This Year

December 31, 2010 in Filed Under: General 1 Comment

This year has been full of great blessings and great challenges!

This year started while we were in the middle of trying to find a new home church.  We were looking for a new church partly because we had moved and were now a lot further from church, and partly because there were not many people to connect with that were our age group at our church.  After months of trying several churches closer to home, we realized that we were really missing our old church.  The first Sunday we went back we were invited to a small group study that was just starting, full of other people our age.  That pretty much sealed the deal for us to want to start coming back to our church, we were thrilled to be more involved with people again.

This year we really learned exactly how our health insurance works.  It sounds silly that it took us this long to figure it out, but we had never yet made such good use of our insurance.  We had thought that since the policy renewed in April, that was when our yearly deductible started over.  So when Jesse needed IVs in February, we thought we were squeezing it in just in time.  We were pretty surprised when we got a huge bill for them, not having met much of the deductible yet.  Unfortunately, before we received that bill, we had made quite a few other medical claims that would be coming through insurance very soon.  Let’s just say that we learned our lesson and are much better prepared if we have to meet the deductible quickly again this year.

This year Jesse decided to get even more serious about kicking CF’s butt.  After needing IV’s in February, he was determined to do everything he could to not have IV’s again as long as possible… and so far he hasn’t needed them again!  He ordered a new, better Vest and tried extra hard to never skip his aerosols (thus the huge jump in medical expenses so early in the year).  But the expense was totally worth it.  In February of 2010 his FEV1 was 27% and at his last clinic visit in November 2010… 39%!  His work has been paying off big time!!

This year Jesse achieved his long time goal of graduating.  It took a lot of work and sacrifice, from both of us.  But it was all worth it to see him walk across that stage and get his diploma.  It was so exciting to see how happy he was with himself.  We celebrated with a small surprise party, and he loved every minute of it.

This year we had one of our best family vacations ever.  With all three of us kids going our separate ways, living our lives, we aren’t sure how many more chances we will have to do all together family vacations like that.  Dad rented an awesome cabin in the Smokey Mountains for a week.  Jesse and I thoroughly enjoying every minute of it.

This year I experienced how hard it is to be a patient.  I had never had any medical issues before, and all of a sudden my allergies were causing me a lot of troubles.  Just as we recovered from all of Jesse’s medical expenses at the beginning of the year, I started adding my own bills to the mix.  I saw several doctors trying to find the source of my stomach pain and nausea.  Finally, I was diagnosed with food, and many other, allergies.  It has been a real challenge to have to change almost everything in our diet.

This year Jesse had to have his first sinus surgery since we have been married.  It was really hard to see him like that.  Unfortunately, the surgery didn’t do everything it was supposed to and we will be doing it all over again next week.  Hopefully sinus surgery #10 will be the last for a good long while.

This year has ended wonderfully.  It has been the first year we were able to celebrate Christmas with both of our parents.  We had one big Christmas morning with everyone together.  We have very much enjoyed our relaxing Christmas vacation.  We haven’t done all that much… which is perfect.  We are always so busy, that sometimes it’s nice to know that we don’t have anything planned.

This year has gone by very quickly and is now over.  I can’t wait to see what 2011 has in store for us.  Happy New Year!!

Philips Respironics for Sleep Apnea

December 30, 2010 in Filed Under: Cystic Fibrosis, Jesse, Reviews 2 Comments

About a month ago, I wrote about Jesse having to get an AutoPAP for his sleep apnea. I was worried that the machine noise would keep me awake at night, and I would never get a good night’s sleep again. I’m so glad I was wrong about that… I love the machine now!

AutoPap

Not only does he sleep much better, but he sleeps so soundly that he never wakes me up anymore. I was not realizing how much his non-sleeping was affecting my sleep quality and quantity. He coughs less, and when he does cough it’s quieter with the mask over his mouth. He also used to move around a lot in his sleep and now he is perfectly still. I’m never woken up in the night anymore, and I am able to sleep in longer in the mornings!

If you’re interested, you can find more information on this machine here.

Nurse Training

December 28, 2010 in Filed Under: Cystic Fibrosis, Jesse 5 Comments

Today was Jesse’s pre-op appointment for his sinus surgery next week. We had to leave pretty early, when it was still freezing outside. Just in case you need proof of how cold it was… Jesse even had to scrape the ice off the windshield.

Ice on car

I find it very strange that pre-op is more than a week before surgery. I still don’t really know what the point of the whole appointment was. We were there for over four hours. We didn’t get to meet the surgeon, just the resident who works with him. Then we were supposed to get to speak with the anesthesiologist, but he wasn’t there either, just another doctor who works with him. They did take blood though.

ENT office

But all was not lost. Since we were all ready at the hospital, we popped in at clinic for some quick training. Jesse has to give himself weekly injections at home. He usually does it in his leg, but it often really hurts. So whenever he has a doctor’s appointment coming up, he saves his shot to have a nurse do it in his hip/butt.

After his last clinic appointment, he said the nurse did it so awesome that I needed to learn to give the shot like she did. So we asked her to show me how to do it. Apparently there isn’t as much technique as I thought there would be. I was concerned that there would be a danger if the shot wasn’t given in the correct spot. Her words were “It’s butt… it totally doesn’t matter!”

I’m learning that being a CF wife means that I will gradually earn an honorary nursing degree. I’m already really good at accessing Jesse’s port for IV’s and such, now I can add giving shots to my skill set. I can’t wait until next week when I get to give it a try. I’m sure Jesse is just as anxious too.