My Melmoirs

A little fun fact about me: I kept having CF a secret until I was a senior in high school. I was diagnosed at age 5 but didn't want anyone to know because, like most kids, I didn't want to be different . Even from an early age I also knew no illness was going to define me; having an invisible illness afforded me that luxury. When I was in elementary school the only classmate who knew was my best friend, Liz. She was sworn to secrecy and went to great lengths to help me keep my big secret. I would sometimes have to stay in at recess to have chest PT and she'd stay in with me. When it came time for 2-week-long hospitalizations I would make up stories about visiting a fictitious relative out of state and she'd help corroborate them. I was lucky to have such a loyal, fiercely protective partner in crime. She gave me the courage to trust. By the time I got to high school I'd succeeded in leading a mostly normal life. I had amazing friends, was able to keep up...

It's November and you know what that means: I'm back in the hospital. Long story short, my oxygen levels never quite rebounded after my pulmonary embolism (PE). It drops whenever I walk around so I've been back to wearing oxygen while I'm walking for a bit. No one really knows why this has been happening but my doc thought it was best to try and get my lungs into tip-top shape, so the plan was to start IV antibiotics at the end of this month. Then last week I caught a cold from Myles. My health plummeted and over the weekend I had a ton of bleeding from my lungs. The old plan went out the window and I was unexpectedly admitted to the hospital yesterday (Monday). They have me on strong antibiotics in hopes to stop the bleeding by treating the infection, thus avoiding another surgery. It didn't take long for an allergic reaction to arise so I'm also taking Benadryl around the clock. I will reintroduce my blood thinner,  chest PT, and nebs today and see...