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Breathing in Grace, Ipswich (2026)

27/02/2026

The Henry Reunion ✨✨
PSA: That's him making high pitched squealing noises, not me 😆
Pics of my cuddles with Lola in comments. Couldn't get one of Fifi, but she got lots of lovin' too. 🥰

25/02/2026

HEALTH UPDATE:

I've been in hospital for 1.5wks. Saturday 14th, I felt fine. Sunday 15th I woke up & was FAR from fine! It hit me like a ton of bricks. I woke up with 39.1 degree temperatures. Panadol did nothing for it.
I was shivering, sweating, vomiting, then started to feel lung pain in my right side. Had absolutely NO idea what was happening to me. Henry was VERY concerned about me. He could hear me vomiting, and just wanted to keep checking on me in the bedroom, while Karl was running around packing a bag for me. Then, my blood pressure crashed. I had no idea what it was reading at, but I could feel it was bad. Karl carried me to the car, & my Mum took me to E.D at Prince Charles.
I thankfully got rushed through quickly.

In E.D they determined via XRAY that I had what looked like Pneumonia in my right transplanted lung; a pretty severe infection. They asked me if I had ANY symptoms like a cough prior - I said no, which everyone found so odd! Me included! They also told Mum that I had gone into septic shock. It all came on so quickly, that my Blood Pressure plummeted. Still nauseated & throwing up. I couldn't even keep water down. The E.D was unable to stabilise my blood pressure with medicine through the IV; it just wasn't working. My blood pressure remained 86/55. The pain in my right side really amped up in E.D that I was requiring pain relief all the time. They got IV antibiotics into me also, including giving me nausea medications all the time too, which also did nothing for me (they never do). The decision was made to transfer me to ICU, instead of sending me to a Ward. I needed round the clock monitoring as I was in a really, really bad way. I still don't remember too much of the details of that night. It was all a blur.

My blood pressure went back up to normal levels Monday late morning in ICU, so I got moved to a Ward. However, Sunday night was when another issue presented itself. My dreaded "medication reactions" reared their ugly head again. I think because in E.D they had to hit me with antibiotics, pain relief, anti-nausea medicines to raise my BP (the list goes on). It was an overload for my system. My BP may have started to go back to normal on the Monday, but now... I was now in excruciating pain from these "reactions" - an issue that started last year. The pain is severe pressure in my skull, my eyes feel like their protruding, it feels like my head is going to explode. It is nothing like a migraine, or a headache, it is something entirely different.
The pain was so, so bad, that on Monday evening in the Ward, I was STILL vomiting, still could not keep food down (last meal being Saturday), & I was telling Karl I can't do this any longer. I was saying to him that I can't do 2wks of IV treatment like this, I will want to be put out of my misery. Karl did so much prayer over me that night & even anointed my head with oil. He was so worried. I don't remember much about that night either, because my entire energy was focused on trying to get through the pain that wasn't responding much to any pain relief tablets. Karl brought up my Zeolite drops, something I'd been using last year to help with the reactions. I started having them. Come Tuesday, I woke & I felt the pain had decreased. Come Tuesday afternoon, it was better some more. Thankfully, it decreased about 70%, & I've been able to continue my treatments here in hospital. Still needing Codeine almost everyday to take the very edge off, but I am so thankful I have been able to get through my antibiotics. Those first few days of this admission were tough. I remained on oxygen for about 4 days. Showering felt like I'd run a marathon. I could see my muscles & strength fading away before my eyes. But, each day there were little improvements. Come the following Monday (the one just gone), we repeated my Xray. My doctors said its 80% improved already. Which is amazing, given it was such a serious infection. I have bounced back fairly quickly, thank you Jesus! The plan is for home this Friday. Only 2 more days to go!!

