Well, I made it! Yesterday was my first 3-month clinic appointment in ages and I made it.

What a boring clinic appt. That's the way I like it. My PFTs are holding at a steady 27% (.80 L) which--for those keeping track or taking bets--has been the same since April. My weight is also steady and all-in-all I am a boring, unchanged gal.

The physio therapist who is always enthusiastic and upbeat, taught me a new huffing technique using my PEP mask. For people (like me) who feel tight and asthmatic in the morning, it is a great alternative. It is difficult to explain what a 'huff' is, to those who are unfamiliar, but I will attempt to anyway. Basically you take a breath in (big or small depending on the area of the lungs you are targeting) and breath out through your mouth as if you are saying 'ha' or testing your breath. If you are targeting your lower lobes, you take a tiny breath in and if you are targeting your upper lobes you take a big breath in.

The new technique involves huffing with the PEP mask still on my face. Whereas I usually take the mask off to do it. Oddly, I am eager to try this new technique when my new PEP arrives.

Over the holidays I have been using a device called a 'flutter', since I am a complete genius and decided that Christmas Eve was an optimal time to break my beloved PEP mask. Well, turns out I've been doing my flutter incorrectly over the holidays. Yesterday I learned the correct way and it is far more hardcore than I anticipated. Turns out the flutter can also be irritating for someone who has a lot of tightness like me, so it is not ideal to use anyway.

I ran into my cysta on my way out of clinic and although she looks tanned and stylish, her lungs have decided to behave badly. So she is whipping them into shape with a course of orals before her trip to Barbados. CF lungs always require a good whip to behave again.

In other boring news, I was able to shop after my clinic appt. which is a rarity. My energy is usually zapped by the time my clinic appt. ends and I immediately require an afternoon nap. Not this time, I was able to go to Sherway Gardens with my Mom and shop for 3 hrs (plus lunch).

I think this is an ideal start to 2010.