So my tree and decorations are up, Christmas cards are written, almost all my presents are purchased and even a fair few have been handed out but I seem to be lacking in Christmas spirit this year.
I love Christmas, I'm one of those people who still has an advent calendar and wishes Santa was real. I always find some excuse to dress up Christmassy and consider tinsel to be the perfect accessory to any outfit during the month of December. This year however the yuletide period seems a little dull, don't get me wrong I'm looking forward to the day but just struggling to enjoy the build-up. I wonder is it to do with the fact many places have had their decorations up since November, or that in order to afford my presents I've been hunting bargains and good deals since early September, I wrote my cards over a month ago which I bought in the January sales at the beginning of the year. You see I wanted to be prepared as every year for as long as I can remember I've been ill in the run up to Christmas, last year in the 7 weeks before Christmas I spent 4 of them on 2 courses of IV antibiotics (last course finishing on the 23rd Dec) with a week of oral antibiotics between them. The year before I got out of hospital mid December and was ill again a week later, back into hospital in January, the year before that... well yeah, you get the picture. This year though I'm feeling fairly well, I'd made sure I was well prepared so I wouldn't get stressed when I got ill and still wasn't sorted but by spreading it all out I haven't got ill, I haven't been in germ ridden shops with people sneezing all over the last selection box and sadly I think that's sort of sanitised it all, maybe the mad rush up to Christmas is actually the fun part. I'm not talking doing Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve mad rush, just by this point, still having 1/2 my presents left to get, nothing wrapped and a pile of freshly written but unhanded out cards. Still I'd rather be healthier without that warm Christmas glow.
I know it's nothing to with no longer liking Christmas as I had some Christmas spirit for fake Christmas (one of my close friends works the ski season as a chalet girl so we always have a fake Christmas before she leaves). Come December 25th I'll be spending the day with some wonderful people, splitting the day between my family and my boyfriends (I'm very lucky that I have great in-laws who have the same sort of view of Christmas as my family, not religious, but see it as a day to spend with the people you love) and I am pretty sure that once I'm sat in a silly hat, eating and pulling crackers with the people who are most important to me in this world then I will be full of the joys of Christmas and really, when you think about it, that's the only day you actually need to have Christmas spirit!
(That said I'm currently watching 'The Muppets Christmas Carol' so by tomorrow I'll probably be wearing tinsel like a scarf and badly singing Christmas carols to random strangers! Haha.)
Wednesday 12 December 2012
Tuesday 11 December 2012
So, what is Cystic Fibrosis (CF)?
So in the last post I mentioned I have Cystic Fibrosis, also known as CF, and other associated health problems. I'm not planning for this blog to be hugely about my health but a) it's a large part of my life, I can't ignore it and b) my health has affected me and my mentality on life and also causes me to make decisions and form opinions I don't believe I would if I didn't have CF.
Firstly lets start with what is CF? CF is often referred to as a lung disease, this isn't strictly true, CF effects every cell in the body. Mutations in the genetic material prevents the movement of salt and water in and out of the cells within the body. Now I don't know about you but I hear mutations and I'm thinking x-men and superpowers but until it becomes possible to save the world by coughing up wallpaper paste and having the ability to shit oil (enzymes are important) then these are not cool mutations to have! Basically this lack of movement with the salt and water makes bodily secretions thick and sticky, this causes the most problems in the lungs and digestive system. Bacteria grow in the sticky gunk in the lungs causing bad chest infections, lung scarring, eventually leading to the need for a lung transplant. Most people with CF have, due to secretions blocking the pancreas, insufficient pancreatic function and require enzymes to digest their food, missing enzymes with fatty foods tends to be, erm... explosive (see above reference to shitting oil). Some people also have diabetes due to these secretions not allowing insulin to leave the pancreas properly/at all. I'm one of those lucky people! Another problem people can have with CF is cirrhosis of the liver, unlike alcoholic cirrhosis 'CF cirrhosis' is nothing to do with vodka, cider or tennets super strength but caused by thick secretions (yep, those again) scarring the liver. I got cirrhosis fairly young and eventually had a liver transplant aged 14. Other problems/illness's associated with CF are constipation or bowel blockages/DIOS, osteopenia/osteoporosis, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, arthritis, tachycardia, infertility, vitamin deficiency, etc... So, yeah, as you can see, there isn't much in the body that CF can't royally fuck up!
