From the Blog

Fatboy Is Losing Traction

Fatboy was FATFatboy is losing traction with his weight and fortitude. I started this site on Posterous as self-accountability and then moved it to here using what I do every day for my business for global accountability and to better the CF community with my experiences and to connect with others. Today it’s time to cash in on accountability because Fatboy is losing traction and in need of community support.

I just don’t feel like going through all of the effort of making a huge omelet every morning just for myself and eating it by myself for the 200th time. It’s getting old. FAST! I’ve got work to do and hate starting each morning with yet another time-consuming chore done alone. I’m maintaining the weight I had after my cold (124lbs) but not gaining any of it back with my current appetite and eating.

It’s not a bad weight, but it’s not what I was nor where the doctors want me at. Our budget is stretched to the max with co-pays and pre-deductible medical expenses for the next month or so, so no matter how much I’d love to, going to the nearby pizza place for an 8″ personal pizza and drink for $7 every day to make up for a lost breakfast isn’t an option for a while. I know a certain Californian will suggest McGriddles, but that comes to an issue of time and money, as the nearest McDonald’s is with the flow of rush hour traffic and would end up being at least a 30-minute round trip.

I’ve made do for a few days by drinking my breakfast with extra Boosts, but that’s a more expensive option than eating my breakfast. The only thing that I can think of at the moment is to buy a few packs of bacon and pre-cook them in the oven when Beautiful doesn’t have to smell them and put them in the fridge to reheat with some sunny side up eggsย  that don’t take the extra time that an omelet does. I know for sure that it has to be protein-based because I crash seriously hard from a carb breakfast.

Does anyone have any other quick breakfast ideas? One no-no: I can’t do oatmeal or grits – my gag reflex won’t stand for that texture. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Leaving on a Jet Plane…

Airport SecurityIt sure does take a lot of work to pack for a plane trip vs. a road trip. We had to check the regulations because they seem to change every 3-6 months as we get more and more removed from 9/11, yet constantly reminded with scares and dry runs that keep getting more regulations in place.

I got a letter from my CF doctor stating that I have cystic fibrosis and will be traveling with [several medications including these listed, but not limited to] and invited them to contact him directly if they have any concerns about what I’m traveling with. That brought a certain special peace of mind, considering that we have over $30,000 worth of medicine and equipment. Each dose of some of my meds is over $30 and my Vest was over $11,000. They will not be leaving our possession, that’s for sure.

To give normal folks and those with various milder forms of CF, here is what we’ve packed:
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How to Blog About Any Topic – Better

I’ve been blogging a long time – since 2005, actually. Not as long as some, but longer than most. It’s been a passion of mine for quite a while, even consuming a tad bit too much of my time when I was supposed to be doing other things during the day (including countless hours on Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger.net), but that has given me lots of practice and tips. I’ve taken it to the next level in the last 18 months and left my day job and run my own LLC consulting, building, designing, and modifying peoples’ personal and business sites to run on the blogging platform this site is built on: WordPress. I love what I do now so much, I often don’t realize that I’m working because it’s so darn fun to blog, design, and improve peoples’ situations.

Today, I’ll share some of them with you so you can either start your blog or improve it from where it is today… for FREE! Some of the tips involve some minimal costs, but not everything on this list needs to be taken to the letter to be successful. YOU make it successful, while your tools are just there to make it easier.

Authenticity

AuthenticEven if you’re penning your blog anonymously, you absolutely must be authentic. Whether you’re an impartial camera equipment editor or a health blogger, the audience must be able to connect with you or they will not stay. You will see a bunch of one-time visits accounting of one page view, and they’re gone. You just weren’t interesting.

You can go two ways with this: [Read more…]

Bloating and a General Feeling of Discomfort

Fat Ash Ketchum by ~Ranguru

Fat Ash Ketchum by ~Ranguru

I’ll do my best to not be graphic or disgusting for this article, but I’m afraid that’s not really going to be possible. If you don’t like fart jokes, or are generally turned off by anything related to bodily functions, stop now. This is cystic fibrosis. This is real life. /end warning

I’m getting much better at not being gross since meeting/dating/marrying Beautiful, but cystic fibrosis is a disgusting disease, is it not? I have a feeling that one of the reasons I didn’t have as many friends as I should have in elementary school was my problem with my intestinal gas. This came as a huge shock to Beautiful when I told her, but I remember being in the 6th grade when I first discovered that you could hold back a fart. That must not have been conducive to making or keeping friends when we all had to sit together in little table groups of 4-6 students. I can just imagine the thought bubbles of 20 years ago: “I don’t want to get in Jesse’s table group for the next 12 weeks. He smells bad!”

I really had no idea before then, and even if I did, I honestly don’t know what I would have been allowed to do about it.

For those without CF, all I can say is that the pressure is almost unimaginable, second only to a complete intestinal blockage. The increased pressure is a direct result of poor absorption of the food we eat. I am doubtful that the teachers would have been allowed to have me wandering off down the hall to the bathroom every time my pressure meter started to rise because that would be a special privilege and I would have missed countless hours of classroom instruction had I done that.

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