I'm laid-back. I don't get stressed very easy. I take CF day
by day. I never think that it can get worse in time, even though it
probably
will. I have to stay positive about it. I just take my med's and
stay as healthy as I can be. I try not to think that I might die from it
someday. Hopefully it won't happen for a long time. I created this
page so others will be aware of what CF is.
I live about 2 hours away from my family. I
have one older sister,
Andrea, who is 32 (passed away from cancer on August 12, 2008). She has two beautiful kids (both girls). Peyton
is the oldest, she is 13 years old. And the younger one, Madison is 9. My mom and dad have been divorced since I was
a baby. My mom raised me until I left for school when I was 18. I
keep in touch with my dad also. I don't hate or side for either one of
them. I get along with everyone in my family.
Well, of course it's hard to remember that far back. I remember a few
things about dealing with CF. I remember getting aerosols when I was 5-6 years old. After I toke my
aerosols, I would lay down in a slanted position, head lower than my legs. The
point of this is when I got my chest PT, it would loosen up the mucus in my
lungs, being in a slanted position would bring up the micas better. One
crappy side affect was that I would get nose bleeds from my head being
down. Another thing I remember is learning how to swallow
pills. Before I learned how to swallow pills. I would break
apart the capsules and put the beads in applesauce and eat the applesauce.
When I was 5, my mom shoved one down my throat and from then on I could swallow
pills.
Starting school was normal. The only thing I to do
different was taking pills. I would go to the nurse's office and take my
pill before lunch.
I went to 1st thru 3rd grade at the same school in New
Castle, PA. Then a different school for 4th grade. Then finally I ended
up in Ellwood City for the rest of my school years. When I was in 4th
grade I was teased so much about the name Yancee that when I moved to Ellwood
City and attended 5th grade I went by my middle name Ryan. From then
on, all my family and friends call me Ryan instead of Yancee. Later on, I
did start using Yancee as my name again.
Starting in 5th grade clear up to 9th
grade I was on the wrestling team. I wasn't a great wrestler but it was
the best exercise plan. I stopped wrestling because I lost too much
weight. I also was on the football team in 5th and 6th grade. I
hardly ever got to play (not that I cared) but again it was good
exercise. It was fun participating in sports.
That's about it for this
part. On to junior high.
Starting 7th grade was ok. I felt like a little ant in a big huge
school. The school had 7th through 12th grade all in one school. So
being in 7th grade puts you at the bottom of the totem pole. I never hung
out with the popular crowd. I wasn't a loser either. I was in the
middle. I still hang out with the same friends I had since 5th
grade. We all still keep in touch and visit when we can, even though we
all live a few hours away from each other.
The summer after 7th grade, my
friend mentioned Make-a-Wish to me. I didn't know what is was at the
time. To put it simply, they grant one wish to children with life threatening
diseases. I wrote them a letter that said my wish was to have a
computer. Make-a-wish contacted me and we went picked out a
computer. That's were it all began. From that point on, the only hobby I
had was computers. Just for laughter, here are the specs of the computer
when I got it. It was a 386, 42MG hard drive, 1-spead CD-Rom, no modem, it
did have sound. I've upgraded to a 486, 100mhz, 1GB hard drive, 28.8
modem, 40 speed CD-ROM, 4MG video card. It is still is very,
very slow.
As far as the CF goes, I still had to get 2 aerosols
everyday. And of course, take my pills. From 7th - 9th grade, not
much changed. I would always have to get my second aerosol before I could
go out with my friends. I was reminded a lot to take them. Forgot to
mention that I did and still do go to Pittsburgh for a check-up every 3
months.
During the Winter of 9th grade, I was having a snow ball
fight with a friend and I got hit with a snow ball right in my ear. I was
in the hospital for a week. It would have been two weeks if it was because
of CF. That is the only time I had to be in the hospital.
At the end of
9th grade I was failing a few classes so I filled out an application for Vo-Tech
(Vocational-Technical School). Vo-tech was a school were you could learn a
trade and take academic classes. So I picked Data Processing (Computers),
of course. Finally I was accepted to Vo-tech. This was great, Your
in shop one week and academics another. For example you only had academic
classes every other week. Shop week was fun, you could do what your interested
in. My friends also went to Vo-Tech. It was a party school.
Didn't have to do much to pass, just show up for class. At least that's
how it seemed to me.
More to come.....
April , 2001 - I now have a Dell, Pentium III, 700mhz, 128
MB of RAM, 20 GB hard drive computer. It is much faster than the old one. Also,
my wife and I are in the process of purchasing a home. As far as CF goes,
my last appointment was good. I had the best PFT (Pulmonary Function Test)
results since July of 1998. I still take about 8 Ultrase MT20's with meals. I do
the vest 2 times a day. I do one breathing treatment of Dnase a day, usually in
the morning before work. And I still work full time as a computer
instructor (that's the fun part of my job, I do many other less important things
too), I will be there three years in June.
