Positive Thoughts Thursday

Sometimes I feel like I use this blog to vent/complain about things going on in my life, and I don't want to continue with all of that negativity. So each week I'm compiling a list of positive, happy, lucky, fortunate things that are going on in my life or anywhere around the world.

• Spring break was excellent! I was able to spend some with some family and friends, and I also had lots of time to relax. I even got a one day extension when we happened to get about a foot of snow on Sunday = Snow day Monday!
• Thanks to our snow day, this was only a three-day work week because we have tomorrow off for Good Friday.
• Last night was McTeacher night for our school. The teachers worked at McDonald's for a few hours last night and 20% of the profit went to our school. We ended up raising around $870!! I spent my time working the drive through. :) I have to give credit to the people that work at McDonald's - it was not easy, but I had a lot of fun! 
• Tim and I are big fans of The Walking Dead. I saw this on Facebook today and it made me laugh! It's called "Undeniable Proof that 'The Walking Dead' and 'Toy Story' Have the Exact Same Plot!

Positive Thoughts Thursday

Sometimes I feel like I use this blog to vent/complain about things going on in my life, and I don't want to continue with all of that negativity. So each week I'm going to compile a list of positive, happy, lucky, fortunate things that are going on in my life, or anywhere in the world.

• I love my job! Although I am extremely exhausted this week since I didn't do a thing over break, I am thankful to be back at work. I crave routine and I just love my class. They crack me up. Today one of my boys said "yeah buddy!" when he saw that he was at the "Board/Card Games" center. 
• My students are so smart! :-) It's so cool to see how much they have learned from the beginning of the year! They're like little sponges! I have some who came in knowing barely any of their letters to now beginning to read! Makes me so proud! :-)
• A new episode of Impractical Jokers is on tonight. It's on TruTV and HILARIOUS! If you've never seen it, I highly recommend it! Tim and I die laughing every episode! For those of you who've seen it, who's your favorite? I really like Joe and Murr! :)
• I'm 10 days into my TOBI month and I've been feeling really good. Tobi usually makes me cough quite a bit more when doing my treatments, but I haven't had a lot of mucus production lately - which is a welcomed break. I've been feeling like I've been able to take some nice deep breaths without hacking up a lung, so that's been really nice. I like being able to breathe like a normal person. I hope it shows in two weeks when I have my next CF clinic appointment.

I Love My Job!

This post is long overdue, but I'll try the best that I can. First off, I LOVE my job! I really do. As much work as it is, it is just SO rewarding and hilarious. My class is just so funny! The principal told me once that if he wants to laugh that day, he can just come into my room. :-)
The first couple months were a little hectic because we (students and I) needed to get into a groove. I also had a wonderful teaching assistant in the morning, but unfortunately she had to leave because she accepted a full-time position at another school. That was a total bummer to me because the next person was going to have big shoes to fill. But I am happy, and lucky, to say that my new assistant (that I've had for about a month now) is fantastic!!
Now we're settling into a better routine and each day is truly an adventure. I never know what these kids are going to say or do, and they just crack me up! I can't imagine not enjoying my job. Everyone needs to find a job that they love - it just makes life so much better. And now, long overdue:

Kinder Quotes & Stories: 

Student: "I know what I'm going to get Santa for Christmas?"
Me: "What?"
Student: "A girlfriend."
Me: "Santa doesn't need a girlfriend, he has a wife - Mrs. Claus! He can't be married and have a girlfriend."
Student: "What?! I've never seen her in my life!"

Student: "My mom won't let me wear pajamas to school tomorrow."
Me: "Why not? We just decided today what we're doing for our reward. Your mom doesn't even know yet."
Student: "Because I'm grounded"
Me: "Why are you grounded?"
Student: "Because I pee the bed." (totally not embarrassed)
Me: "Well, why do you pee the bed?"
Student: "Because I get cold at night."
Me: (What?!?!)???? -- I don't think I responded....
This story is just so weird! Not going to lie, this student is a little strange, too.

