Friday, November 26, 2010

Its kinda creepy

I redid my blog page, added some gadgets to spruce it up. One gadget I added was the adsense by google. They post 2 ads on my page and whenever someone clicks on them I get paid. So far im at a whole $1.35 the last time I checked lol. Anyways whats creepy is the ads, one is for pulmonary tests in T.O. The other is for congestion and coughing. Also seen one for debt management and for the new Jeep grand Cherokee lol. Does google actually read my blog and put ad appropriate ads on?
If so...Hey Google whats up?

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Kinda off topic but not I guess

Today I had me second Credit Counsel appt. I need to attend 2 of these after I had to go thru a consumer proposal to deal with all my debt. Debt that I could not look after now I am out of work and on a fixed income. So anyways it ended up 2 minutes of talking about that and the rest of the meeting talking about transplant and such lol. The lady was scared cause her partner has COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) which she didn't know what it stand for so I had to tell her lol. Anyways she was saying how hes gonna have to give up his job as well and get on ODSP. He is gonna require O2 therapy as well. I told her it will probably end up with transplant. Then she said oh hes old they wont give it to him they only give transplants to young people like me. I had to assure her that as long as hes healthy enough and passes the assessment he can be put on the list. That there is alot of older people that come to the pre TX exercise physio.
Then she laughed and told me they don't know what they are gonna do cause they have no benefits or pension.....as she also mentioned "doesn't that sound good considering im a debt counsellor" Then she was asking me how long it takes to get onto ODSP which she was amazed took so long. So anyways I think she felt a little more positive after I left. I told her if she had any questions regarding transplant and stuff that she can call me lol.
Its weird how things happen and people you run into.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Keeping my fingers crossed


Monday was a rough day for me. My alarm went off at 6:30 in the morning and I didn't wanna crawl out of bed. I manged to pull myself together and get up. Went downstairs and started my normal morning routine. Every Monday morning I have to take this pill called Fosomax. Its a bone building pill. Just another part of CF and the pancreas not supplying the body with all the necessary vitamins and such. The only drag is you have to take it with plenty of water. Stay standing and sitting up at least 30 mins (cause it lays in your digestive track it can burn) and not eat for 30 mins....its such great stuff lol. So I take it then do my nebulizer and stuff by the time that's done then I can eat. I leave the house at 9, stop and the local Tim Horton's and grab a coffee for the road. Then stop at the gas station and fill the ol dodge up. Which is always painful with the price of gas these days. Then head my way to Toronto General Hospital. I usually leave around 10, it give me time to get there and relax and have another coffee before physio. But this week I left earlier cause I was scheduled for my quarterly antibody blood sample for transplant. They take a sample of your blood every 3 months. It helps with coming up with the anti rejection drug combo for after transplant. Anyways I find the lab I got to go to and get that done. Perfect still time for coffee...I'm a happy man lol. I wanted to do this before rather then after cause I wanted to get to the 401 before rush hour at 3:30. Driving down there so much I have learned all the times and traffic flows lol its sad.

I went to physio and plugged thru it. Usually when im on the treadmill and bike my o2 is set to 8lts and when done I check my o2 saturation and its usually 97% or so. But it didn't go past 93%

On the way home I had this stupid cough that wasn't really productive just really annoying and made my chest sore. Lets just say I was grumpy when I got home lol. I just wanted to sleep and had no ambition to even cook dinner. I just had a sandwich and a scandishake and some sweets for desert. Took my insulin like usual. Just laid around and watched tv. I always check my blood sugar 2 hours after and it was 8.8 which is good anything 10 or lower is fine 2 hours after.

I finished watching my Monday light line up of shows and was getting close to bedtime. So I checked my blood sugar before having my night snack and bedtime insulin and it was 18.8 I was think what the hell, I didn't eat anything all night how the hell? So I had to adjust with my regular insulin and also take my night time insulin. I was fully expecting it to be high again this morning but it was ok was down to 6.9

With the having blood in my phlegm, coughing and having a sore chest, spike in blood sugar and not having any get up and go all made me scared that a infection was setting in and would mean I would have to check in at club Bond at st mikes lol. This morning I went to physio and plugged thru that, I did alot of coughing and my o2 sats were still low on the treadmill but after the bile they were up. My chest isn't achy anymore. Makes me wonder if I just had some mucus plugged up and I finally moved it. My blood sugars have been fine so far. I will see how I do the next few days and hopefully I wont have to call clinic.....not that they call right back anyways lol.
As I was laying in bed Monday night I was thinking how cool it would be if all of a sudden my phone rang saying Mr Edwards, this is TGH we have some lungs for you. I still dont know what my reaction will be when the call does come.

