Update

We had another family trip down to Hopkins today. My first appointment was for my lung function test…which after 2 weeks of antibiotics had come up to 42%!!! We decided to stop the IVs. My potassium level has been low and my kidney function level hasn’t been right so we all feel good about stopping. I am so excited to take showers without worrying about getting my IV wet! Not mixing the medicines and packing up all the IV supplies will be great too!

Dr. Boyle (CF Dr.) said that he feels good about me getting my wisdom teeth out now. Mom is going to call and make an appointment for me; hopefully in the next week. Dr. Orens (transplant Dr.) said that I will probably be listed a week after my wisdom teeth are out…as long as everything with that goes well. It is strange to think that I will probably be on the list in 2 or 3 weeks. Then it is just waiting. Gina (one of the transplant coordinators) said that she doesn’t expect me to be on the list for more than 3 months before I’m transplanted. That is another area where I am just waiting to see what God is going to do. In the next 3 months we have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and one of the most important days to our family…my little sister’s wedding.

Mary has been so incredible in all of this. Although she has been in Chicago at school, dealing with her own CF, being hospitalized, and being away from her fiancé, Mary has been such a special person to me. God obviously knew that we would need each other to have CF. We understand exactly what the other is going through, how each other feels physically, and the frustrations and emotions of living with CF. Mary has called me so many times in the last two months and just let me cry and complain and whine…or if I don’t feel like talking, she totally understands that too. She is a second-semester senior at Moody Bible Institute and instead of finishing the semester like she had planned, she has worked extremely hard to finish her school work early. She will be coming home at the end of October to be here until she gets married in January. I cannot tell you how much it means to me know she will be here and the sacrifices she is making for me. I told her that I am so worried that we’ll get “the call” the day before her wedding or in the middle of the ceremony. She told me that she isn’t worried about it…even if her wedding doesn’t turn out exactly as she and Peter planned, that everything will be great. I will have new lungs, she and Peter will be married, and that is what is important. I am so blessed to have such an incredible, selfless, little sister…I just hope to resemble her in any small measure.

I also can’t wait to have her home because she is one of the funniest, craziest, most enjoyable people ever! We have so many jokes and I can’t wait to hang out with her!

Here we are on my wedding day…