Student: "Mrs. Bite-in-gwoober"
Me: "Yes?"
Student: "I wub you."

An ambulance goes by on the street outside our school with the sirens on. A student says, "Someone died." (Again, my reaction is What?!)

This is my #2 favorite story so far: We're just coming back from lunch/recess and I reminded my few students with glasses to remember to put their glasses on, which they keep at their tables on their name tags. One kid goes in the closet and comes out completely serious with huge, 3D theater glasses on!!! I immediately said, "Put those away now." And he looked at me and said, "What? You said we needed to put our glasses on." So again, very calmly I said, "Put those away now." So the student runs back to the closet and starts loud-obnoxious-fake crying (my pet peeve!), so I had to take the glasses away. This entire time though, I was dying laughing on the inside!!! It was hilarious because the glasses were so big on his head and he had a straight face the entire time!!!!

My #1 favorite story happened just this afternoon (and if we're Facebook friends you probably already saw it): We were doing an activity called Heggerty, which is oral phonics. The section's directions were "teacher says a word and the students repeat it. Teacher tells students to take away the beginning blend and say what is left of the word."
Me: "Glass"
Students: "Glass"
Me: "Take away the 'gl'"
Students: "Ass"
*Then there was a very short awkward pause and lots of hilarious, shocked looks on their faces! And one student says, "Ooooooo, Mrs. Veitengruber made us say a cuss word!" And you could just see the lightbulbs going on for the other students.... :) So we all just laughed for a good two minutes about it and then  said, "Bad Heggerty! That's a naughty word to make us say!" It was AWESOME! I felt like we all became a little closer because of that today. :)

I know there are more, but I can't think of them right now. I need to start writing them down... hope you enjoyed... :-)

30 Days of Blogging: Day 27

Day 27 - What kind of person attracts you - kind of appropriate for Valentines Day, right? (I don't really know where to go with this one, but I'll try my best.)

This guy! He's been by my side for five and a half years now and I've loved every minute of it and look forward to many, many more. He makes me so happy, makes me laugh all the time, supports me, loves me, 'gets' me and through all of that he doesn't complain...too much. ;) I couldn't ask for a better husband! I love you, Tim!

30 Days of Blogging: Day 20

Day 20 - The meaning behind your blog name

Well, the blog started out as "How I Live, Laugh and Love with CF" because I wanted to go off of one of my favorite quotes "Live, Laugh, Love". I wanted to show people out there that it's possible to live a 'normal' life despite having CF and how I make it work. I like to try to mention one of those words in every post to try to tie it in all the time, but it doesn't always work.
After I had the blog for about nine or ten months, I noticed there was a big focus on my CF in the blog (which is what I wanted), but I wanted the title to be something not blatantly "CF". So I played around with some things and came up with *Live*Laugh*Love*Breathe* because not only am I doing the first three all the time, but my other major focus in life is to breathe as deeply and best as I can - I just thought it was very fitting for me. I've grown to absolutely love this phrase and I wish they made things in stores that had "Breathe" tacked on the end of it, too...but Tim says we have enough "live, laugh, love" stuff in the house already! :-)
I always want it to be a constant reminder to myself (and him) that that's what life's about: living life to the fullest everyday, laughing things off and not taking them too seriously - basically, just relax!, loving each other through everything, and breathing deeply & being/staying healthy.

PS: This is my 100th post - I think this is the perfect topic to sum it all up so far! :)

30 Days of Blogging: Day 17

Day 17 - How you hope your future will be like

This post could be so long if I went into detail about what I want my future to be like and everything that I would want to happen, so I'm going to try to put it in a nutshell for you - I want to be happy every day of my life, no matter how long or short it is. I want to laugh everyday of my life, no matter how many days I get. I want to surround myself with people I love and just enjoy the life I was given. I want to keep myself healthy for as long as possible, and I hope that's going to get easier with the new drugs being created. No one is guaranteed a long life, anything can happen, so I hate to think that I have to be cautious just because of my CF. I'd love have children, experience being a mother, and maybe even one day a grandmother. I want to travel and experience other places and people in the world. So my hope for the future is for it to be: fun, enriching, healthy, new and exciting for many years to come. :-)

30 Days of Blogging: Day 12

Day 12 - Your current relationship status

Well, as you all know, I am very happily married! :-) We've been married for one year, three months, and three weeks now and it's been great. Tim is a wonderful husband - he's very supportive and he makes me laugh all the time! And because you haven't seen enough wedding photos from my other wedding blogs (here and here), here's one more.

