Coughing up blood vs. breathing

Hey y'all! I have not been feeling well lately. For the past two weeks I have been coughing up tons of blood. Pure blood with no mucus. By tons, I mean I have been filling up the bottom of a bathroom sink with it. It only happens when I lay down to go to bed. I start feeling a bubbly feeling, almost like a wheeze that is when I know the blood is coming. Then I have to cough and up it comes. I coughed up so much the other day that I could not stop and was actually choking on the blood. It was gross.

SO... my doctor decided that it might be from the Colistin I started, so she took me off of it for a week to see if that helps. She also had me stopped hypertonic saline at night to see if that helps as well.

I went to the doctor Tuesday and it is now Thursday...so after only two nights of not doing Colistin or hypertonic, my lungs are not happy. I can barely breathe. My chest is tight and hurting. I cannot imagine a whole week of this.. To be fair though, the coughing up blood did stop. I almost think I would rather just cough up blood than feel like this. Funny how that is.

If I had continued to cough up blood, my doctor wanted to possibly do a CT scan and a bronch but so far...no blood! I also had an x-ray done.

In other news, my doctor wants my decision about which transplant facility I want to use so they can set up a meeting for me to just talk with them!

New Mac!!

Hey y'all! So my Dell laptop that I have had since high school graduation has not been working very well. It kept shutting off on me at the worst times. I figured it was time to get a new laptop. I have been eyeing a Mac for some time now. I finally just got it. It was an expensive investment but I love it. It is the most expensive thing that I have ever purchased myself. It is my baby. I am so in love. Just thought y'all should know. I felt so guilty about spending so much money but I know it will be worth it in the long run! I just love love LOVE it!

Painted coolers

Hey y'all! All those who went to college in the south will immediately know what I am talking about when I say painted coolers. Painted coolers are popular in the Greek community. Bigs give painted coolers to their littles for reveal day in sororities. They can be given just as a present. But most importantly, when a frat guy invites you to a function, such as mountain weekend or formal, you paint him a cooler! I'm not in the Greek system but who can really resist a painted cooler? So far I've made two. One for my boyfriend's birthday two years ago and one for myself recently. I am currently working on another one for my boyfriend's 21st birthday. Now I would in no way consider myself an expert at this. Its pretty much trial and error for me when it comes to it. But I did read a lot of articles about it before I even attempted to paint a cooler. So I'm just going to tell you what I do and then let you see my finished cooler. I'll let you know my mistakes so you can avoid them.
Cooler painting steps: (Keep in mind these are just my steps, others might do it differently)

1. Pick out a cooler. I wanted a big one, so I picked out this one from walmart: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-48-Quart-Breeze-Ice-Chest/23735484 but I have painted a smaller one. I have never attempted one with wheels.
2. Next you need to sand the cooler really good. Some people sand it with a bigger grain and then a smaller grain. I just use one small grain and sand it all over.
3. I then wash the cooler off to get rid of dust and cooler particles.
4. Make sure you use painters tape to tape the handles and where the top opens and closes. If you paint that, it will not open. 
5. Prime the cooler. I use Krylon paint that is made for plastic this will make the cooler white.
6. I always plan out my cooler in the beginning so I know what will go where.
7. Start painting one side! (only do one side at a time) 
8. When you have painted all the sides, you need to let it dry. (I let my dry for a day)
9. Get mod podge in the screw top bottle and paint it on all over the cooler. You want to do a couple coats, just make sure you let each coat dry before the next.
10. Let cooler dry for a day.
11. Get mod podge  clear acrylic spray and give your cooler a coat or two.
12. Let your cooler dry completely before you use it.

Tips:

• Use tissue paper! Trace the outline of the image or the words you want from your computer screen onto tissue paper. Then tape the tissue paper on the cooler where you want it and trace back over the image in sharpie. It will leak through and give you the outline on the cooler for a clean image or words.
• Sharpies and paint pens work really well for small, clean lines.
• Always use a ruler for straight lines.
• Allow yourself time. Mine took a week from start to finish

Mistakes:

• Do not make your mod podge coat too thick, mine did not dry clear in some places.
• If you mess up and need to paint over, make sure you cover it up completely and give it time to dry.
• Do not freehand if you are not an artist or if you cannot write well. My computer messed up on the last thing I needed to do so I had to freehand some words. My handwriting is not neat. 
• Do not mod podge at night under a light or you will be picking bugs out of the sealant.
• Do not let your baby brother "help" or you will be repainting.

So here is my cooler y'all:

Top of cooler: (I hot glued pearls around my monogram)

Back of cooler:

Cooler front:

Side of cooler: 

Other side of cooler:

Like I said, I am not expert whatsoever. Plenty of other girls have more experience and can probably do it better. But this is my cooler and my steps. So have fun painting a cooler y'all!