As always, my family have had to step in & take over many things. My Mum, Karl's Mum, and Karl have been tag-teaming to manage the household, look after Henry (who also still hasn't been well himself during all of this unfolding). There is always one hit after another hit, after another hit. We soldier on anyway, because Jesus gives us the strength we need for each day. I'm very thankful for all the help from our family. Karl took the first week off work, because things were so serious. He is now back at work. Our Mums, Karl - everyone is exhausted!! It really does take a village sometimes to care for us CF/Transplant folk when things go haywire. My prayer is that when I'm home, my recovery keeps going well, I'm able to get the sleep I need (please pray my body lets me sleep!), and our family members are able to recover from the past almost 2wks of chaos that has worn them out too. My poor Mums birthday was Monday & she spent it at my house helping with housework and puppy duties. It isn't the first time she's not been able to do much celebrating because of hospital interfering. My birthday is on the 5th & I dare say it's going to be a non-event for me too. That's the CF life sometimes!

All the fur babies are missing me like CRAZY! Henry is going to go absolutely berserk when he sees me, but I am READY and so EXCITED to see him!! I've been getting updates, photos, videos and even had video calls with them. Here's some photos of this past 1.5wks. Phone calls with the babies, pictures I've been sent, one of henry laying with my robe, brother visiting me & other random photos. 📷

Thank you to everyone who always prays for me regularly. Even if you had not been made aware of what was happening, your general prayers are still powerful & cover me daily. I still need lots of rest & recovery. I also need to slowly try to regain the muscle I lost when I get home. I so desperately cannot afford to go home and keep having insomnia, so please pray my body resets, and behaves! Keep those prayers coming! 🙏🏼💜

07/02/2026

Henry Update:
After my last update on my Henry boy, I wanted to share this photo of him looking much better 🐶🐾
Henry showing off his new Harness. 😆
It's been 2.5wks since his surgery (so he is out of his recovery phase) which meant he got to go for a short 15min walk yesterday. I'm hoping to take him back to the Vet tomorrow for a check-up.

06/02/2026

NOT a Medical Update, but a LIFE ONE!

It's been 2 weeks since I should have made this post.
We had our first MAJOR Emergency with our (4mth old) furry baby Henry. Wednesday 21st January, I rushed Henry to the Underwood Emergency Vets at 7am. He had some runny bowels the night before but that was all. Come morning, he was not looking well. He didn't want food, wasn't drinking as much, and did many bile vomits. Karl had to rush to work and I monitored him where I witnessed all of this. He just wanted to sleep, and he looked very uncomfortable. I was worried out of my mind and felt that he was in pain. I picked up his 13.5kg butt, carried him to my car. Rushed to pack a bag, chucked food down for the cats and left. I had insomnia the night before (not a wink of sleep). I had not had any breakfast, but managed to remember to pack a water bottle & my very important transplant pills. Rushed, maybe sped a bit (a lot) to the Vet. They got him through fast, and tested him for puppy viruses. All clear. They didn't offer him much while we were there, not even anything for pain or nausea while they worked out what to do with him (so i wasn't impressed). Once they quoted me for EVERYTHING under the sun they could milk from me, I made the decision to transfer his care to our amazing local Vet (now that they were open). I rang them, got confirmation they could take him on. I got this Vet to at least give him a nausea injection before we left. Then off we went. Carried his 13.5kg butt back to my car and sped off back to our local amazing Vet. After being at Underwood from 7:50am to 10:30am, I arrived at our local Veternarian at 11:30am. They took him through straight away and I left him in their capable hands. On the verge of collapsing myself all day, feeling faint/sick, and blood sugar probably low; I got some food into me and went home to **try** to rest. Our Vet immediately gave him IV Fluids, Pain Relief and got him very comfortable. They did a series of Xrays about 1.5hrs apart. They thought they saw something on the first Xray but wanted to see if the IV fluids shifted anything that may be in his Tummy. They kept me informed a long the way via the phone. Fluids didn't change the Xray images, so they made the decision to do major abdominal surgery at 4PM suspecting a foreign object to be there.