KALYDECO!!!!!

From the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation website: 

Vertex Submits Application to FDA for Approval of VX-770 – First Potential Drug to Target Underlying Cause of Cystic Fibrosis

October 19, 2011

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced today it has submitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a potential new CF therapy, VX-770 — under its new proposed trade name, KALYDECO™.

If approved, it will be the first drug on the market that targets the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis. Therapies available to people with CF to date only treat symptoms of the disease.

The company is seeking approval for the drug in people with cystic fibrosis age 6 and older who carry at least one copy of the G551D mutation of cystic fibrosis. (THAT'S ME!!!)

KALYDECO (kuh-LYE-deh-koh) was discovered in a collaboration between Vertex and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which provided substantial scientific, financial and clinical support throughout the development process.

“The CF Foundation is thrilled that KALYDECO is on track for possible FDA approval in 2012,” said Robert J. Beall, Ph.D., President and CEO of the CF Foundation. “This is a significant step forward in our collaboration with Vertex and is further validation of the CF Foundation’s drug development strategy. We remain committed to accelerating the development of similar targeted medicines that will benefit all people with cystic fibrosis.”

Vertex has asked the FDA for priority review of the potential drug, which, if granted, could shorten the review from 10 to 6 months. The FDA grants priority review status for several reasons, including in situations where a potential drug is considered a major treatment advance. (YAY!!!!!)

Results released earlier this year from Phase 3 clinical trials of KALYDECO in people with the G551D mutation of CF showed that those receiving the drug had remarkable and sustained improvements in lung function and other key symptoms of the disease, compared with those on placebo. (YAY AGAIN!!!)

As FDA review of the potential drug gets underway, Vertex has set up a program to provide KALYDECO to people age 6 and older with the G551D mutation who are in critical medical need and could benefit from the treatment prior to potential approval. (Not me, but great idea for those who could benefit!)

The expanded access program is designed for people with CF who have highly limited lung function and meet other criteria. (Information about the program is available at CF Foundation-accredited care centers.)

KALYDECO is currently being evaluated in combination with another oral drug in development, VX-809, in people with the most common mutation of CF, Delta F508. 

Vertex plans to begin the second part of the Phase 2 KALYDECO and VX-809 clinical trial this month and will evaluate the two drugs over a longer period of time.

Frequently asked questions about Kalydeco (this one was my favorite):

What were the results of the VX-770 Phase 3 clinical trial in adults?

The Phase 3 clinical trial tested VX-770 in patients age 12 and older who carry at least one copy of the G551D mutation of the CF gene. Patients who received VX-770, compared to those on placebo, showed a marked improvement in lung function (FEV₁).

Those who received the drug gained 10.6 percentage points more on a lung function test after 24 weeks than those getting a placebo, a difference that is statistically highly significant. Patients continued to take either drug or placebo for another 24 weeks and the improvement was sustained. Lung function, the primary endpoint of the trial, was measured by how much a person could exhale in one second, a standard test.

In addition, patients receiving VX-770 gained nearly seven pounds, on average, over the course of the trial. People with CF have a hard time gaining and maintaining weight because the buildup of mucus in the pancreas limits the body’s ability to absorb essential nutrients and vitamins.

Patients also showed improvement in other secondary endpoints of the study, including reduced likelihood of pulmonary exacerbation and decreased respiratory symptoms.

