!Disclaimer this is going to be a long post!
So I’m writing about the last year and a half. I’ve been having a lot of health problems and a lot has happened so I’m going to write about it, yes I have wrote about hospital stays but when this domino effect happened I didn’t have my blog yet. Just a heads up I was diagnosed with Cf at 3 months and I’ve been pretty healthy lung wise (never had any problems until I was 12), just a lot of digestive problems which I still struggle with.
January 2017: When it all started
One night in late January I was having a hard time breathing and my inhaler wasn’t helping. Now if I felt this way now I wouldn’t have gone to the ER because when I’m sick its how I feel but back then I didn’t have much problems so it felt bad enough to go to the ER personally. When I got there I did some nebulizers and they didn’t help so I got an IV and was admitted overnight. The next day the doctors said I sounded good and my xrays were good and since I wasn’t having any problems I went home told that I had asthma. A lot of people with Cystic Fibrosis also have asthma so it wasn’t that surprising, also my mom and sister have it. After this I was getting a lot of sinus infections and often got sick with colds but since I have cf they last two weeks where someone without cf would only last a couple days. The colds would always end up leading to sinus infections.
In march I was admitted for the first time. I had a lung infection and this was the only time I wasn’t admitted without my twin sister. I was in the 27th- April 7th. I then did two weeks of IV antibiotics at home. After this I’ve never had an appetite. I was also coughing a lot and had chest pain too. My doctor thought it might be cf or acid reflex so I got a bronchial scope and a Esophageal Manometer. Before this I was put on a acid reflex med. The bronchial scope was actually good and the level of acid reflex I had was fine. My doctor decided it wasn’t cf related.
I started Physical Therapy for chest pain in May. Turns out there was a bigger space in between some of my ribs. I did PT over the time of a month, going once a week to a place near my hospital that’s an hour away. Around this time I got a CT scan for my sinuses since I was in a lot of pain. My right sinus cavity was filled and there was a bone erosion starting to grow around it. We scheduled sinus surgery. I got the surgery sometime in June.
The physical therapy helped my chest pain and when I was done I still was supposed to do some exercises at home. The problem is I was still coughing a lot. This was very hard on me because I hated coughing a lot especially in school. I started speech therapy for having VCD, Vocal Cord Dysfunction. It was a pain in the butt, but it helped. VCD can cause a lot of symptoms including coughing and breathing problems. Typically the cough is caused by a tickle in my throat.
I got admitted again in August. I was there from the 18th-28th. This time my twin sister was also admitted because of Cf. After I got discharged I did two weeks of IV antibiotics at home. Like I said before I never had a appetite anymore. We were talking about me getting a gtube. I was nearing 89 pounds. I got a gtube November 3rd. Since I was having a lot of breathing problems my doctor was trying to figure out why since we always sounded good and our pfs weren’t that low. Both me and Annabelle started PT November 17 and it went through December 19. My doctor and the physical therapist thought it might be because of posture (honestly I though it was stupid) and then after we still did specific exercises at home. It didn’t help.
In December me and my sister both got admitted the day after Christmas. We stayed in til January 2nd. It was an interesting experience since we were in over New Years. It was actually pretty cool. We could see some fireworks from my window and we watched the ball drop on TV. Then our nurse came in and asked if we wanted glow sticks. It was an interesting experience.
From there on out we were getting admitted every 3 months. I kept having an allergic reaction to what we thought was the antibiotics I was on. The first time I just got itchy bumps near my picc site the second time I got hives all over. I remember it was picture day and I had to use makeup to cover up to rashes on my face. I did this whenever I went to school because I didn’t want people to ask me why. People still asked. I got allergy testing which hurts because I had to get shots to see if I was allergic to stuff. The shots create a bubble of your skin and it burns. It turns out I was allergic to the cleaning stuff the whole time.
On March 13th through the 23rd I was admitted again. Every time I get admitted I have to get put under to get a picc. I tried to do it bedside once and It hurt and I was really anxious and tense so they couldn’t get the picc through. Again I was only admitted for a little over a week and I had to do two weeks of IV antibiotics when I got home.
The next time I got admitted we decided to stay two weeks in the hospital instead of doing one week there and two weeks of antibiotics at home. We did this to see if it changed the amount of time in between hospital stays. I was admitted along with my sister on June 5-18. On July 4th we left for Paris for two weeks. We were doing therapy two times a day and walking 7 plus miles a day. We got admitted when we got back. I was really frustrated because we were doing so much and I thought we wouldn’t get admitted so soon. On August 9-20 we were admitted. We were only going to be in for a week and do two weeks at home since it didn’t do anything but my doctor wanted us to get another bronc and a ct scan of our lungs, also Annabelle was getting a gtube. They didn’t find much except I had some inflammation. But whenever we were admitted before we went on a oral antibiotic and a steroid.
Through this whole thing I’ve gained around 15-20 pounds. I’ve also been dealing with a lot of anxiety and depression so I’ve been going to see a therapist and I’m currently on a antidepressant and a as needed anxiety med. Before I went on the as needed anxiety med I was having a anxiety attack every night. I also would have some during the day. I have social anxiety along with generalized so I have some in crowded places too.
I also still struggle with constipation a lot, I know TMI but its just a part of having Cf.
So that’s the story of the past year and a half.
That’s all for now, Bye!
-A&R
