Meet my friend, Cystic Fibrosis

I made it through one full week before landing myself in the hospital, again...

I am finally home! And it feels wonderful to be back!

After the bad nose bleed on Sunday, the ENT finally came to see me around 5pm and placed a packing in my nose to stop the bleeding. Today the packing was removed, and now I can eat, breathe and actually taste my food. The ENT just said to keep my nose moist with saline and ointment (whoop-tee-do). There are polyps in my nose, but there isn't enough to remove them, so it would be a pointless surgery.

Last night was a re-run! My nose bled again! I woke up around 1 am and it started to bleed again. This time it wasn’t fast paced, but it took forever to stop it. Actually it still is bleeding a bit, and falling to the back of my throat as I type. The doctor was paged and he came in a timely manor to come asses my nose.

Two Saturday’s ago, I woke up in the middle of my sleep because a coughing fit was coming up. I sat up and coughed hard (as usual) but then my nose started to bleed. I figured sooner or later it was going to bleed because it felt dry all through the day (I’m pretty sure from the dry oxygen that shoots up my nose 24/7). My nose bleeds usually last 10 minutes and then I can go on with my day, but this one was different. The blood was thin and flowed pretty fast! I woke my dad up and called the nurse. After 10 minutes, my nose did not stop bleeding! I became pretty worried and scared. I continued to hold my nose but not tilt it back because the blood would then run into back of my throat and I would choke or swallow it.

I have to vent! I can’t stand new nurses!

There is a period of time that each nurse has to relay their patient’s information to the incoming nurse, and it is usually around 7 am and again at 7pm. They pretty much give a quick explanation of the events that happened throughout the day to the incoming nurse. It is extremely important that they give the correct information to the other nurse before clocking out. Well, one morning as my night nurse was giving her report to the day nurse; she woke me and introduced the day nurse to me. I was frustrated because first off, it was 7am and my blinds were still closed…. Second, the white board in my room says “Do NOT wake up for report!” I seriously tried to be nice and say “good morning,” but seeing how the night nurse had to turn on the bright light every time she checked in on me, I was in a bad mood. It isn’t like I could get up and leave the hospital area! I would rather be introduced to the day nurse later in the DAY…not the crack of dawn. But later I figured out that the day nurse was completely new to this hospital or just nursing in general.

When I first got the oxygen tank over the summer, I was really angry. I didn’t want to go out in public and wear the stupid nasal cannula, but I had some summer classes and needed to be in the class room or I would be automatically withdrawn from it (I was NOT about to lose my money).

My day is longer than others I guess. Before class I have to do my breathing treatments and take my morning pills. The treatments take about 30 minutes to an hour, so that means I have to wake up earlier than a person who doesn’t have CF.

Allow me to introduce myself! I am Rojeana Auriel Hall (I prefer to be called Auriel), I am a 19 year old college sophomore! I enjoy school, family and friends and I am a social butterfly. However, I have an annoying “friend” that loves to follow me around and run my life. That friend is called Cystic Fibrosis (CF).