In addition, average sweat chloride dropped toward normal levels in patients on VX-770, compared to those on placebo. Excessive sweat chloride is a key clinical indicator of the disease.

The overall findings are profound because they demonstrate that a chemical compound can improve multiple clinical measures of CF by targeting the basic defect. CF therapies currently on the market address the symptoms of the disease, not the underlying cause.

This is such amazing news for me and everyone in the CF world!! Especially for me and the other 4% of the the CF population with the G551D mutation!!! The results of the clinical trail were outstanding!!! The progress of this drug gives me so much hope for the future. Yes, it may take another year or two before it is available for CF patients, but hey, I've been waiting 23 years for something like this, so what's another two?! I am very excited to share this news with my readers, friends and family. I am also thankful for your love and support over the years. Because of your donations, drugs like this are making significant progress and significant changes in peoples' lives. THANK YOU to anyone/everyone who has donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation because you are making it possible for me to live a wonderful, happy, and healthy life.

I believe that one day this drug will help me achieve my ultimate goal: 

To LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE and BREATHE for a long time!!!!

Never In A Million Years

Never in a million years did I think I would be posting about something like this and posting pictures. But it's something that I've had to deal with my whole life, especially more so over the past few years as I've gained weight. Don't get me wrong, as a CFer, I'm supposed to have a healthy weight, so gaining weight is encouraged, but it's hard when I don't like the way it looks. What am I talking about? My lovely CF belly! If you know me, you know what I'm talking about and I'm sure you've seen it. I thought it was just the way I was built until I joined CysticLife and realized it's a CF thing....awesome, thanks CF.

I was always underweight in high school and before, but when I went to college, I started steadily gaining weight. For CFers, it's hard for us to absorb fats/nutrients from our food, so it's hard to gain/maintain our weight. When I started gaining, my doctors were very pleased, but I was not. It was hard as a college student to start gaining weight, and noticing it physically, but I knew I had to do it to be healthy. I'm now at a healthy weight that both the doctors and I are pleased with, but it's still always in the back of my mind that my belly sticks out. Plus, I have three scars on my stomach from a surgery when I was born, so I feel like it gives a look of rolls...even better. It also doesn't help that I've got skinny little arms and legs, so I feel like it sticks out even more. Doesn't matter how much I've eaten, or not eaten, if I'm bloated or not, it's always there. In fact, last week at school I had a student ask me if I was pregnant -- not something I was happy to hear about, but oh well, gotta laugh it off. I can't wait to actually be pregnant so I have a reason to have a belly! I'm not posting all of this to say how I feel bad about myself, it's just another 'joy' of CF. So, without further ado...here are a couple lovely pictures of the infamous CF belly:

July 2010 - Lovely, huh? Doesn't help that I'm about
to eat an enormous amount of my birthday cake!

October 2010 - I hate that I have this picture because
it's from my wedding day, but that's what it looks like
when I'm relaxed. Plus I was at my heaviest
weight here (4 pounds more than today)

July 2011 - Taking a break from hiking

I want to thank Inhaling Hope (another CF blog I follow) for giving me the courage to create a post about this - read her blog about her CF belly here....see I'm not the only one! :-)

Kinder Quotes

It's a guarantee that I will laugh at something that one of the students says everyday! Here's what I have so far for this school year...

*First full day of school, a little kinder (not from my class) gets off the bus and tells me, "I'm going to go look for where I have to put my backpack. My mom says that I have to try....(hesitation) but if I can't find it, I'm going to come find you!" A few minutes later she comes running to me with a huge grin on her face saying, "I found it, I found it!"

*Again, the first full day of school - A little girl in my class says to me, "I'm good at school, I listen."

*We were just lining up the Kinders from recess and it started sprinkling and lots of the kids shouted, "oh no, it's raining!" And another little kid shouted, "How are we going to get home??"