Turns out, there was nothing there, but what they did find was actually even more life threatnening & would have killed him. (It does kill animals). He had severely twisted and bunched intestines. His spleen and liver had been moved/pushed into the wrong areas due to the bunching of his intestines. His intestines and spleen were purple, indicating lack of blood flow. He had been in a very critical, emergency life threatning situation & would have been in a LOT of pain. They had to unbunch his intestines and make him right again. They do not know what causes this. It is a bunch of 'maybes'. Maybe he drank too fast. Maybe he jumps too much. Maybe he eats too fast. The thing is, he doesn't eat too fast, he was more of a chill puppy, and there weren't any signs. Poor little fella had to go home on antibiotics as they had suspected an infection could have been starting due to some elevated blood tests. He went home on pain meds and a bland diet for 2wks, plus the dreaded cone or collar. God sustained my strength through that day, Thank you Lord. He always sustains me. Karl was home by the time Henry was ready to be picked up, so we got to pick him up together at 6PM that day. The last 2 weeks have been hands on deck watching him like a hawk, ensuring he doesn't run too much, eat too fast, and for me - just worrying out of my mind every time he seems docile - wondering if he's unwell again or if he might be in pain. Always asking him if he's feeling OK. 🙁

Now we've come full circle and he's feeling better - we are realising that the "chill puppy" was probably a sign in of itself that he wasn't 100% right. He never ate fast then, but he does NOW! He played like a puppy before, but he's even crazier NOW! We suspect he had a tummy issue for a long while that just got worse to the point he was BAD and then there were obvious signs. We are thankful he's better now, and enjoying life. Thankful we have such an amazing local Vet who took such good care of him for us. (Dr B's Veternarian Clinic) if you're in Logan area.

Life is chaotic here. Juggling everything with my medical regime, my work, medical appointments, no sleep, chronic pain daily, feeling sick from my illnesses, injuries, managing the house/life/schedule - it is a lot. God is getting me through. My motto in life is: "Everything that is worth it, will be hard, but I am up for the challenge". I never let my health get in the way, and I'm always up for a challenge. He has been teaching us a lot, he has finessed our schedules/routine, and we love him to bits. Henry has learnt our life routine a lot better and he has improved lots in the past few weeks. We will be happy when the puppy season is over - but then it's the cheeky adolescent stage - which we read is worse. Wish us luck! HAHA.

19/01/2026

It is a New Year! I'm well and truly into the swing of life and all it's up's & downs! I've wanted to do an update way before now but time has not allowed.
I sent out Christmas Letters to friends and family with a recap of our 2025, so I thought I might include most of it here to help me with the update!

From August 2024 to April 2025, my health had been extremely poor, and quite life threatening at times due to a medication reaction I had in 2024. This drug caused serious issues with my heart's Mitral Valve and also with the pumping of my heart.
Both of those issues were diagnosed moderately severe at the end of 2024. The start of 2025 was the worst for my health as I deteriorated more. Mid-Feb, I also started having reactions to all my pharmaceuticals. This is extremely rare, but I was feeling unwell with every pharmaceutical I took, which made me feel even worse on a daily basis & unable to function even more. Family had to step in and care more for me, including Karl. No doctors knew why this was happening. It was an extremely stressful time for everybody. Despite this, we were able to go for a little holiday at the end of March for our wedding anniversary. We went back to our honeymoon retreat "Crystal Creek Rainforest Retreat". It was a lovely time even though I was severely unwell still. Although I didn't sleep 3/5 nights, and, we lost power on the last night due to torrential rain, it was still so nice to go away and rest in a cosy environment together!

End of May 2025, I attended the "Brisbane Healing Rooms" with Karl & my Mum, to get prayer for my Heart issues & other health complications always ongoing. We hadn't been before, but were told about this place by a lovely lady at our Church. It was a great place with many godly people there who love Jesus and want to pray for people.

