New blog site

Come join me at Wordpress! The only page I'll be copying over is my supplement list. All this old content will stay and be available to read at anytime.

Christmas Surprise

As I take a break from binge watching Chelsea on Netflix I will try to sum up the last 3 months.

We decided to start trying for another baby when Colby turned 3 (Sep 28/16). October 18 (almost 3 weeks later) I decide to take a test after Abe jokingly said "you're pregnant" when crying randomly during an episode of "the ranch" (also on Netflix). I haven't cried much since being pregnant with Colby so that was definitely out of the norm.


Since Colby took almost 2 years plus fertility drugs to conceive I really didn't think I was going to be pregnant month 1 of trying, my period was due later that week so I was just trying to prove my husband wrong (something that I do love to do). My guess was that my random hormone mess was due to my upcoming period.

Well I got a pretty quick positive. It was faint but there and I was in shock. I had a Tupperware party to go to with my mother in law and sister in law and I had to keep my secret since I wanted to tell Abe first.

Telling Abe was a mess lol I wanted to video him reacting to a letter with a picture of a skeleton baby in a moms body X-ray (cute cartoon drawing thing), well Abe caught on to me videoing and basically was like "what are you pregnant?" And I just said yes. Now we were both in shock.

That weekend we told family and the next weekend close friends. With the goal of waiting to go public at Christmas. Well we announced 2 weeks early and it was fun!

My pregnancy started out very different then the last one, my first symptoms before I even tested were bloating & gas. At 4 weeks I looked 3 months. Nausea came at 9 weeks and I threw up one time so far (12 weeks this coming Saturday). Exhaustion and fatigue almost daily, Colby and I will sit on the couch most of the day, he's very excited for his baby buddy and has been pretty great about all the changes in mom.

December 15 we get to hear the heartbeat. I've been feeling flutters too.

If things all go well (no twins, my cf stays stable, healthy baby) my plans are to be monitored locally and delivery at home again. This time it won't be a surprise to anyone. My amazing family doctor is doing my prenatal care, understanding that's all I want from her.

For the second trimester I'm looking forward to more energy, finding out the sex and hopefully losing the nausea.

The one with a little too much information

WARNING: TMI about poop. 

Yes, this entire post is about poop. 

Good news: little to no stomach pain for months. 

Bad news: hard, huge poop. Toilet plugging, painful and at times bloody poop. 

After weeks of pain and scared something was seriously wrong I decide to try Welch's prune nectar, I had used it right after I had Colby to prevent more pain due to the tear. It had worked well. 

After one drink yesterday (1/2 cup) of this miracle juice I had a pain free bm.  YES!! I couldn't believe it. Yay me and now yay you if this is also your issue. Cheers!

A lot more pills

This year has been a bad one with my supplements. Having to replace two of the most expensive ones I buy and a huge part of my immune boosting regime. I won't name the two I'm replacing but the generic names I will identify - glyconutrients & the liquid mix of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, aloe & DHA.

I'll be updating my supplements blog post and linking to the supplements I replaced them with. I also made a separate page (top right side) that will have my updated pill info.

I went from those two to six different supplements. More pills but I'm saving $30 a month. So that's the positive I'm taking out of all of this.

The one I don't want to write

I've linked to my sister Aline's blog for years and will continue to do so. She passed away on August 16th from complications due to CF in medical ICU. 

it been a very hard almost month... Can't believe that much time has passed. 

She was such a big part of my childhood and teenage years. As adults we both took very different approaches in every area of our lives... Which led to us being very distant and losing most of what we had. I grieve who she was and what we all lost. Keep my family and her husband in your thoughts please. 

I'll leave you with the lyrics to Josh Groban's "to where you are" which got played at her celebration of life ceremony. 

