The Best Medicine

     I have to say, it feels so good to be home...to be with my boys...to sleep in my own bed...to eat normal food...to get back into the [somewhat] normal routine.  All of that, plus I'm feeling a little better each day!  During my first full day home I had a little snafu when I had an allergic reaction to one of the antibiotics they sent me home on, but once they switched me back to the antibiotic I was on in the hospital things resolved and have been going well since.  It's bizarre because the med that caused the allergic reaction is the same one I've taken for years and never had a problem.  The past two years have often left me feeling like this body I'm in is not my own.  

     While my initial reception from Myles was on the chilly side, it didn't take long to get right back to BFF status.  He makes me laugh every single day and I just can't get over what a ray of sunshine he is - the best medicine!  I would give anything to know what must have gone through his brain while I was gone and can't imagine what he must have been thinking.  I've made it a point to be very open (yet age-appropriate) with him about my medical stuff.  I feel like the more I make my health routines a normal part of everyday life, the less of an issue it will be down the road because it will feel familiar to him and he won't know any different.  It amazes me how sharp his memory is and how he instantly referred to my IV line as a "boo boo" when he came to see me in the hospital, and how he knows not to touch my line or anything that has to do with "medicine."  He knows that every morning I have to do the Vest (chest physical therapy) and that I can't get up until it's done and that he can look, but not touch, when I give myself my shots; he even uses his imagination to give me his own shot.  I'm unsure whether there's a right or wrong way to talk to your kids about grown-up health issues, but I do know that trusting my gut has rarely lead me down the wrong path and I'm just doing what feels right. 

     I have a follow-up appointment with my regular CF doc on Tuesday to check in and see how things are going.  Since I haven't done PFTs (pulmonary function test, a.k.a. breathing test) in four months, they won't carry that much weight as far as gauging how much progress I've made in the past two weeks.  But I do have a personal goal that I'm hoping to reach by the end of this antibiotic course.  Dare I throw it out there?  Why not, after all, by actually putting it out there, it will give me more drive and determination to reach it, right?  Since my ICU experience in 2009, I have only been able to get my PFTs back above 90% once, so my goal is to get back there.  

     While eastern, western and holistic medicine can all be quite amazing, I believe that the best medicine is combining modern medicine with laughter (cliche, I know), love, support, inner peace and enough distractions to get you out of your own head once in a while.