In June, we were very thankful to be able to have the finances to get a Solar Battery. Karl did a great job at leveling the ground, concreting & putting pavers down to prepare for the installation.
He then assembled a fantastic aluminium cover/box to protect the Battery. Having the Solar (which was installed 2024), then the battery added (2025) has really helped our power bills immensely.

In September '25, I went back to see my Heart doctor. In the months after I had gone to the Healing Rooms, I had noticed I was slowly improving. I was not retaining as much fluid on my body anymore, and my medication reactions were not as severe as they were at the start of the year. My doctor had me repeat my heart scans so he could compare from end of 2024, to then (Sept 2025). We did not expect that upon entering the consultation room, he would say, "Well your heart looks great!" Mum and I were a bit bamboozled. He further explained that the Mitral Valve leak that became moderate (end of 2024), is now back to being Mild (where it was stable in 2021). He then said the pumping of my heart which had ALSO declined in 2024 to 40%, is now back to being a perfect 60% (like healthy people)! My doctor was happy with the stability and improvement of my heart, that he only wanted to touch base sometime in 2026. We of course believe prayer is powerful and Jesus is an almighty Healer, but to see it confirmed like that it tests and scans is amazing to witness. This second half of 2025 had been much improved Healthwise, with even my medication reactions being completely healed too! I am now able to take my blood pressure medication more often, and not have uncomfortable reactions to all my other medications as well. No doctor or medical professional has been helping me, but I know we have the best Physician and Healer that anyone could ask for; Jesus!

At the end of November, we decided to take ourselves for a camp trip. The year had been pretty chaotic, so we really felt like we needed a small getaway. We went to Cedar Grove camping ground, at the Sunshine Coast. It had been raining all week at home, so we were slightly worried about the weather. Before we arrived to the campground, we saw a storm heading our way. We prayed in the car, that the Lord would hold off the storm (that was due to hit when we arrived) for at least ONE HOUR, so we could set up camp. Not only did the Lord actually hold this storm off for one hour, but the 2 other storms that came our way during that weekend were so mild, that it only rained for a couple of minutes each time!
We enjoyed some bush walks, visiting a Farm Shop, finding creek holes to swim in, and experiencing all the cool wildlife.
Our last night on camp was incredibly dicey, when 2 burly blokes approached our camp site in complete darkness & silence late at night, likely to take us by surprise. We still do not know what it was specifically that stopped them from attacking us & potentially robbing us, but something stopped them. Our site was further away than most campers, & many campers have camper-van's. We only had a tent. We were in a very venerable position & it could have been quite bad. However, every night we prayed our protection prayers like we always do, and I believe the Lord protected us THAT very moment. They ended up walking away (after approaching us and trying to talk), and they thankfully did not come back later. Thank you, Jesus!

In December we enjoyed an awesome carols event at our Church, and we enjoyed our Christmas Eve & Christmas Day lunches with our families. I've attached some Christmas photos!

On 31st December - New Years Eve - we added a family member! Meet "HENRY" the German Shepherd Pup. HE IS the very reason I have had no time to update, haha!
I have never been so tired in my life. Sleep training, getting up every hour to take him to the toilet. Training him in the day with every possible command. Working around his nap schedule (exactly like a little baby)! He has been super fun, enjoyable & very exhausting - but it is worth it!

My health has been rather stable otherwise. Nothing too much to report! My BK Virus levels are still very low so everyone is happy. My kidney function is stable and hanging in there.
My heart was healed back to where it was originally, thank you Jesus. God continues to work in our lives in so many ways and answering so many prayers right before our eyes. For Example - Henry had a very RARE reaction to a natural anxiety supplement for dogs only 4 days after we got him. It was a life threatening situation. We immediately prayed over him. Several times, as we were looking up Vets. He was not able to be roused from sleep, & his breathing was so fast, we thought he'd go into cardiac arrest. After we got off the phone with a house call emergency veternarian - his breathing started to slow. He woke up 5 mins later, & started bouncing around like a crazy puppy & doing zoomies! We could not believe our eyes! This is just many examples of how God is showing us miracles in front of our eyes, looking after our family, answering prayers and growing our Faith.

