About Age 1 with my Grandfather
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Easter Age 1
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Becki Age 3ish and Scott age 3 months
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Age 4 in Chester,Va
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Becki in Backyard, Age 6. I was always smaller than the kids around me. I would eat and eat like a human garbage disposal and not gain an ounce.
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Becki Age 6. This is my school picture when I was in 1st grade. It was the only time my hair was ever short. It took me a good two years for my hair to grow out again.
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Becki Age 7. SDS Causes the pancrease to not produce enough enyzmes a person needs to digest their food. This is why I had a swollen belly and stick arms and legs.
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Christmas Age 7
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Its amazing how much time I spend upside down. I am upside down 2-3 hours a day because I have to get Chest PT to clear my lungs of the infected mucus that happens with bronchiectasis. The SDS caused my immune system to be ineffective against infection so that every little cold or bacterial infection eroded my lugs until pockets formed trapping the pus and mucus. Its like a wheel that never stops turning.CPT is when my parents, school nurse, or therapist cups their hands and pound on my chest, back and sides to dislodge the infected mucus trapped in the lower airways in my lungs, to a bigger airwy so that I can cough it out easier. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't but I can never get all of the secretions to come completely out. ITs a necissary evil. When my lungs get to full of fluid I need to go into the hospital for IV antibiotics.
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Senior Picture 1996, Age 18. I had so many goals to achieve and still do. My teachers always said I was an over achiever. I knew exactly what I wanted to do in life. But my body was wearing down slowly. I missed about 60-70 days of school eah year and coughed and coughed until I was exhausted and blue in the face. I have horrible memories of gym class during first period. The school nurse did my CPT every afternoon at lunch. I also had to eat snacks b/c I had trouble with my blood sugars b/c of the digestive issues associated with my pancrease. I actually wish I would have met kids like myself during my teen years. I knew only asthmatics. I didn't know they had camps for "sick" kids. I was teased for being too thin, coughing tomuch, choking, and teased b/c I would choke on the fluid in my lungs. SOme of my teachers also could not understand why I missed so much school. One even told me to come to school if I had a fever b/c all I would do is layaround all day if I stayed home. If only they had a clue at how exhaustingdoing nebulizer treatments 4 times a day, sucking on inhalers, popping predisone pills, and coughing at all hours of the night were.
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Florida 2002. My friend and I went to Florida to visit my grandmother whom I hadn't seen in awhile. We went to Adventure Isle at Universal Studios. The normal admission price is about but I got a handicap discount and a wheelchair. I still rode all the roller coasters ...I just didn't have enough air to scream though. The looks on the faces of the ride operators when I sat my 02 in the wheelchair and jumped in the car of the ride...was classic. Unfortunately, my lungs are too severe now too even try that. I would get off the ride acting almost drunk from a lack of 02. On a less serious note, was when they let me keep my 02
on during the Spiderman 3-D ride. Well, I almost dove under the seat when a fire ball shot out of a flame thrower towards the ride to simulate heat and an explosion. My friend who was next to me looked at me like I had completely lost my mind. I quickly reminded her that I was FLAMMABLE ! ! ! Luckily I didn't blow up the whole ride.
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Hospital 2002. I am getting what we call a "TUNE-UP". They pump us full of high powered antibiotics that go straight into our veins that help fight infection. The IV version of the antibiotics we take work faster and better than the pills that you take by mouth. These "Tune-ups" can last at least 1 to 3 weeks. Some are in he hospital for much longer. It helps when some of my friends who have CYSTIC FIBROSIS are in too. Its not as lonely and boring.
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Christmas 2002. I posed in front of the Christmas Tree. Christmas is my favorite time of year. Its not the recieving I like to much but the giving. Ilove to shop for other people. Even if I don't have enough money to pay the bills I make sure that I buy a special ornament fo everyone in my family. I also buy a ne one to put on the tree. I love to decorate the house. I basically bought the house we live in b/c of the fireplace and how I was looking forward to decorating it. I love the Christmas Carol sung in church ad just the feeling of the "Holiday Spirit". After Tranplant I hope that I can sing in the church chior at the Christmas Eve Mass. I would spend the entiire holiday season of 2003 in the hospital. Christmas in the hospital is so lonely and not at all like it should be. I dressed in ared turtle neck and red plaid PJ Bottoms to at least look festive.I was really thinking after spending 4 weeks in the hospital that this would be my last Christmas. I was determined to get listed for a transplant.
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Weekend Outing in St. Augustine During TX Eval
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Brad and I in St. Augustine, Fla Jan 2004. We thought it was ironic that we are in Florida, standing under palm trees, in front of the blue ocean, freezing out butts off. It actually flurried the day before ! ! !
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Becki at St.Andrews Lighthouse. This is a special house that a the church next door helped remodel so that it can house adults who are under going procedures and treatments at the Mayo Clinic. Its like a Ronald McDonald House for Adults. Everyone was so friendly and helpful. I will really miss them all. We promised before we left we will visit again if they agree to list me which is looking very good right now.
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Becki at St. Andrews Lighthouse after Cardiac Cath. The procedure measures the pressures in your heart. If your lung disease is severe enough the heart has to work so hard to pump oxygen through your body that the pressures within the lungs and heart go up. This causes a person to feel tired, short of breathe and their heart rate can get petty high like my own.My neck was killing me after this and it didn't help that I had a horrible cold.I feel like I was smothering b/c I could not cough clear all the secretions in my lungs and the ones dripping down my throat. I felt pretty miserable that day. I was up all that night trying to breath and blow my nose. Its amazing what you need neck muscles for ! ! !
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This is my new "Miss. Piggy Mask".I call it this b/c my nose gets smushed upword. If you are wondering what this unattractive piece of equipment is, it is called bi-pap . Bi-Pap forces air into your lungs so that you can take a bigger breath. Bigger than what I could do on my own. Its hooked up to my oxygen consentrator so that oxygen goes through the system. I also suffer from severe headaches that comes from an elevated C02 level in my blood. This happens when your lungs are so damaged that the surface area of the lungs that oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange over are just not adequate. So the bi-pap helps.
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This is another Bi-pap mask. It's called a "NASAL GEL MASK". It is pretty comfortable although I have a narrow nose so air escapes and drys my eyes out. Brad my husband calls it my "Fighter Pilot Mask". I am ready for take off with his one on. It puffs my cheeks out thoug making it look like I have chubby cheeks.
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This is a pic from a hospital stay in Sept 2002. I had Abdominal Surgery a month and a half before it that really screwed my lungs up. I came in for a follow up and had an oxygen saturation of 83 on 4L.
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