The First Post

I'm not entirely sure how long I'll stay with this blogging business and how much I'll share it, but for the moment, it's an interesting way for me to get things off my chest.

I suppose an introduction is in order, though I doubt that anyone who doesn't know me would be reading this.

I'm Elizabeth, and currently a student at University of California, Santa Barbara. I would be your typical 19 year old, but there are factors in my life that swing things out of the norm. At the age of eighteen months, I was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder in which mucus builds up in your lungs- particularly the small air ways. In addition, it effects my pancreas, making it impossible for me to produce the digestive juices I need to absorb nutrients without special enzyme pills.

Without proper medical chest therapy and inhalant medications, the mucus would build up in my air ways and eventually my lungs would fail. Even with them, the expected life expectancy of a CF patient remains only around 45 years old.

In more related health problems, I have pre-diabetes (a type related to cystic fibrosis). I'll likely have full diabetes within a year, but right now I'm thankful to have that small bit of health left to me.

I'll tell more later- this all makes me rather glum.