If you don't like Frozen, I suggest you let it go

"Knock knock"

"Who's there?"

"You"

"You who?"

"You-whoooo big summer blowout!"

Well y'all, I won't be blogging this weekend. I am going to visit my dad. It's going to be a three hour drive there and back which sounds awful. Good news, I will be blaring the Frozen soundtrack the whole way. Just because I'm 20 and obsessed with Frozen doesn't mean anything. Its a really great movie okay? The music is awesome. Its just fantastic. I suggest seeing it right away.If you don't like frozen I suggest you just let it go (haha see what I did there?) I know all the words to every song and will sing them at the top of my lungs. No shame.

My Bucket List

Hey y'all. I thought I'd make a bucket list. Some of these will be typical growing up things (but hey I want to accomplish them before I die) while some will not be.

Bucket List:

• Go to Venice, Italy (Gondola rides, romance, the language!)
• Go dancing
• Learn to surf
• Travel (anywhere and everywhere)
• Get married
• Have kids (yes I'm boring you, I know)
• Go on a cruise
• Take pictures in every photo booth I come across
• Own a bakery
• Go on a road trip
• Go on a cute picnic
• Read every Jane Austen novel (I'm a big fan. Pride and Prejudice is my fave)
• Graduate college (haha its a struggle!!)
• Receive flowers just because
• Go zip-lining
• Own a plantation style house
• Own a real strand of pearls (sorry the southern side is coming out!)
• Live a life that everyone remembers
• Inspire someone

I'm sure I'll think of more but these are my goals so far. I might not be able to complete them all as some are out of my hands, but I will certainly try. 

Why I'm done with Walmart and other ramblings

Hey y'all! So one thing about me is that I eat, a lot, like a lot a lot. You would not be able to tell by looking at me but I could probably out eat any one of you. I am constantly starving and can eat like two grown men. I just cannot seem to gain weight. So the doctor's put me on Periactin which is an appetite stimulant. I am going to go broke just buying food to sustain me. I'll probably eat myself out of a house and home. Did you know periactin is also an antihistamine? Weird right? It makes me a tad tired. I'm also trying to drink at least one scandishake a day to up my weight.

I'm not sure how many of y'all have sinus issues but I have them and they bother the heck out of me. My ENT says to try doing my TOBI and Colistin with a mask to get the antibiotics in my sinuses as well. So maybe that might bee something for y'all to try as well, but of course I'm no doctor. Some of my sinus cavities are getting gross again so I'm also taking a nasal steroid. This will be my first month trying Colistin. Has anyone else used it before? How did y'all like it? I've tried Cayston before but it made me cough up tons of blood so I had to stop using it.

Let me tell y'all one thing about doctor's that just annoys me. You fill out all this paperwork right? You have to write down every single medication you take, then you go back and they ask you the same thing. I'm just always like ugh really and repeat them all over again.

I got to spend the weekend with my boyfriend who I'm ever so thankful for. But....everything went downhill yesterday. I took my car to Wal-Mart (which was my first mistake) to get an old change. It took them 3 and a half hours! There were barely any other costumers there, just one other. I should have expected that I guess. Wal-Mart is the home of 30 something registers and they only open 2 at a time. The oil change cost me $74 which hurt my pockets. I was also told I needed a new battery which is another $105. My poor college kid pockets are getting emptier and emptier. After all that, I go out to my car and it doesn't start. The guy says "well the car won't start because the battery is bad" no really? despite his comment, he brings the jumper cables and a battery out to jump my car off. He hooks the cables to my car, but had the other two cables hooked to the metal cart which promptly started to spark and almost electrocuted him. So I am done with Walmart. I shall find a new place to do my auto care.

Sorry this is kind of a rambling post. I guess y'all are used to that by now though.

Sorry y'all!

Hey y'all! I have been really slack on my blogging game. I just have not felt up to my normal healthy self in such a long time. I actually don't remember the last time I felt "good." I have been struggling to breathe and been so tired. I had two doctor's appointments yesterday. My pfts, while not good by any means, were not much different than last time I went into the doctors and my pulse ox was up. It just seems so weird to me. I feel so bad, like so awful. I feel like I can barely breathe. It seems like my tests should reflect that. It makes me mad. Of course we talked more about going ahead and consulting with the transplant people, even though my doctor does not think I need one just yet. She also suggested I start sleeping with oxygen. I plan on really stepping my game up, not only with blogging but also with my health. I just have to so something to feel better.

But in other news I went to the library and checked out two books on owning a bakery. I am really going to make this dream come true. I have also been experimenting with different cupcakes.
These cupcakes are Key Lime with a graham cracker crust bottom and the other are blueberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. These cupcakes were a hit at my house. My mom downed about 5 of the key lime ones the first night I made them.




I promise y'all I will start blogging more. I'm just finding it hard to write about things when nothing interesting is going on.