Life in Andyland

It's been a while since I've written. Life has been pretty good so far but this is always a tough time of year for me. As it gets colder out, my allergies get worse. As my allergies get worse, my lungs usually follow. Enterovirus 68 is pretty scary. The virus seems to be spreading and it scares me that it can take someone completely healthy and put them in the hospital. Imagine what it can do to those of us with CF. Speaking of having CF, there have been a lot of deaths lately to CF patients around the world including a young person just today who happened to be in my nebulizer video. Many of them were much younger than me. We need a cure so badly.

As for me, I'm continuing to work hard to stay well. The new Afflovest has been great. I do it in the afternoon and in the evening. I'm still doing my Hill-Rom vest during the mornings. The one bright side is our new puppy Buddy loves the Hill Rom vest's vibration so much that he snuggles with me to loosen his phlegm as well.

Along with my 120 minutes of vest therapy,I am doing my hypertonic saline three times a day and Pulmozyme once a day. I am currently using my TOBI Podhaler this month twice a day. I run for 16 minutes on the treadmill almost every morning and work out 7 days a week. I go to a personal trainer twice a week and she kicks my butt. She tells me that I've reached the point where I'm doing things in the gym that she can't even do, that none of her clients can do...and that includes cardio which can be a CFer's worst enemy.

I'm still speaking quite a bit. I spoke at my kids' school the other day and have speeches in both Orlando and Reno coming up.

Wish for Wendy is only a few weeks away and we're about set. I'm excited about the new ambassador program where teams will be playing in honor of so many brave children with CF. I'm also excited that we will exceed $2 million this year.

As far as family life, it couldn't be much better.

Ethan is a sportsaholic but I'm secretly proud of him. We talk baseball all of the time and he's playing soccer, flag football, tennis and basketball as well. He loves to compete. Every night he writes down the scores of the games he was watching and keeps them in a notebook filed away. We are saving that notebook for when he gets older. When I think about the stroke that nearly took him from us when he was born, I realize what a miracle this kid truly is.

Avery is one heck of a gymnast. She can get in positions that I'd be calling the ER to get me out of. She has taken an interest in baseball and wants to play softball this spring but only if I'm her coach. If that's what she wants, I'm game. She has me wrapped around her little finger anyway. She is doing amazing in school. I credit that to her mom and her genes. If she makes the kids around her laugh by telling stupid jokes, then I'll give credit to myself.

Andrea is doing well. She's the tennis queen in our house. She has gotten so good. I remember when I turned her onto the game. I never thought she'd be the champ of the household. Now she even takes me down in table tennis. I'm not liking this.

Overall I can't complain much. I just hope that I can stay well as the weather gets colder. If I get sick, it's not due to lack of effort on my part and that helps me get through the day. I will continue to fight and most importantly I will continue to dream. Looking at my beautiful family, most of those dreams have already come true.

Live your dreams and love your life,

Andy



I'm lucky