Blue-Eyed Breather

My personality can be in direct opposition at times. I'm an introvert--I need my alone time, my time to read or watch TV or write. However, my love language is quality time. I crave spending time with the people I love. Being alone for too long can make me lonely. I feel so much love when I'm actually with people and spending time with them. For example, my parents came up to help me move into a new apartment. After we finished moving, we went to the George W Bush Library. We had a great time this weekend! But now, several hours after they left, I'm missing them so much. My apartment isn't nearly as much fun without them. So you see, my personality is at odds. I think I'm going to adjust to living on my own. I'll be at school and have my people time, and I'll also be able to see my parents and boyfriend and siblings and friends. It'll be a change. I've never lived in my own apartment by myself since freshman year when I was in a single dorm room, a...

Yesterday, I started my third semester of graduate school! Honestly, it's a little crazy how fast all this is going. I'm basically half way through! I think part of my love of speech pathology comes from the fact that I can have a huge impact on people's quality of life. I understand how important it is for people to take the time to truly care about you and want to help you improve. While I've never had speech or communication issues (besides needing articulation therapy when I was little), having CF has prepared me to be a great speech pathology. I know what I would want in a therapist: someone who listens to me, someone who cares about my physical well being, someone who is always trying to help me improve and is up to date on the latest research for the best treatment options. I know how crucial it is to be kind and compassionate to your clients. Even when I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, I knew I wanted to help people, just like so many of my n...

Today, I had the honor to speak at the CF Walk. Below is a copy of my speech. Enjoy! Welcome to the 2016 south Austin great strides walk! My name is Emily Ingram. I am 23 years old and have cystic fibrosis. Not too long ago, CF was considered a childhood disease because people with cf did not live long into adulthood. I'm here to tell you that, thanks to the CF Foundation, half of all people with CF are now adults, and people with CF are living longer, fuller, healthier lives. I am one of those adults with CF. And let me tell you: I am living a great, somewhat normal life. Last May, I graduated from Baylor University with my bachelor's in communication sciences and disorders with a minor in linguistics. I am now at UT Dallas working on receiving my master's at one of the top speech pathology graduate schools in the country. I live by myself in an apartment in Dallas and manage all my treatments, appointments, and pill fixing. I do miss school occasionally for things like ...

On April 30th, I ran a 5k. Well, walk/jogged a 5k. In 47 minutes. I decided to sign up for this 5k six weeks prior because I was trying to push myself to exercise but I needed a goal in mind to keep to exercising. I wanted to finish the 5k in under an hour, so when I crossed the finish line at 47 minutes, I was pretty surprised that I went that much faster than I was expecting. Let me tell you, it felt great!! If you had told me a year ago that I would be participating in a 5k, I would laugh in your face. I didn't know I was capable of jogging that far! It wasn't easy--I definitely couldn't run the whole way, and my breathing was pretty rapid and deep. I'm sure everyone else running that race didn't know why I was having breathing difficulty or why running a 5k was such an accomplishment for me. But that doesn't matter--the only thing that matters is that I did it, and I know that it was a big accomplishment. I'm certainly not about to stop exercising. I enj...