Who can say for certain

Maybe you're still here

I feel you all around me

Your memory's so clear

Deep in the stillness

I can hear you speak

You're still an inspiration

Can it be

That you are mine

Forever love

And you are watching over me from up above

Fly me up to where you are

Beyond the distant star

I wish upon tonight

To see you smile

If only for awhile to know you're there

A breath away's not far

To where you are

Are you gently sleeping

Here inside my dream

And isn't faith believing

All power can't be seen

As my heart holds you

Just one beat away

I cherish all you gave me everyday

'Cause you are my

Forever love

Watching me from up above

And I believe

That angels breathe

And that love will live on and never leave

Fly me up

To where you are

Beyond the distant star

I wish upon tonight

To see you smile

If only for awhile

To know you're there

A breath away's not far

To where you are

I know you're there

A breath away's not far

To where you are

My health story

the beginning

I was born in my parents home on Palm Sunday during a winter storm in Calgary, Alberta. Dad still reminds me that he was scared the midwife wouldn't make it. I was child #5 for my parents and they were thrilled with my arrival.  

Within weeks I was in the hospital with pneumonia and my weight was dropping. The doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong. Thankfully one thought to test for cystic fibrosis. 

My mom being a nurse, knew a little bit of what it meant. 

Right away enzymes with nursing, at 9 months a feeding tube at home, the doctors recommended 2 years straight of antibiotics which my parents declined not seeing the benefit and knowing the harm it would do in the long run if there wasn't an infection. 

The dietitian advised a junk food cupboard and junk food diet to help me gain weight. By this time sibling #6 and sister #2 with cf had arrived. My parents also choose to ignore the junk food advice and instead use healthy high calorie food. 

My parents hadn't been vaccinating for a while (they stopped when #3 was little) so thankfully I'm shot free!

My 3rd sister with cf was born just after I turned 4 and within months we made a huge move to a small acreage farm and my parents bought goats for raw goats milk. 

Raw goats milk made a huge change in our health. We each had 1 cup of goats milk after every meal, I had more if I could add chocolate syrup. 

While drinking goats milk all 3 of us were stable with both weight and lung function. Somewhere along my 6th birthday they added fish oil to my daily routine. My parents heard the omegas helped with thinning mucus, which was their main focus because it would help clear our lungs. 

All 3 of us were surviving off of enzymes (creon 10) 5-7 with each meal. 

We also periodically had our adek vitamins but we all hated the taste so it wasn't every day. Chest physio therapy for each of us was done 2 times a day when we felt good. 3 times a day if we didn't. That's roughly 2 hours a day minimum. No wonder my mom got carpel tunnel. 

A major life change was when my dad had to sell the goats and the daily raw goats milk came to an end. My youngest sister with cf stopped gaining weight. My lung health started to decline and I ended up hospitalized for the first time since I was a baby with 60% lung function. 

the change

A big defining moment happened a few months after my first teenage hospitalization, we were approached by family friends who told us about a non profit organization that helps medically fragile children receive high quality nutrients for a low cost. This program literally changed our lives. We saw the amazing change that nutrition could make in our quality of life and for our immune system. 

This is when we started taking glyconutrients, phytonutrients, phytosterols, vitamins & minerals. Within two months we were able to lower our enzyme amount because we were digesting our food better and also saw a huge jump in our appetites. My youngest sister started gaining weight again and avoided a feeding tube. 

About six months later we started on a cleanse product that helped so much we stopped creon 10 enzymes all together, we also got natural enzymes, probiotics, antioxidants, D3 and added flax oil to our pill routine. 

Growing we also had help when sick with essential oils, colloidal silver (homemade by my dad), garlic oil pills and fresh crushed garlic with honey, echinacea tincture and mustard wraps.  

These combined efforts made a huge difference and ended up keeping us out of the hospital. As a teen I was hospitalized 3 times and my middle sister with cf once. We can both tell you why as well. I slacked with my pills, stopped getting enough sleep... basically ran my immune system to the ground. 

