I am so excited you came by!

Friday 15 May 2009

3 Month Assessment results are in...

Well if it isn't the time to tell everyone about my 3 month assessment. and on a Friday or a long weekend none the less. So do you want to hear the results, or should i talk about something that has nothing to do with anything? Shall I give you the Seinfeld rendition of nothing, and make it seem like everything... No! Well okay then. Let me start by telling you about how Monday's appointments went. for those of you who don't know, the three month assessment takes three days to accomplish, and what a hectic three days it was. It starts at 6:30 in the morning, when I have to get up, to get to TGH (Toronto General Hospital) bright and early for my PFT (Pulmonary Function Test). It's so early, that the technicians, haven't even started the computers yet. They are there, but nothing has started. It starts with the weigh in...


Weight: 55 Kilos I think that's something like 128 pounds,
yep, I'm a heifer and proud of it. lol

LAST PFT RESULTS:
CURRENT PFT RESULTS:
FEV1 (L): 2.5 or 81% FEV1(L): 2.7 or 85%
FVC (L): 3.1 or 86% FVC(L): 3.3 or 91%


Thank you folks, I will sign autographs when I can. haha!
I am so proud of myself.

After my PFT was done, I headed off to the Medical Imaging floor, where they did two things, the first was a lung CT, totally cool. I even have it on CD, I will try to post the images of my lungs if I can get it to work. Then they did my X-rays, which are so beautiful, my lungs have settled in to their new home quit nicely. Even the docs are impressed with how well they have done. Then off to the blood lab to get the weekly pic of the needle to make my life a living pincushion. Yay for me!

All this was done by 10:30am. Now i have 2hours to spare, what the hell was I going to do. Well write of course. Come to the realization that this is my niche, and I should probably consider a future in it. Hmm, we'll talk more about that later.

Over the past few days, I had been experiencing some swelling in my feet and ankles, and this time in my knees. But don't panic, it's still normal. The medication can cause water retention, so i am told not to worry about it... so I won't! That simple. They won't give me water pills, as these dry out the kidney's before it gets ride of the excess fluid in the body. Good to know.

So now it's time for my appointment, and I am eagerly awaiting the results of my blood work. And of course they come back normal. I get to stop the Ferrous Gluconate (IRON pill) as my iron seems to have stabilized, I also get to stop taking the Magnesium Oxide completely, as that has also stabilized. Thank god for yummy, yummy milk. I do however have high cholesterol, which is something i am going to have to adjust to severely.


I am going to have to watch everything I eat. did you know that Quaker Rice cakes the minis have less cholesterol and sodium and calories that the NO NAME brand. Yup learned that yesterday. Sure they are more expensive, but hey, they are fabulous. My blood sugar is 5.6, my cholesterol is 7.9 (I am guessing that's high).

Docs checked out my x-ray and CT of my lungs and are very happy with how everything turned out. Thus concluding my Monday events.

Tuesday, again I had to fast for this day, as I did on Monday. But today I get to eat radioactive eggs and toast. Yep you read that right, radioactive eggs. This is for the Solid Gastric Emptying Test. You don't eat anything from midnight the night before, they give you radioactive eggs on toast, you eat the whole thing, with half a cup of water to wash it down. Then every half hour for the next hour and a half, they take a one minute image of the stomach digesting food. When they perform the surgery, your stomach does not like to be touched in any way so they need this test to make sure it is still doing what it's supposed to do, taking in food, and digesting it. Talk about the longest hour and a half of life. Still waiting on those reports to come in.

Wednesday: BRONCHOSCOPY!!!

I love getting a Bronch done, what I don't like is the prep before it. I guess I like the Bronchoscopy because they take images of the lungs from the inside. This is how they detect whether or not there is any signs of rejection, infection or bacteria growth. Sometimes, it's this test, that finds rejection before anything else. Hence why i like it... no not why at all. the drugs they give you make you feel all loopy and out of sorts, but relaxed and calm all at the same time. Totally worth it, plus, if you get enough, you sleep through the whole thing, which I surely did this time around.

all I remember is closing my eyes, holding the plastic grip in my mouth and then waking up in the recovery room. So cool. And the results of this test came in today on my Easy Call system. And the winner of the 2009 clean bill of health and NO REJECTION champion is... Alison. congratulations, you get a clean bill of health, new lungs and the freedom of not having to come back to Toronto for another 3 months. Woohoo. but I did not hear back about the infection & bacteria, but i am not to worried about that, it's fixable. Plus when those results come back, I will be able to lower my Prednisone levels a little. Excellent, all this extra hair growth is driving me to drink.

So that is this week folks, and I couldn't' have done any of this without your full support and prayers. You are all special and wonderful. Thank you for being on support team, and in my hearts giving my family the support they needs, the laughs and the encouragement that I had needed to be transferred over to them. You are all wonderful people.

Cornwall ROCKS!!

If you are local to the SD&G area, please check next weeks SEAWAY NEWS for an article written by Roxanne Delage. We met today to talk about me experience, and the upcoming GREAT STRIDES walk for Cystic Fibrosis Research.
Hope to see you all there.

Sunday May 31st, 2009 @ Lamoureux Park in Cornwall @ 10am.
Go to www.ccff.ca to find the local walk in your neighbourhood.
Click on the Great Strides shoes to donate also.
My team is called "WILSON-PROULX 02.16.09"

Much love to everyone for their support. Hope it's a good read this week for you!

Feel free to message me about anything, I am only happy to share my story with everyone, who will listen to me.


Have a GREAT long weekend.
Breath Easy

Ali

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