*This happened in another class and was told to me by another assistant: The class was talking about their favorite restaurants and little girl raised her hand and said, "Stinkin' Wendy's." The teacher didn't understand what she said, so she asked, "Did you say Steak & Shake?" And the girl replied, "No, stinkin' Wendys. That's what my mom and grandma say when they're getting ready for work - they don't want to go to stinkin' Wendy's!!"

*We were talking as a whole class about how to sneeze and cough into your elbow so that you don't spread germs and a student said to his neighbor, "I just bless you-ed in my arm!"

I know it wasn't very many this time, but I promise there will be more to come throughout the school year. :-)

I Told You I Like "Quotes"

I found the following quote on someone's Facebook page and decided I had to share it with you, along with some others. I thought it went along nicely with my previous post. 


"You Might be a Teacher If...
You have no time for a life from August to June, you want to slap the next person who says "Must be nice to work from 8-3 and have summers off" , you refer to adults as boys and girls, meeting a child's parents instantly answers the questions "Why is this kid like this?" , you believe extremely annoying should have its own box on report cards, when in public you feel the urge to correct a strange childrens' behavior, you encourage your friends by telling them they are a "good helper", and you never want kids of your own because there isn't a name you can hear that wouldn't elevate your blood pressure." 


"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents" - Emilie Buchwald


"If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job."  ~Donald D. Quinn

"We expect teachers to handle teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, and the failings of the family.  Then we expect them to educate our children."  ~John Sculley

"The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book."

"The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher."  ~Elbert Hubbard

"The greatest sign of success for a teacher is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist."

"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand."

And some other quotes that aren't necessarily about teaching, but some of my favorites.

"You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it."

"Treasure the love you receive above all. It will survive long after your good health has vanished." - Og Mandino

"Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality." -Viktor Frankl (author of Mans Search for Meaning)

"Those who have a reason 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'." -Viktor Frankl

“True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost.” -Charles Caleb Colton

"...I think it happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you've known forever don't see things the way you do. And so you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on. It's perfectly normal." ~True Believer~ Nicholas Sparks

"May you never steal, lie, or cheat, but if you must steal, then steal away my sorrows, and if you must lie, lie with me all the nights of my life, and if you must cheat, then please cheat death because I couldn't live a day without you." -Leap Year

One Step Closer...!!!

Great news for CFers, and all of those who have donated to CFF, today!!! 

A new drug, VX-770, that is in Phase 3 of clinical trials is showing amazing results!! (More information in this New York Times article, too!) This drug directly works with the defective protein in patients with the G551D mutation, which only is about 4% of CF cases....BUT they're on the right track! Right behind this drug in clinical trials is another one called VX-809 which is going to be working with the most common mutation in CF patients (Delta F-508).

Each CF patient has 2 mutations of their CFTR gene (one from mom, one from dad) and doctors can perform tests to identify those mutations. I have one Delta F-508 mutation, and the other is unknown. So, the current VX-770 won't work for me, but it will help about 2,800 people world-wide! The next one coming up through drug trials, VX-809, might work for me to keep me living, laughing and loving!

This is what happens when all of YOU wonderful people make  

donations to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation!!!! 

Kinder Quotes

I work as a teaching assistant with Kindergarteners and I love it! Needless to say, they say the funniest things and make me laugh daily! So, I decided to start writing some of them down to share with you! (Hopefully you'll find them as amusing as I do--you just have to remember these things are coming out of the mouths of little five and six year olds!)

**This week is spirit week for the high school basketball game on Friday. Monday's spirit wear was "Sunday's Best Clothing" and a couple of the boys wore ties and some of the girls wore dresses. One of our super-distractable students wore a mustache! He was wearing a hoodie and cargo pants....and a huge black, curled at the ends, mustache! Apparently that's his idea of fancy...or his parents didn't know he left the house with it.

