Tricia's New Lungs

Somehow I was directed to the blog Confessions of a CF Husband. I don't remember how I found it or when, but basically I have been reading it since sometime in late January. On that blog, Nathan Lawrenson, tells of he and his family's life. His wife Tricia has CF, and needed a lung transplant. Before she was placed on the list, she found out she was pregnant. Against her doctors advice she decided to continue with the pregnancy and delivered a baby girl in Mid-January. She was only 24 1/2 weeks gestation, but is doing amazingly well. Tricia was placed back on the transplant list a few weeks ago. She got her lungs on her husbands birthday this week. If you want to read an amazing story about an amamazing family, check out their blog. He has it set up where you can read the highlights to get started. Let me know what you think.

http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/

Freshmen Orientation

Today, I spent the day at SWOSU with Brittni. Actually, Brittni spent the day with some people getting her enrolled, giving her details and showing her around. I spent the day with some people telling me how little information I was actually allowed to have about Brittni at college, how much things were going to cost, and yada yada yada. I went to SWOSU, twice really. Once as a true freshmen in 1987 and then again as an older student in 2000. Things have certainly changed.

The Dean of Students told us that most of us would be between areas on the chart of losing a child to college. One, their rooms had already been turned into a scrap/craft room and they were sleeping on the couch. Or two, their rooms had been turned into a shrine and we cried everytime we walked by. Well, I guess I am smooth in the middle. I am proud of Brittni and her accomplishments, but I never really thought about her going to college.

I remember setting at the bowling alley in El Reno before she was born. We were still unsure of her middle name and we were wasting an afternoon. I remember us talking about her walking, talking, potty training (won't she love that I put that in there?), going to school and driving. I don't remember talking about graduation and college. Maybe we did and I don't remember. Anyway, I am going to miss her. I am very, very glad she will only be 4 minutes away.

Oh and by the way, the other thing that has changed---the price of tuition. Even on scholarship we owe $1000 for her tuition. Her scholarship was for 14 hours of tuition. She took 16 hours and we have to pay all the fees. Then we have books, room and board. Wow, it is more expensive than I realized.

I say I'll keep you updated and then...

I am home sick with Hunter. I am hoping it is nothing serious, but he has been throwing up since last night. We have the rub on stuff, but so far it isn't helping. He has had another bath and is back in bed.

If the Shoe Fits....

We had a women's retreat last night at our church. The title "If the Shoe Fits". It was amazing. We had a guest speaker who talked about the shoes in our life and what the meant concerning our relationship with God. Then we got to choose two breakout sessions. I chose the Scrapbooking and Hospitality sessions. I learned some neat things and saw some things I "must have". The food was incredible, especially this spinach/walnut salad. It was a little sweet, but I think I can modify it and make it low carb for me. It was a fun, fun night. Thanks to my friends, Betty, Dena, Dana and to my college daughter Rachel for going with me!

A very long week

If you noticed I haven't been around, we have been very busy. We almost lost our Emme dog this week. She has been in the hospital since Thursday. She was having what we thought was a normal heat cycle, only it started to change. She had an odor we hadn't noticed before, so we called the vet. He said he thought she had an uterine infection to bring her out and let him look at her. Well, it was not an infection. Her estrogen level had been turned on as he said, "full speed ahead" and there was no hope of it turning off. Emme was bleeding to death. She had surgery Thursday afternoon and he couldn't get her to quit bleeding so he went outside to one of his own personal Rotweillers and drew some blood for her. We teased her when we picked her today that she is now part Rotweiller. Can you imagine a Sheltie Rotweiller mix? Anyway, she is doing better. She will require some special treatment for the next 7 - 10 days, but he thinks she will do fine. Luckily, she is in otherwise exceptional health considering she will be 12 on May 6th.

I will post a pic for you as she is the most adorable Sheltie I know.

I hope to be more on top of my blog now. I will post some fun pics from last weekend soon.

Good Times

Well, Easter was a big success. I didn't say uneventful. If you were here, you know what I mean. We got our new furniture on Friday and everyone loved it. It even managed to stay clean! We had Brittni's boyfriend join us as well as two of our college kids. We ate and then watched the kids hunt eggs. It was a lot of fun. After most people left, Penny and I made some cute jellybean prayer cards to take to school yesterday. I need to post one, but I haven't had a chance to take a pic. The stamp is from TAC. Once I saw it, I knew I needed it.

We are busy readying for prom and the spring birthdays. Hunter, Ari and Courtney all have their birthdays in April. Also, my sister and Courtney's birthmom, Lynnette.

Have a great week, Cindi

Update

Courtney's dad is having issues because of his medication and also the vent settings on his CPAP machine. They have lowered his CPAP settings by 2 points and changed some of his medications. They also think the naseau was not caused by the blood pressure but by either his potassium or a light flu bug. Unfortunately, my father in law is always going to think it is blood pressure. That is just part of being chronically ill. Courtney does it too. Everything that is wrong with him is automatically tied to his diabetes, Grave's Disease or Esphogeal Disease. Usually they are, but sometimes they are not and getting that figured out is the hard part.

We called and checked on him again last night and said he was feeling better. I think just knowing his blood pressure wasn't at a fatal level gave him peace. The doctor gave him a specific number and told him NOT to worry unless it reached that point. With his health issues his blood pressure will always be "high", so knowing when to worry will help him not worry? Make sense, I know clear as Oklahoma mud.

Thanks for the prayers, Cindi