Searching for the limit

I know - it's been more than five months since my last update, but finally I found some time to keep you posted. There was not much change but still it's getting better and better. I manged to do some skiing two times this year, despite the terrible winter. The first time I was worried, how my body would react in the height because usually my comfort zone ends somewhere between 1600 and 1800m above sea level. Hardcore as I am, the first cabin took us straight to 2020m and I did not feel different at all. My current limit I only reached on the second day. The whole day we've been skiing between 2000 and 2450m and I felt pretty good. But the very last ride we wanted to start from the top and went to 2700m. Bad idea as I found out. Already in the cabin I started breathing heavily, my legs felt weak, I felt dizzy and my heart rate got faster and faster. My oxygene saturation must have been between 75 and 85% and the small walk from the station to the slope was a real challenge. Lucky enough I recovered by every meter we got down the slope and my overall conclusion is still extremely positive. Two years ago this would not have been possible, a full day of skiing (40km) at more than 2000m above sea level, just impossible. I remember on day in 2003 when we went to the same place. After only three rides I had to stop and spend the rest of the day in the restaurant because I was so exhausted. Weiredly my lungfunction back the was better, just looking at the numbers but still I felt much worse. I can't really explain why this is the case but mabye the capacity was better, whereas the quality of these cells was worse. Today I might have less volume but I can use this more efficiently. I mean in the end it doesnt' really matter WHY it is better, as long as it IS better.

So how about the clinical state? End of december I had another check in the hospital and the news were really reassuring. All the blood numbers are good, blood sugar level is at 6.7 and FEV1 got slightly better again. Furthermore I got rid of another antibiotic pill (Zithromax) and I'm still not taking any prednisolone. Remember the daily therapy sessions I had to do to get rid of the mucus? During the last five months I did this maybe five times for ten minutes. There is just no mucus down there. It's been 21 months now since I take Kalydeco and I wasn't sick a single day since then, nor did I have to do any IV treatment. Hardly to imagine after the eight years before when I had to do at least 1 - 2 treatments every year.

Sometimes I tend to forget how grateful I have to be for my current state... but I try hard to think of it as often as possible and enjoy every minute of my life...