Honestly, this article merely scratches the surface of what I do to stay alive and well. There's a lot that I do that I struggle even more to describe. Fighting CF is more than just pills, exercise, and the right diet. It's more than just taking each day one breath at a time, and forgiving myself if I'm not quite as well or capable as I usually am. It's a lot of finding the good in things, even if it seems there's nothing good to find. It's definitely a lot of prayer and trusting God, since God has done miracles to get me out of inevitable situations. I can't thank Him enough for that.

I have to be pretty intelligent and brave to figure out the best path to go on, since I often find myself buried in scientific research and studies to find out what usually works and what usually doesn't. Sometimes, science betrays me, and I then have to completely go off of what does what to me by trial and error. Sometimes it takes weeks or months to figure out what works and what doesn't, since there aren't credible studies for everything, especially for Cystic Fibrosis. I'm just glad I have plenty of room to play around in. 

Sometimes my kitchen counter turns into some sort of redneck chemistry lab, and whatever I come up with goes into my body. My mom thinks is pretty sketchy since I barely made it past Chemistry in school, but I don't go off of formulas and diagrams. I go by what science says something does, and just check reliable resources online to make sure whatever new that goes into my body, won't negatively interact with something else I take. If I mess up, it shouldn't hurt me too bad, since it's all natural stuff. But still, I've had some incidents in the past. I've learned that washing my sinuses with Thyme is basically like snorting wasabi up there, and the pain doesn't go away for hours. I've also learned that a shot of eucalyptus oil doesn't do much when I drink it, except for it leaves behind a bitter taste that stays in the back of my throat all day. 

However, I've had some breakthroughs, which have worked to keep me as healthy as I am. I don't usually recommend my lifestyle to anyone else, since my body is much different than everyone else's. What works for one doesn't always work for another, so I just document what I'm doing since I know everyone is curious about what I do. That's why I took the time to write about my daily life in the first place. 

Just like anyone who comes across this, I'm intensely curious and like to learn. Only, most of my learning experiences come from experiments done on myself, by myself. People may say that's stupid and crazy, but I don't just blindly try something new. I must know it's almost entirely safe before I put something on or in my body. Sure, things are bound to go wrong sometimes, but that's just life. And, as far as I know, I can recover pretty quickly and even laugh about it. I'm not afraid of pain nearly as much as I'm afraid of illness and an early death. I'd much rather run around the house snorting like a bull for a few hours, than be curled up in some hospital bed in a lot worse pain than Thyme up the nose. 

(Finish with living with CF, not dying bc of it)