Post and pics tomorrow?

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.

Pink bows and Pink highlights

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!

Her Name is Mia

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

Please help name our puppy!

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. Mia it is!!!

Chatty Christy

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.