like a rundown shack than a restaurant, but they have the best hot dogs I have ever tasted. We headed to my hometown yesterday morning, got there in time for lunch, was able to have an hour visit with my grandparents before heading back to NC. It was a very short visit, but well worth it. Yum, yum.. I'm ready for some more!!!!!!!!

How out of shape can one girl be?

I am realizing now just how out of shape I am since having the flu this winter. I have started walking 1 to 2 miles a day again, and my joints feel like I'm 80 years old. LOL. My physical therapist told me a long time ago that when your muscles atrophy (like mine have done from being sick this year), you use your joints more, and they have to start taking over a lot of the work. My knees and hips are very sore now, and I'm trying to build my quadriceps up to take over some of the work load. I am also doing some weights at home, and those dreaded lunges that are supposed to be so good for the gluts and quads. I really loathe getting back in shape after being out of shape for so long, but I know I will feel better when I do. I would like to gain about 20 lbs of muscle, but I know that probably won't happen until after my kidney transplant. 

At least I am on my way to being in better shape for the transplant.. and a big plus is... I'm sleeping better now that I'm back to exercising. It's amazing what a little endorphins can do for you!!!

Just some pics of J and me

These were taken at the nephrologist's office in Charlotte today. Our camera broke, so my dad found this one at a yard sale for $5. The pictures aren't great, but it will do until we can get a new one. Jason caught me by surprise in the 2nd pic.