My sisters and I all had issues with cf related arthritis. We didn't know that's what it was until I was in the adult clinic but we did find help in a turmeric & bromelain supplement. Which we added to our daily regime. 

adulthood

This is the part where "our" story becomes "my" story as my health journey into adult life took a big change from my sisters. I moved out, got a job and took my health as #1 priority. I had my own income so I could now budget my pills and add ones I needed or wanted to try. 

As part of moving out I got a social life. I made good and bad decisions and learned quickly from my bad ones. A year after moving out I got a serious boyfriend. I found it near to impossible to work full time, have a relationship and keep myself healthy. My health suffered and I ended up having to quit my job, thankfully I didn't get hospitalized and my episode was an arthritis attack that took months to recover from. 

I was able to go on employment insurance assistance (EIA) and moved in with my oldest sister and her family. So I could still afford my pills. 

I made a huge mistake with my health by being in a car with second hand smoke and got very sick. My cough just wouldn't go away even with antibiotics. I had to use a puffer. I knew I had to do something with my lungs and I remembered the garlic oil pills I would take growing up. This started my addition of garlic pills to my daily routine and it's been life changing. My horrible cough went away and so did the puffer. 

Around this time I got engaged and right before the wedding I turned 22 which meant I no longer qualified for the non profit organization's program for medically fragile children. It was another big change.

Married life 

My husband earned too much for me to continue on EIA and to get a mortgage we both needed jobs so I got a part time job at a fabric store which was perfect because it was less then 15 hrs a week. 

I had a very reasonable pill budget now and wanted to add herbs and supplements to enrich my quality of life.  

To also help prepare for a healthy pregnancy I added red raspberry leaf, alfalfa (vitamin K) and also replaced more expensive brand pills for generic but good quality pills from iherb. The more I could save on one pill the more I could spend on different products. 

Some of those products include activated charcoal (absorbs toxins and gas), cranberry pills (urinary health), liposomal vitamin C (natural antibiotic), NAC, spirulina, genistein, vitamin k2 & papaya enzymes. I also started nebulizing colloidal silver to help prevent bad bacteria from growing in my lungs and get rid of any if I had a bad sputum test result.

An older sister got involved with an up and coming healthy energy drink company and they also sold a children's supplement that had glyconutients, phytonutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and DHA, this one drink replaced 3 of my supplements, had more of what I needed and saved me money. Coincidentally I've also not had an infection since starting it. 

On being stable and keeping it that way

My longest stretch of good health is still happening and I'm almost 27 (March 27th my lucky birthday). 

I've been infection free since December 2011. I was on a low dose of antibiotics for 5 days when I was 8 weeks pregnant in February 2013 but no fever or other signs of infection. 

I switched my vitamin/mineral/antioxidant/phytonutrient supplement December 2011. I've since added daily baking soda water (to thin mucus and make my body more alkaline). 

I've yet to have clinic since using essential oils in the home. I'm less then impressed with their communication or should I say lack thereof. But since I have no other option for clinic I'll just have to deal. So my essential oil post will have to wait. 

Stranger yet is the fact that I've stayed healthy while my son and husband have caught the random viruses that come with winter. If anyone should be getting sick it's me! 

Colby is 1 1/2 on the 28th, nursing is still going great and my weight is stable. 

Part of me is waiting for the pin to drop and for me to need antibiotics but another part of me believes whatever I'm doing is working and will continue to do so. 

YOU are worth it

Watching the first episode of the red band society and the fault in our stars really helped cement in the truth I've known for so long. I wish everyone with a disease would know this and BELIEVE it.

YOU are not your disease! YOU are worth loving! YOUR life isn't of less value because you're sick, in pain and need more help/assistance! Love is in sickness and health! YOU are not a burden. You are a gift. Life is a gift. Loving anyone is a gift. Being loved is a gift. 

Please know this. Please believe this. Please live with this reality. Life is too short to throw away happiness because you don't value yourself enough.