Clinic Day

Happy Thursday everyone!

First, I want to thank those of you who took the time to comment on my last blog about the possible reasons for my heart problem the other night.  It was nice to see suggestions/comments about it, and it made me feel a lot less alone in the situation. I greatly appreciate it.

Now, to talk about my day up at the clinic.  Today has been one of those days where the rain takes turns between coming down in buckets and lightly misting over everything.  During our time driving up to Chicago and back, it was thankfully mostly misting with only one incidence of bucket-pouring rain.  In addition, the traffic was horrendous. We live about an hour southwest of Chicago, but we spent two hours in the car this morning. Neither rain nor traffic make me very happy when driving, so I was stressed on the way up.  Thankfully, we made it there safely and my doctor was still able to see me.

I went in and immediately was weighed in at 115.6 (two months ago on their scale, I was 113.1, so I was very proud of this weight).  Next, my PFTs were done by someone other than my normal respiratory therapist. That's always a bite, because Patty makes me blow harder and coaches me more than the other girl did this morning. Regardless, my PFTs were 83% which is 2% up from where they were and right around my baseline. This made me really happy, but I still want to get them higher.

Then my nurse practitioner, Penny, came in (I did tell her you said hi, Colleen! She says "hi" back! :) ) to see me.  I love Penny. She is amazing at her job and I am so grateful that she is at my CF center.  She told me not to worry about the heart situation unless it happens again, but I think we are both leaning along the lines that it was related to the Levaquin.  If it happens again, I'm to go right to the emergency room and let them capture it on an EKG.  At least we have a plan, which makes me much happier about the situation.

I also asked her about the prevalence of hemoptysis and pregnancy. She said that being pregnant does not make you have an incidence with hemoptysis, which was very comforting. She said that if you have had hemoptysis in the past, then you are more likely to have it again, but not necessarily at the same time. It made me feel much better about getting pregnant.  Along those lines, she also referred me to a high-risk OB whom she knows really well, so I feel 100% taken care of now.  I have an appointment coming up with the high-risk OB, and then we can figure out the TTC part of our life a little more thoroughly.

We did make two changes right now for my treatment plan.  The first change is that I will be doing hypertonic saline twice a day, instead of once. I have had better luck coughing up sputum with the hypersal, so hopefully this will help improve my lung function.  The second change we made was regarding my insulin. I shared with Penny how frustrated I was with CFRD and she went on to explain how different CFRD and how each individual case is different as well.  So, when I explained my 3 hour highs after dinner (even with insulin), we decided to try taking my insulin after dinner rather than before dinner. This should hopefully cover the 3 hour spike that I've been having.

Overall, my CF appointment went amazingly well, and I'm so blessed that my lung function is back up to 83%.  I also managed to get a flu shot today, see my ENT, and got my yearly lab work done (6 vials of blood, yay)! My ENT said that my sinuses show that I had a sinus infection, but they look like they are doing better. That's definitely a good thing!  I'm so blessed, and so grateful for my positive appointments today. I now can't wait to see the high-risk OB and see what he has to say!