Thank you to everyone who follows this page, and keeps me in your thoughts and most importantly - your prayers!
Pray for our sleep, because it is almost non-existent! And my body is suffering from that. Pray for strength in my body. I'm in pain a lot because my body, muscles, joints and ligaments are always very weak. Running around after a crazy fluffy toddler has put my body through the works! Karl is struggling at work with the lack of sleep. He has to go to work at 5AM and be an Electrician so he needs clarity of mind, focus, strength to get through each day & God's hand of protection on the roads & in the workplace. We are looking forward to what 2026 has in store :) (Ps: Check out how much Henry has grown in 18 days since the 1st pic of him, compared to now - (the last photo!!!)) 🐶

06/09/2025

Lovely catch-up on Friday with Loody (Charles Stewart's Mum), & my Mum too. Friday was also the anniversary of Charles' passing. It has been 9yrs since we lost him to Cystic Fibrosis.
Loody has still been a huge part of my life & I'm so grateful for that.
From lunch dates, to helping cater for our engagement party, to watching Karl & I get Married, plus so much more - I'm thankful to have her friendship & unwavering support after all this time.
Also, how cute is Millie? 💜 🐶

29/08/2025

TODAY 29th August was my 8yr Transplant Anniversary for my current set of donor lungs. The surgery for this Transplant was the most grueling, traumatic event in my life by far.I almost did not survive this surgery.
Today I woke up, & had totally forgot that it was my Transplant Anniversary 🤣 Because, I had a big long list of Wifey Housework Duties, some gardening & some work to do for my job. At least we can say I celebrated & honoured my Donor by doing exactly the thing these lungs were meant for - living your life!
Karl reminded me of the occasion this morning with a "Happy Anniversary" text, that he sent while he was busy at work 💙
Very blessed to have had an extra 8 years and to be living this life with Karl, and my two beautiful kitties. Here's a very recent photo (taken 10mins ago in our PJ's), of our tired, old faces after a long week (haha)! Karl also wrote a lovely message today on our Facebook account for my anniversary, I thought I'd share:
__________________________________
"Happy Transplant 2nd Double Lung transplant anniversary babe. ♥️♥️
I'm so thankful and grateful you have had the gift from God and the organ donor for your 2nd Double Lung gifted set of lungs and chance at life again for 8 more yrs💜. I know it left you in the most horrible way and the road was extremely hard. Hardship beyond imagination. I am extremely lucky and so blessed to have you babe and forever grateful to God.♥️ Love you heaps and heaps babe. Being able to see you everyday and share our lives together is what warms my soul and heart, plus gives me great joy. Love you beautiful darling wifey and my forever person .
- Karl 💗 ###"

08/08/2025

🎉 🎉TODAY IS MY 10YR Double Lung Transplant ANNIVERSARY for my first set of lungs! *08/08/2015*🎉🎉
Wow, I can't believe it's been that long since my first transplant in 2015. The past 10yrs medically, have been quite difficult and traumatic, that's for sure. Following this transplant, I was diagnosed only 3mths later with Lymphoma (cancer) in my liver and hip. I had to undergo chemotherapy very quickly. Many more complications to follow after that, resulting in a 2nd double lung transplant 2yrs later, then a kidney transplant later on too. I'm STILL here, & have made it out the other side of many, many more life threatening battles along the way. Thank you to my donors family; I'm very grateful for this gift of life! Thank you to My Heavenly Father, who has never been absent, not one time, in my entire life's journey. Who's Heavenly Angels lift me up, and get me through every single battle. Jesus who walks beside me, ahead of me, into every unknown & gives me the strength to push through the health difficulties every day. I'm very blessed to be here & to have had the chance to meet my wonderful Husband & create a life together 💜💜
(Photos from that surgery and some favourites from the past 10yrs of life. Well, maybe not "some"; perhaps a lot of photos, haha. It was hard to choose!).