**We were talking in class about how the students have changed since they were babies, so they were sharing stories about things they did when they were babies:
"This is kind of inappropriate....but I pooped in the bathtub."
"When I was little, I was eating a hot dog and it wasn't cut up. My mom thought I was going to choke and she was terrified!!"
"Can you believe it?! When I was born, then it was only a few weeks before Christmas!!"
"A dinosaur took my pacifier." (The teacher asked her if she meant she lost it, or if maybe it had a dinosaur on it...but she was sure that a dinosaur took it. I guess that's what her parents told her!)

**I teach a small reading group and one of the students was counting something and obviously counted way too many.
I said, "Oh man, you can't count! You need to go back to preschool!"
And another boy replied, "Yeah, he's going old school!"
Another assistant in the room turned around from her computer and looked at me to see if I heard the same thing and we both started cracking up. I asked the student to repeat what he said and he goes, "Well, he can't count, so he should go back to his old school."  (Guess it was too good to be true...)

**Today, one boy asked me, "Are you a mom?" And I told him, "No."
A couple girls looked at me and said, "You're not?!?! Why?? Do you just live all by yourself then??"
I answered them, "No, I live with my husband, we just got married."
The girls still kept asking, "Well, don't you want to have a baby? Why can't you just get one?" I was afraid of where this might head...so I just said,"Yes, I want a baby, and maybe one day I'll have one."

**I mentioned this one in an earlier post, but in case you missed it (it's one of the best so far):
A little girl was going to the bathroom and I was standing in the hall waiting for her and she yelled to me, "There's pee and a big poop in the toilet! It's so cool, I did that!" Luckily for her, there was no one else in the hallway but me!

There are many more to come, I'm sure! I'm so glad to work with these little guys, they think everything is exciting and they make my day so much more fun! :-)

Love to Laugh!!

I love to laugh! When people say that laughter is the best medicine, I completely agree! I couldn't go a day without laughing!!
Things that make me laugh:
~Funny jokes
~Lame jokes
~Tosh.0
~A new show I found called "You're Cut Off"
~Kevin James (Especially his special called "Sweat the Small Stuff")
~Kids
~My job :-) I work with Kindergarteners and they are hilarious!!! I'll have to start writing down the funny things they say and posting them. The most recent, and one of the best, was a little girl going to the bathroom and yelling out to me "There's pee and a big poop in the toilet! It's so cool, I did that!!" Luckily for her, no one else was in the hallway to hear her announcement!
~Old jokes with friends from high school
~Looking at old pictures/or any silly pictures
~My in-laws, they're hilarious and awesome! :)
~Tim
~Movies: I Love You, Man, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Jackass, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Elf, and many more than I can't think of!
~Playing games, especially Apples to Apples
~Hanging out with old Menards friends...lots of stories!
~My dad's work stories (he currently drives a public bus)
~Thinking about the great times we had at our wedding, including our cake fight and special visitors! :)

Unfortunately, this is all I can think of for now. I know there are many more things that make me laugh. Creating this list put me in such a good mood...I suggest you create one yourself! What makes you laugh?!

My First Post!

My name is Colleen, I'm 22 years old and I have Cystic Fibrosis (CF). I was diagnosed with CF at birth and have accepted it as a part of my life. Luckily, I've been very healthy and have not been hospitalized since I was born. Keeping a positive attitude and keeping up with all of my treatments is going to keep up that record, hopefully for years to come!

I love the saying, 'live, laugh, love' and will base my blog off it when I can.

Live: "You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it." One thing you'll learn about me, is I really like quotes. I think this quote is absolutely true. This is the life I was given, and I'm going to live it to the fullest of my ability, because I can! The average life expectancy for a person with CF is late 30s, maybe into the 40s. I am determined to beat that statistic; to live!

Laugh: I laugh at everything! Laughter is the best medicine...it makes me cough! Having a sense of humor is important to me and laughing everyday is a necessity. Joking and laughing with friends and family is the best!

Love: I have lots of love in my life, especially from close friends. I recently got married in October 2010, to my super supportive husband, Tim, and became a part of an extremely loving and supportive family of in-laws! Without happy, supportive, encouraging people surrounding me in my everyday life, living with CF would certainly be a struggle.