First blog ever!

Welcome to my blog. I am new at this. But many of my friends have blogs and, ever the late-bloomer, I decided to jump into the blogosphere.


If you've found this, chances are you know somebody with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) or you like roller derby. Maybe even both! I wanted to do this to help my derby friends understand a little about CF and my other friends understand a bit about derby.


First things first. What is CF? It's a genetic disease that, among other things, contributes to chronic respiratory infections and also usually affects food absorption.

Chronic respiratory infections take their toll on lung function over time. Currently mine hovers around 70% of a normal non-smoking person. It also means I have a chronic cough and have to smile and nod when people who don't know me ask if I have allergies or "Is that cold getting better?" Hey, it's easier than handing them a pamphlet on CF. Actually maybe it isn't--I should just walk around with literature!

The food part means it can be hard to gain weight and also to absorb important vitamins. For me it's particularly difficult to absorb fats so I take prescription supplementary enzymes. So if you're out at a restaurant with me and I'm popping pills, rest assured they aren't happy pills!


I should probably include a link to the CF Foundation website. They can do a better job explaining things than I can. One thing I want to stress though, is that CF affects every patient a little differently. Some people get more virulent lung infections, others don't need enzymes to digest food. But whether through some unexplained genetic mutation, a fairly active life, or pure dumb luck I have done pretty well with CF.

Now, why roller derby? Those of you who are fans already understand. For those who aren't I'll just say that a few years ago my husband and I went to a local roller derby bout just to see what it was all about. We were expecting the old-school banked track with tough chicks in fishnets beating the crap out of each other. Well, we didn't get the banked track but we did get the tough chicks in fishnets!

But what I really fell in love with was the sport of it! It is a sport that requires strength, endurance, agility, speed, and control--on roller skates! Add in the fishnets and you've got one hell of a night! It's just the most gracefully brutal thing to watch! Ok enough raving. So after a couple of years of watching enviously, I thought I'm not getting any younger. I'd better see if I could ever possibly do this. So I showed up at Underground Derby's practice for beginners and have been hooked since.

After some health trials and tribulations (stupid lung infections!), I recently (mostly) passed their Derby 101 class. Hey, I'm not the best but I'm miles ahead of where I was about 8 months ago. And not many people have the guts to take up a full-contact sport in their mid-30s!

And as an end to this post I will just say that I think I need these ribcage earrings.