13/07/2025

Lovely day out with Mum, today! 🌞
She took me on an outing to Tamborine Mountain. We had a yummy lunch and checked out a lot of shops. Had to avoid a lot of 'new-agey, tarot, crystal' stores though! I came home with a nice pair of new pants and some liquor 😆 ...the essentials LOL

06/07/2025

A little UPDATE from me:

Last 2 weeks I've been battling ANOTHER chest infection (just after getting over the last 4wk infection - and only a 2wk break between!).
I thankfully didn't have a virus this time - tests negative - so this one seemed to be caused by my sinus disease. Thank you Cystic Fibrosis!! I always have infection in my sinuses, it never disappears, but can sometimes come down to my upper respiratory tract, causing a chest infection. I've been back on the nebulised Antibiotics I was on before. They take much longer to work, but I'm on the mend, & should be right to stop at end of this week. Thankful that while I still have medicine "reactions", they've been manageable 🙏🏻
I've also found so much relief with 'Mullein Leaf' extract. It is great for congestion, inflammation, respiratory everything. It was my first time trying it, & despite feeling skeptical, I'm very surprised by it. It was helping me cough up mucous much easier, helping my irritated cough that had been keeping me up at night. So, I've bought it in tablet form & will continue to take it to see if it helps manage my sinus disease.

Life has been consistently busy and draining as always. It never slows, even if I'm sick. 😮‍💨 I just have to dig deep & run on adrenaline to keep up with the amount of appointments I have, my own medical routine, my job and normal "life" duties. My sleep has been hit & miss again, so it's been a HUGE struggle to recover.

Poor Karl is off night shift, and back onto day shift. We are both undergoing a complete sleep schedule change, & struggling to adapt again!

Nothing exciting going on, to report. Except, (maybe not exciting), but some crazy psycho did try to follow me home in his ute, due to HIS road rage last week, and I had to "escape" him strategically in my car. I managed to lose him. So Karl spent most of the day today installing a dashcam in my car - front and back windows. 💜💜

Enjoy this photo of my darling girls who plonk on me every morning to snuggle & snooze, once Karl leaves for work (very early). 🥰

06/06/2025

Very thankful I've avoided hospital AGAIN, for a virus. Thank you Lord ✝️
I also avoided the need for Intravenous (IV) Antibiotics!! 👏🏻 While the RhinoVirus still eventually went to my chest, I was able to treat it at home in several ways. Treated the virus with my holistic/natural routine when I get sick, and then later with a nebulised antibiotic, once it went to my lungs & caused a bit of a chest infection/cough.
I'm almost finished my course of the antibiotic neb. My cough has dried up a lot, and my breathlessness is improving more + more, almost back to normal.
Thank you for your prayers! I also had MINIMAL "reactions" to the nebulised Antibiotic, Praise God, as this was my biggest concern! I can't say this will be my only virus this Winter.... But I hope if there is a next time, it goes similarly. 🙏🏻

23/05/2025

VIDEO HEALTH UPDATE!
This has been long overdue, so I did a video this time, instead of typing it all out. Part 1 & Part 2 - because Facebook said the video was too long still 😂 Believe it or not, this is the SHORT version with so much still left out.
(It's been sped up a little bit, too).
Grab a tea, and settle in!
Please pray for the issues I speak about. The medication intolerances or "reactions" are a real frustration. I recorded this almost 1wk ago, but hadn't got a chance to upload. Since then, I've caught a virus of some sort. A bit concerned about it going to my lungs. If it does go to my lungs, I'll need medicines, & this will be a huge problem (once again!). Please pray for this, & also thank God for all that He's already done, and all He is going to continue to do🙏🏻🥰

Breathing in Grace