Missing in Action

Day 2:

Today was a rather interesting day. I woke up this morning to find that the power was off. Not the most ideal thing to happen, as I could not do my Nebulizer. So all of today I have been feeling a bit off colour, tight chest, short of breath.
The second thing I found out this morning is that Smokey (my cat) had disappeared. He normally arrives back home at about 6am from his nightly escapades, and then makes himself  comfy to sleep the day away. Now Smokes is no ordinary cat, he is one of a kind, if he is outside and you call him, he will come running back to you. He absolutely love cuddles, he doesn't chase the birds, he just loves being around you.

At about 7:30am I said to Mother that I think I need to stay home and wait for smoke, otherwise if the dogs are outside, and smokey arrives back home, they will kill him. I was most definitely not taking that chance. So mom went off to work and I took up residence on the front veranda in my PJ's with a Colouring book, every second that I could, Calling for smokey. Eventually at about 2:30 pm (8 hours of calling and being besides myself)  mom phoned saying she is on her way back home, and has Smokey arrived home yet? I told her no, we then had a few moments of crying. At about 4:30 pm our neighbour Nimmie phoned and asked us over for a cuppa tea, and to see her latest wedding cake designs. So mom and I fed all the animals and headed straight over to Nimmies'.

When we got home, the first thing we noticed was that something had eaten from Smokey's food bowl. Immediately we started calling for Smokey and to our relief, there he was, sitting in the passage. Man, did we shower him with hugs and kisses. SO glad that he is now home safe after 14hours of being AWOL!

This whole story got me thinking about something that happened to me a few years ago. I have certain times of the year where my CF is a lot worse than other times. Generally in Winter time I am healthier than that other seasons. I guess that it is because there isn't alot of pollen around. Pollen seems to trigger my asthma which in turn triggers my CF. Anyways getting back onto topic, Over the past 7 years, every year my lung functions seems to decrease by 10%. About 3 years, or it could be actually 4 years ago, I was sitting at Steve Biko in the Doctors room. I unfortunately cannot remember the doctor who I was with. But she showed me a scary realisation. She said to me, that looking at my lung functions, with them decreasing by at least 10% every year, I would not live to see two years later. I had just been served my death sentence, right on A silver platter. It was really worrying and Scary. I will be dead in two years time. It really hit home and from that day onward I decided to take better care of myself, I really didn't want to die. So I at long last finally got my A into G, ad started looking after myself, taking all medication, doing my nebulizations, having my daily physio, eating right. It was a really big adjustment, as I had always just done the bare minimum, I had always said to myself "I have always been so healthy, I won't die, I cannot get sicker". But in actual fact, I was getting sicker.

With this change in attitude, I am still here today. Yes I am still getting recurrent chest infections, but that is the normal part of CF, the deterioration of the lungs. But I at least have helped the disease NOT progress anymore.
I do not think I would've been able to do all of this without the support of my family and friends. One of the biggest set backs within a Cf family is that the Cf Sufferer does no have a support system, so therefor they eventually give up because there is no one to give them that push and that support.

For me, I have that and I am so grateful that there are so many people who care about me.

I just want to tell every CF sufferer out there that there is always somebody who will support you. Never give up. You have many Fellow Cf sufferers who know exactly what you are going through, and even though we cannot speak to each other face to face, there is always a form of communication. So stay strong and never give up. You are an Inspiration.

So this is me once again, for today,Fabulous and Fighting.

Good night everyone.