hi everyone... i have been tryin to read everyones posting as much as i can... but there are a few in here who look at a c.f. as a bad thing... well let me tell you my story!
well even before my c.f. i think i had a pretty hard child hood.... my parents were divorced when i was 2 and i saw my father every other weekened... my brother stopped seeing him about yr or 2 before i did. my father wasnt a nice person. so i stopped seeing him when i was 10... and then i was diagnosed at 12 he came for one friggin hr to see me and i havent seen him since... i dont get a b-day card, or a phone call or anything from him.... to him there is nothing wrong with his kids! so just try and be in my shoes for a lil second here.... a single mom we always just barely made it... by no means am i a "rich kid".
my name is olivia.... i am now 18 yrs old and i have cystic fibrosis. i was diagnosed at 12. so i guess i have sort of a mild case.well at 12 around i wanna say nov-dec i went to go get my regular flu shot the one i had gotten since i cant remember. ever since that one flu shot my life has changed. well for weeks i didnt want to get out fo bed i just did not feel well was tired and wanted to sleep all the time. so my mom kept taking me back and forth to the dr's and they found nothing wrong. so they thought i might of had t.b tested me 6 times for it and nothing. i then had some other kinds of test i cant really remember. so then finally after about 6months worth of that my ped. had taken an ex-ray of my lungs b/c i had gotten a cough now. he had seen spots on my lungs, told my mom he thought i had cancer. he then had to admit me to university of chicago hospital... 3months of some more test... tubes up my nose down my throat blood test.. and whatever else you can think of i had it. still they foudn nothing. in the begin of nov- dec i was about 5'5-5'6 and weighed 130 pounds... i was now down to 87 pounds. they thought i had a eating disorder, but i would always eat, i had just stopped gaining weight. so now at 12 with all these scary things going on. i was lost, my mom was lost, and my brother was lost. my whole family was lost. FINALLY, on june 1 of 2000 they did a sweat test on me and another blood test. the nurses and dr.'s called it cystic fibrosis... what was is? i had no clue, had never even heard about it. neither did my mom. so while waitin for the test results the nurses came in and out" no you cant have c.f., theres no way with your great medical history." they also kept lookin at my fingers and said that they werent"clubbed." well the results are back. they also tested my 15 yr old brother, just to see, to check. well "mrs pence we need to talk to you the dr says." she takes my brother and my mother away from me into another room. she tells my brother and my mom first about c.f. and of course im in the lonely hospital room crying wondering whats going on... so after what seemed for hrs. my mother, brother and the dr. comes out crying. they walk me down to the room ... and they tell me about this "horrible thing, called cystic fibrosis" im sitting there... lookin at my mom n brother and they r crying balling there eyes out about this horrible disease. i look at my dr and ask her if they r telling me everything about this disease and ask her why am i not crying? why am i not shedding one tear? she told me everything there is to know about it and i responded" ok, well i really dont know why u guys r all sad, im just gonna do everything the dr.'s tell me and im gonna beat it , ill show you all." so i think i started to grow up at 12, and ever since then when something lil goes wrong its not a big deal to me. i am glad that i have my c.f. b/c honestly i really dont think i would be the person i am today!... by all means dont take me wrong... i hate havign to do my treatments and what not but i love the person i am b/c with out it i really wouldnt know how the real world is.... i can see my father for who he is... i can see that i never really did have as many real friends as i thought i did, bc most of em left when they found out... i guess they didnt want to deal with it... but i know who my true friends are... and i also never take anything or anyone for granted.... i have learned so many life lessons with my c.f. and i have gained a few friends i know with cf and without my cf i would of never met my friend anthony who was friends with my friend matthew who is now my fiance! and without it with that one peice missing i would have never met him. would have never had any of my lifes lessons!
well thank you all for listening... just wanted to show you the good side of c.f.
p.s my brother was also diagnsoed with c.f. on the same day i was!
thank you all for your time
olivia 18 with c.f.