July, 2001 - It's now July and we are moved
in our house. We put down all new carpet and replaced the full bathroom. It
feels like home now. We have a big yard on the left side. Hopefully by the
end of the summer, we will have two Yellow lab puppies. That's all for
now.
December, 2001 - We now have two yellow lab
puppies that we got labor day weekend at 5 weeks old. They are almost 5 months
old now. They are fun to have around. In October I had to do IV treatments at
home for the first time. Three, 1/2 hour treatments and one, hour
treatment a day. I was able to work at home. The IV line was a 24
inch Picc line. It went in at my arm and stopped in my chest. I didn't feel it
or anything when it was in. It hurt getting it put in because the nurse did not
numb the spot where the needle went in first. The needle was like
3" long. They jammed it in my arm. I almost passed out. Here is what
my schedule was for the day. First treatment at 7:30 that lasted a 1/2
hour. Get a shower and eat breakfast afterwards, then work at home till
lunch time. Eat lunch, work till 3:15. Second treatment started at 3:30. That
was a 1/2 hour. After that one, I did the hour long treatment. So after an hour
and half of antibiotics pumping through me, time for dinner. The last treatment
of the day was at 11:30PM. That was my schedule for two weeks. How exciting. But
it did help a lot.
March 2004 - It's three years later. Not a
lot has changed. We have 4 labs now. Our two yellows and we took two more labs
in because they needed a better home. One is a chocolate female lab that is 6
years old. And the other one is chocolate female lab too, but she is 9
years old. It's a wild house with 4 dogs running around. We did remodel our
basement so now we have more room in the house. I'm still at the same
job. It will be 6 years in June being at this job. I am attending
night classes for Network Administration to better myself and hopefully get a
better job. I will be done with classes in December. We are foster
parents now, though we did not get a child yet. Were waiting for the right
placement for us. I now take 9 enzymes per meal. That's it for now.
July 2005 - A few things have changed in the
past year. Our oldest dog, Cocoa (chocolate lab) passed away on February 17,
2005 from cancer. She was 9 years old. We miss her a lot. We currently
have 4 foster kids in our house along with the other 3 dogs. It's a busy
house every day. We are in the process of adopting two of the kids. I can't give
their names or ages since a lot of the information is confidential. My wife and
I still work full time on top of having all the kids. The weeks get tiring but
it's going good.
June 2006, - Another update. We are back up
to 4 dogs. We adopted a stray chocolate lab male in January of 06. His name is
buddy. We also adopted our 9 year old daughter this month. We only have our
adopted child right now. We will start fostering again in December. We do watch
foster kids two weekends a month. That's all for now.
October 2007, - Great news. My wife is
pregnant with our first biological child. It's a boy. She is due is on February
14, 2008. Our daughter will be 11 when the baby is born. She is excited too. We
still have four labs. The oldest lab (10 yrs old) has just been diagnosed with
diabetes two weeks ago. She gets insulin shots 2 times a day. My sister
who is 31 found out a couple months ago that she has pancreatic cancer. She is
getting her treatments and fighting it. She gets checked next month to see if
the treatments worked enough to have surgery to remove the cancer. Keep
her in your prayers as she fights cancer. Oh yea, my health has been fine. I
still take my ultrase MT20 (9 per meal), adeks vitamins, caltrate D vitamin,
prilosec, lincinapril (high blood pressure med), nazonex, flovent, zithromax.
That's all for now.
February 2008, - Our new baby is here. Leon
Adler Mathews.
Born on January 25,
2008, 6 lbs,
13 ounces 19 1/2 inches
August 2008, - Leon is doing
great. Strong, healthy boy. I have some sad news. My sister lost her battle to
pancreatic cancer on August 12, 2008 at the age of 32. She was fighting it for a
year. Keep her two daughters in your prayers as they will need the strength to
stay strong.
September 2008, - On August 28,
I had to have my gallbladder removed. I was having a lot of pain, fevers and
headaches. I went to the ER after a few days and that was the problem. Also on
another sad note, We had to put our two older dogs to sleep. That was on
September 12. We're back down to our two yellow labs. It's been a long and
stressful month.
April 2009, - Leon is now 15
months. He's walking and running around now keeping us busy. We also rescued
another lab. His name is brian. He's a 6 year old male lab.
May 2009, - Leon is 16
months now. He is now 32 inches tall and 27 pounds. He's getting big quick.