"How do you get CF?" I hear you say. Well it's genetic illness, you can't catch it, you're born with it. Our genes come in pairs, one from your mother and one from your father, then when you reproduce you pass on one of your pair as does the other person you reproduce with. A person with CF will have a CF mutation (one of over 1500) on both of their genetic pair and a carrier has the 'CF gene' by having a CF mutation on one of their genetic pair, approximately 1 in every 22 people have this CF gene, passed on to them from one of their parents. So if two people who carry the CF gene decide to have a child (or have an unprotected night of passion) there will be a 25% change neither of them will pass on their mutated half of the pair, a 50% chance that one mutation will be passed on to make another carrier or another 25% that both parents pass on their mutation, resulting in CF.
Lastly, in this rather long post, there is no cure for CF. For most people with CF medication only deals with treating symptoms, although a new drug, Kalydeco, has been developed which for people with the genetic mutation G551D, which accounts for approx. 4-5% of the CF population, that treats the cause of CF by allowing salt and water to move round cells as normal. New drugs are in development for other mutations which, whilst not a cure, will lead to much better management of the illness.
Well I think I've waffled on for long enough here. To those who already know all about CF I am sorry for wasting your time with this post but to those who were clueless about it I hope I've given you a better understanding of it all.
Firstly lets start with what is CF? CF is often referred to as a lung disease, this isn't strictly true, CF effects every cell in the body. Mutations in the genetic material prevents the movement of salt and water in and out of the cells within the body. Now I don't know about you but I hear mutations and I'm thinking x-men and superpowers but until it becomes possible to save the world by coughing up wallpaper paste and having the ability to shit oil (enzymes are important) then these are not cool mutations to have! Basically this lack of movement with the salt and water makes bodily secretions thick and sticky, this causes the most problems in the lungs and digestive system. Bacteria grow in the sticky gunk in the lungs causing bad chest infections, lung scarring, eventually leading to the need for a lung transplant. Most people with CF have, due to secretions blocking the pancreas, insufficient pancreatic function and require enzymes to digest their food, missing enzymes with fatty foods tends to be, erm... explosive (see above reference to shitting oil). Some people also have diabetes due to these secretions not allowing insulin to leave the pancreas properly/at all. I'm one of those lucky people! Another problem people can have with CF is cirrhosis of the liver, unlike alcoholic cirrhosis 'CF cirrhosis' is nothing to do with vodka, cider or tennets super strength but caused by thick secretions (yep, those again) scarring the liver. I got cirrhosis fairly young and eventually had a liver transplant aged 14. Other problems/illness's associated with CF are constipation or bowel blockages/DIOS, osteopenia/osteoporosis, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, arthritis, tachycardia, infertility, vitamin deficiency, etc... So, yeah, as you can see, there isn't much in the body that CF can't royally fuck up!
"How do you get CF?" I hear you say. Well it's genetic illness, you can't catch it, you're born with it. Our genes come in pairs, one from your mother and one from your father, then when you reproduce you pass on one of your pair as does the other person you reproduce with. A person with CF will have a CF mutation (one of over 1500) on both of their genetic pair and a carrier has the 'CF gene' by having a CF mutation on one of their genetic pair, approximately 1 in every 22 people have this CF gene, passed on to them from one of their parents. So if two people who carry the CF gene decide to have a child (or have an unprotected night of passion) there will be a 25% change neither of them will pass on their mutated half of the pair, a 50% chance that one mutation will be passed on to make another carrier or another 25% that both parents pass on their mutation, resulting in CF.
Lastly, in this rather long post, there is no cure for CF. For most people with CF medication only deals with treating symptoms, although a new drug, Kalydeco, has been developed which for people with the genetic mutation G551D, which accounts for approx. 4-5% of the CF population, that treats the cause of CF by allowing salt and water to move round cells as normal. New drugs are in development for other mutations which, whilst not a cure, will lead to much better management of the illness.
Well I think I've waffled on for long enough here. To those who already know all about CF I am sorry for wasting your time with this post but to those who were clueless about it I hope I've given you a better understanding of it all.
Monday 10 December 2012
I introduce... Me
Right, lets get the obligatory introduction post out the way. I'm Kate, I'm in my late 20's and I swear a little too much to be considered ladylike. I hate bad grammar but don't assume mine will be that great. I love my boyfriend beyond words, and my family too. I have Cystic Fibrosis and other health issues associated with it. Massive believer in organ donation, I can't understand why people aren't on the donor register, not like those organs will be much use to you when you're dead!
All opinions (and there will be quite a few) are my own, although others may agree with them!
All opinions (and there will be quite a few) are my own, although others may agree with them!
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