So keeping my fingers crossed :)

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Hemoptysis

Today was my first experience with hemoptysis. To most people it would scare the hell out of them to cough up phlegm that is all red. But with all my searching the net and reading others blogs that have experienced it I felt ok. I did have to ask other cfers on what the outcome of it would be and was assured that it is a normal occurrence with cfers and not to really worry if it is less then a cup full (which it was) but to juet mention it at the next clinic appt. They always do ask me at clinic if ive coughed any phlegm up that was blood so now I guess I can tell them yes.
To those not familiar here is a little write up on my Toronto CF Clinics website: http://torontoadultcf.com/cf-information/hemoptysis

It happened this morning after I got out of the shower. It was not very much maybe three big globs of phlegm....ya ya who knew you could easly talk about what you spit up lol. I think it may have been due to being so productive last night before I took my nebulizer. I am gonna hold off on my inhaled tobramycin till tomorrow night cause sometimes that can irritate it and just stick with my ventolin.
My mom had me call the Tele Health this morning. Now that was fun, first they said it was an hour wait so they could take my number and call me back so that is what I did. The nurse called me back so I explained I had CF and that my phlegm was bloody this morning, she asked if I felt weak or shortness of breath, I told her no I feel fine and that my o2 sats were sitting at 94 and that was good considering I was on oxygen therapy. Then I said it is almost back to green and her reaction was ohhhhh! its green? all worried, I said no that is fine its part of cf then she asked how long I had it. So then I ended up sitting on the phone educating "the nurse" on Cystic Fibrosis. So ya that was fun.
I think I will just stick to fellow cfers and ask them what they experienced.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Peoples reaction

I was in Walmart today getting a few things. Because of where I work or should I say worked, I know alot of people in town. Mostly just customers of the shop. I try just to avoid them to stop with having to go thru all the talk and such. It gets tiring going thru the same speech all the time. So anyways I was heading to the check out and ran right into a customer which at this time could not avoid. So I said hi how are you doing? His reply was hello....what the hell happened to you? So I had to explain the whole being listed for double lung transplant. Then after that comes the discussion of CF. Or they will point at their nose and say whats up with that?
You see I never felt the need to explain to all the customers that I had CF. Quiet frank I figured it really wasn't much of their business. Sure they would come into the office and hear me coughing the odd time and say "ohh thats a bad cough you have do you have a cold" All I would reply with would be no I have this all the time and leave it there. I didn't see the need for them to know my whole life and what I go thru with.
Little kids are the funniest when they see me wearing the o2 they point and say why is that man wearing that? lol so cute :)
I don't mind educating people on CF but some days I just get tired of it.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

A nothing to do Wednesday

Today was my day off from all my traveling. It always seems like a long week when I have my CF clinic plus physio at TGH. Clinic on Tuesday went as per normal. My Fev1 was down a very tiny bit nothing to even worry about. My weight was up some more, a whole 117.3 lbs. I'm gonna try and break 120 lbs lol. That will be the first time ever if I do!
Today I didn't do much of anything, slept in till 8:30. Usually I'm up 7:30-8:00. Do my meds then eat breakfast. Then I just crashed on the couch all day. Tomorrow I'm back off to Orillia for physio.
On a different note I'm still messing around with my blog page. I added the AD gadget. Apparently Google will place 2 advertisements on your page and when ever someone clicks on it you get paid. They mail you a cheque, so ya feel free to click away lmao. Although they never did mention what they pay so we will see.

Well the count still goes on, I've now been on the transplant list for 90 days. I'm wondering if I will get a beautiful Christmas gift :)

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Just not feeling it.

Its now almost mid November. The infamous Christmas season is approaching,well if you go into the stores they are telling us its already here. I use to love Christmas and looked forward to it. But now getting older and not having my dad around anymore I just don't seem to get the feel of it. Maybe is all the commercialization they try to push onto us all the buy buy buy. I think the true feeling has been lost.I use to like the family gatherings which are now hard to come by cause everyone is spread apart and have their other sides of the families too. So it is so hard if not impossible to get everyone together.
The last few days I just haven't been feeling myself. Things running thru my mind. Another couple of months it will be my birthday, I will be 35...mid thirties. I did not see myself at the position in my life I am in now. I figured by my mid thirties I would be settled down and have a family started. Be working at a job I love. Instead I'm single on disability hoping all goes well and I will get to return back to work. But that feeling that I have replaced, having to find something new to do does upset me. Its just been a sad week for me, just had to get it off my shoulders.
On a brighter note I did get to have coffee with a beautiful lady that ive been chatting with for the last few weeks. Hopefully get to see where things go and what happens. Guess there is always hope!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Let it snow

Its now been 2 months listed. I haven't let it bother me or play on my mind. Just keep myself busy and pluggin away. Im sure when the call does come it will catch me off hand. I'm not really looking forward to the driving to the city in the snow. The 400 hwy can get kinda crazy with white outs and such....should be an adventure. Don't really have much new to talk about. So far managed to stay healthy, well as healthy as I can be for a guy wearing O2 lol.

I changed up my blog background, I like it alot better now. I'm sure I will change it again when I get bored with it.

Anyhoo seeing as I don't have much new to talk or rant about I'm gonna end it here.